The Cup Begins

Well, after resisting the temptation to jot down my thoughts and opinions about anything to do with sport on this blog I've decided to throw that out the window to mark this special occasion: the kick-off of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Last night's opening fixture between host nation Germany and Costa Rica was a pulsating end-to-end affair which the German's won 4-2 if you didn't already know. Lets hope that the rest of the games are as entertaining as this one. I'm pleased to say that the current German team is a far cry from the boring, technical, well-drilled units that represented the country at previous tournaments...now they play with flair and penache and if last night's game is anything to go by they'll be one of the most entertaining teams to watch.

Here are some of my predictions for the tournament.

• World Cup winners: Czech Republic (the second ranked nation in the world behind Brazil), I've put my money where my mouth is on this one, putting down $20 at the TAB. If the Czechs do it, I'll be $600 better off. Unbelievably good value for them in the betting at $31. I couldn't resist. Brazil are going to be awfully competitive though.

• Golden Boot winner (highest scorer at the tournament): Miroslav Klose (Germany). Bit of cheating on this prediction since he's already scored two. But the all-out attack mentality of Germany will see them score plenty of goals this tournament I reckon and Klose should cash-in heavily I think.

• Surprise packet of the tournament: Ukraine. They are in one of the easier groups and should progress to the knockout stages. They have probably the best striker in the world in Andriy Schevchenko.

• How far will Australia go?: They have the potential to progress to the first knockout stage, but I'm quite pessimistic about this. My head says they'll be overawed by the occasion and finish last in their group, recording two losses and one draw (against Croatia).
  

I now have a month of late nights and big sleep-ins to look forward to along with plenty of football action. Go the Czechs and the Aussies!