World Cup Kickoff

I promise to get back to the rest of PB and MB's visit, but since the World Cup kicks off in about 5 minutes, I reckon now would be a good time to throw in my $0.02 on how the whole schnitzel is gonna shake out.

Winner: I know Brazil is the favorite, but I hate rooting for favorites. I'm going with France. I was counting on some scoring from Djibril Cisse to help Thierry Henry and Les Bleus along the way, but even though he snapped his leg Wednesday and is out, I think they can still get it done. All the talk may be about Zinedine Zidane and Henry, but take a look at their roster. They are loaded. Plus, they still have Mr. Underrated Claude Makelele keeping things steady behind the attack. Besides, they have way too easy of a draw to have odds as high as 12-1.

Tournament MVP: There is only one Thierry Henry. (Ronaldinho is a close second, and only cause he has to share the goal scoring for Brazil).

Surprisingly good teams: Switzerland and Australia. Gotta love Switzerland's nutty coach and almost all of Australia's starters play professionally in England. Add a sprinkle of coaching genius from Dutch maestro Gus Hiddink, and the Socceroos should be able to put together a nice little run.

Surprisingly poor teams: Portugal and the Netherlands. If Luis Figo plays, his team will not win. It's that simple. I love The Orange, so it pains me to say this, but they are very young and have quite a difficult group and draw. This is a team that is usually considered a failure if it doesn't reach the semi-finals. Me? I'll be surprised if they make it that far.

Breakout players: Fernando Morientes, David Villa and Fernando Torres from Spain. They simply score goals. They are well known in Spain, and Morientes has done well abroad, but I expect at least one of them will make the leap to global star this month. If not for the leg snap, Cisse would be here too.

Bust players: David Beckham and Claudio Reyna. Becks simply doesn't have it anymore. Sure he might score a highlight goal or two on free kicks, but over the course of 90 minutes, he is more of a role player than the leader he once was. Reyna's performance will be inversely proportional to how much Bruce Arena and the U.S. squad rely on him to make an impact. Coach Sampson said the 1998 U.S. team was Reyna's to lead. See the result. In 2002, Reyna wimped out of the Portugal game and the U.S. won. He played a central part in Poland game and the U.S. got thumped. Arena lessened his responsibilities in the Mexico game by moving him out on the wing and responded with some vital runs down the flank. Arena then moved him back to the center for the quarterfinal against Germany, and he spent most of the night chasing his mark, not defending his mark. Captain America he is not. Probably never has been.

How will the U.S. fair: The U.S. is good enough to win all three games. Their opponents are also good enough to send the Yanks home without a win. My crazy prediction looks something like this. U.S. ties Czech. Scores shocking upset over Italy. Then blows it big time and loses to Ghana. Whether or not they advance depends on how things shake out in the rest of the group. If they squeak through like 2002, a second-place finish in the group likely means Brazil in the Round of 16. Could they? Might they? Nah!