2010 FIFA World Cup Expert Picks: Group Stage

By John in Featured, Now!, Opinion, Soccer ⋅ June 11, 2010 at 11:04am ⋅ Post a comment

Congratulations to South Africa, for being the first African World Cup host. (2010safwc.com)

With the World Cup now underway, emotions are running high in the land of Mandela, the first in Africa to host the quadrennial tournament. Plenty of action is sure to come, especially in Group G, which contains both the world’s #1 (Brazil) and #3 (Portugal). Tough draw for North Korea to be in, to be sure. They’ll have a tough time avoiding the rage of Kim Jong Il, which isn’t a good thing to have if you’re a North Korean. With #2 Spain in Group H on the opposite side, a #1/#2 or #2/#3 match-up not even in the quarterfinals is all but a certainty.

Only one group by our whopping field of ten experts had its two qualifying teams selected unanimously, and surprisingly, it wasn’t the aforementioned Brazil and Portugal. Instead, it was the United States and Jolly Ole’ England. There were four other teams (Argentina, Italy, Netherlands, and Spain) selected unanimously to win their groups. Four groups also had each of its teams selected by our combined picks to make it out of the group stage.

Three of us are picking Portugal to beat out Brazil in their group, while one of us is picking the world’s #3 to not even make it out of the group stage. One of us also has host South Africa advancing, despite being #83 and in the same group as #9 France, #16 Uruguay, and #17 Mexico.

The World Cup is always quite a draw, and there are plenty of expert selections to mull over. Speaking of which, if an expert correctly guesses a team to advance out of the group stage (finishing in the top two of their group), that’s worth one point, except that if an expert correctly guesses the winner of each group, that’s worth two points. Guessing the amount of goals scored by each group winner in all three games combined to within one is worth one point, or two points if guessed exactly right.

	Name	Andrew	Brian	Charlie	Dan	Erikk	Jeff	John	KC	Robert	Teddy
Group A	Winner	France	France	France	France	Uruguay	Mexico	France	France	Mexico	France
	2nd Place	Mexico	Mexico	Mexico	South Africa	France	France	Mexico	Uruguay	France	Uruguay
	Total Goals	6	6	6	5	7	6	5	6	8	6
Group B	Winner	Argentina	Argentina	Argentina	Argentina	Argentina	Argentina	Argentina	Argentina	Argentina	Argentina
	2nd Place	South Korea	Greece	South Korea	Nigeria	Nigeria	Nigeria	Nigeria	Greece	Nigeria	South Korea
	Total Goals	8	8	8	6	9	7	9	8	6	7
Group C	Winner	England	United States	England	England	England	England	England	England	United States	England
	2nd Place	United States	England	United States	United States	United States	United States	United States	United States	England	United States
	Total Goals	7	5	5	4	7	5	11	6	6	5
Group D	Winner	Serbia	Germany	Ghana	Germany	Germany	Germany	Germany	Germany	Australia	Germany
	2nd Place	Germany	Australia	Germany	Ghana	Serbia	Serbia	Ghana	Ghana	Germany	Ghana
	Total Goals	5	6	6	5	8	6	7	8	6	8
Group E	Winner	Netherlands	Netherlands	Netherlands	Netherlands	Netherlands	Netherlands	Netherlands	Netherlands	Netherlands	Netherlands
	2nd Place	Cameroon	Cameroon	Cameroon	Cameroon	Denmark	Cameroon	Cameroon	Cameroon	Cameroon	Denmark
	Total Goals	10	5	4	4	10	8	8	5	10	9
Group F	Winner	Italy	Italy	Italy	Italy	Italy	Italy	Italy	Italy	Italy	Italy
	2nd Place	Paraguay	Slovakia	Paraguay	Paraguay	Paraguay	Slovakia	Slovakia	Paraguay	Slovakia	Paraguay
	Total Goals	6	10	6	3	10	5	10	8	6	8
Group G	Winner	Portugal	Portugal	Brazil	Brazil	Brazil	Brazil	Brazil	Portugal	Brazil	Brazil
	2nd Place	Brazil	Brazil	Portugal	Portugal	Portugal	Cote d’Ivoire	Portugal	Brazil	Portugal	Portugal
	Total Goals	8	8	8	6	8	7	9	8	11	6
Group H	Winner	Spain	Spain	Spain	Spain	Spain	Spain	Spain	Spain	Spain	Spain
	2nd Place	Honduras	Switzerland	Chile	Chile	Chile	Chile	Chile	Chile	Honduras	Chile
	Total Goals	11	9	8	5	10	9	6	8	10	9

Tags: 2010 FIFA World Cup, FIFA Pick 'Em, FIFA Picks

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One comment for “2010 FIFA World Cup Expert Picks: Group Stage”

[...] rest of Group A. South Africa will get their next chance against Uruguay to see if they can do what just one person expected: make it to the next [...]

Posted by An Early World Cup Run Down | Sports of Boston | June 14, 2010, 10:08 pm