Argentina: Argentina has arguably the best squad in the world cup.
Unfortunately for them and us; they do not have the best team.
With world-stars like Messi, Tevez and Veron, Argentina should be a team fighting for the first place in a World Cup championship.
After barely making it through the South American qualifier this year; they do not look like such a team.
The reason why can be summed up in one word; Maradona.
The all-time football legend and Argentinean national hero, has made a mess both for himself and his country by taking the position as head coach for the national team.
Maradona is indubitable one of the best players in history; however his coaching skills are yet to be proven.
There are numerous disturbing rumors floating around about the big chief.
Supposedly Argentina could only schedule practices after 13:00 because that's when Maradona got up in the morning.
Hopefully we will see a strong Argentina that perform well and a strong Maradona that keeps all his funny business away from the field.
My gut feeling tells me otherwise.
I predict early knock out, relatively speaking, in the quarterfinals.
Did you know? While Maradona has been in charge for the Argentinean squad he has used 102 different players in his squad.
"If they criticize me for calling in over 100 players, I'll call up 102.
" Paraguay: While Paraguay has never had a big reputation as a football team, they still have a stronger World-Cup record than you would think.
In both 1998 and the 2002 World-Cup they were knocked out in the 1/8finals after narrow 1-0 losses against the champion(France 98) and the runner up(Germany 02).
In this year's qualifier they have showed themselves better than ever with respectable victories over Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
It seems like everything is there for a Paraguayan shock in the 2010 world cup, however, it's important to remember that Paraguay is still Paraguay.
There is something about Paraguay that seems to keep them from going the whole way.
They can go from beating a world-class team one week, to losing against a worthless team the next week.
Paraguay has been lucky an easily beatable group and will with no doubt make it to the 1/8finals.
What happens after that is impossible to predict.
Can the team that always falls behind when it matters finally put there shit together and do it this year? Let's hope so for Paraguay's sake, they have deserved a quarterfinal by now.
Did you know? Paraguay impressed a whole football world with a second Place in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Can you guess how much they lost against Argentina in the finals? Yes, you were right, 1-0.
Uruguay: Uruguay is a country you probably don't give much credibility when it comes to football.
However, Uruguay has a rich history of successful world-cup victories and world class players.
Unfortunately for them, it all happened at least 50 years ago.
Nowadays they still have a decent squad with Diego Forlan, Atletico Madrid attacker, standing in front as their biggest star.
Unfortunately for Uruguay, their recent results predict that they won' even make it through the group stage.
After barely qualifying as the last team from South America, and being in a group with always strong France and host nation South-Africa, I predict Uruguay ending up with a 3.
Place and will have to catch an early flight back to the beaches of Montevideo.
Did you know? Uruguay both hosted and won the first official World Cup back in 1930.
Unfortunately for them and us; they do not have the best team.
With world-stars like Messi, Tevez and Veron, Argentina should be a team fighting for the first place in a World Cup championship.
After barely making it through the South American qualifier this year; they do not look like such a team.
The reason why can be summed up in one word; Maradona.
The all-time football legend and Argentinean national hero, has made a mess both for himself and his country by taking the position as head coach for the national team.
Maradona is indubitable one of the best players in history; however his coaching skills are yet to be proven.
There are numerous disturbing rumors floating around about the big chief.
Supposedly Argentina could only schedule practices after 13:00 because that's when Maradona got up in the morning.
Hopefully we will see a strong Argentina that perform well and a strong Maradona that keeps all his funny business away from the field.
My gut feeling tells me otherwise.
I predict early knock out, relatively speaking, in the quarterfinals.
Did you know? While Maradona has been in charge for the Argentinean squad he has used 102 different players in his squad.
"If they criticize me for calling in over 100 players, I'll call up 102.
" Paraguay: While Paraguay has never had a big reputation as a football team, they still have a stronger World-Cup record than you would think.
In both 1998 and the 2002 World-Cup they were knocked out in the 1/8finals after narrow 1-0 losses against the champion(France 98) and the runner up(Germany 02).
In this year's qualifier they have showed themselves better than ever with respectable victories over Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
It seems like everything is there for a Paraguayan shock in the 2010 world cup, however, it's important to remember that Paraguay is still Paraguay.
There is something about Paraguay that seems to keep them from going the whole way.
They can go from beating a world-class team one week, to losing against a worthless team the next week.
Paraguay has been lucky an easily beatable group and will with no doubt make it to the 1/8finals.
What happens after that is impossible to predict.
Can the team that always falls behind when it matters finally put there shit together and do it this year? Let's hope so for Paraguay's sake, they have deserved a quarterfinal by now.
Did you know? Paraguay impressed a whole football world with a second Place in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Can you guess how much they lost against Argentina in the finals? Yes, you were right, 1-0.
Uruguay: Uruguay is a country you probably don't give much credibility when it comes to football.
However, Uruguay has a rich history of successful world-cup victories and world class players.
Unfortunately for them, it all happened at least 50 years ago.
Nowadays they still have a decent squad with Diego Forlan, Atletico Madrid attacker, standing in front as their biggest star.
Unfortunately for Uruguay, their recent results predict that they won' even make it through the group stage.
After barely qualifying as the last team from South America, and being in a group with always strong France and host nation South-Africa, I predict Uruguay ending up with a 3.
Place and will have to catch an early flight back to the beaches of Montevideo.
Did you know? Uruguay both hosted and won the first official World Cup back in 1930.