With the 2010
World Cup set to kick off momentarily in South Africa, two questions come to mind: how are you going to
follow your favorite teams, and who will win?
The first, despite today's busy lifestyles and work schedules, is the easier of the two. Between streaming feeds, ESPN's coverage, and availability of various mobile
World Cup apps, keeping tabs on your team is simple.
In fact,
ESPN Mobile TV, available with most major U.S. carriers (sorry T-Mobile customers), as well as to
FloTV subscribers, will ensure you don't miss a minute, regardless of where you are.
Certainly, the experience isn't the same as watching on a big screen TV or, even better, your new
3D TV, but your
Sprint Evo will give you a pretty good picture of what's going on (pun intended) - either through carriers' mobile TV capabilities (in conjunction with ESPN Mobile TV), or your Slingbox app (now available for
Android phones as well).
In any case, the power of the World Cup is evident in the host of applications developed to allow fans to track the month-long tournament wherever they are.
The second question is the hard part and, to keep up with something of a tradition he had started, I asked our friend, former colleague, and current TMCnet
Robotics blogger Greg Galitzine for his predictions (may he fare better than in
2006):
Round Robin Round
Group A: France, Mexico
Group B: Nigeria, Argentina
Group C: England, USA
Group D: Germany, Ghana
Group E: Netherlands, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, Ivory Coast
Group H: Spain, Chile
Quarterfinals
Argentina, England, Netherlands, Brazil
Nigeria, Germany, Italy, and Spain
Semifinals
England v Brazil and Nigeria v Spain
Consolation
Nigeria over England
Championship
Brazil over Spain
A few comments from a casual glance at the pairings:
Can the U.S. pull off another upset like it did against Spain in the Confederations Cup? If so, it could end up on the left side of the bracket - the easier side - likely against Serbia in the quarters (instead of Germany). Not a great bracket there, which could benefit the American squad and send them to the quarters against France, which is not as strong as in the past.
The other side likely brings us Spain v.