The orange, white and blue of the Netherlands may be fielding their strongest team to date for the 2010 World Cup and if the qualification stage was any indication, Holland should breeze through the group stage.  Paired with Denmark, Japan and Cameroon, the Dutch are favored to win the group and my personal dark-horse to advance to the semifinals of the competition.

Previous World Cup’s have not been very kind to the Netherlands and the tradition of world-class football is not nearly what it is for some of the other high-profile teams competing.  Much to my surprise (I’m only 25), Holland made back-to-back World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978 but lost them both.  Since then, the team has done poorly, missing qualification for the World Cup three times.

If there’s one clear advantage that the Netherlands has coming into the 2010 World Cup and it’s the experience all of their players will have on the pitch.  Every projected starter has at least 25 team caps except one and even the primary subs are no stranger to stiff competition.  Familiar names like Klaas Jan-Huntelaar and Ryan Babel will anchor the late game substitutions and while you won’t see the familiar face of Edwin van der Saar in goal, Maarten Stekelenburg is no slouch.

Since 1978, Holland has not looked outside of their own country for a football coach and in 2008, after a disappointing exit in extra time of 2008 Euro, the Dutch have turned to untested Bert van Marwijk to lead.  Because he’s early in his coaching career, Marwijk is known more for being the father in-law of forward Mark van Bommel than for anything he’s done in his new leadership role.  4th place here he comes!

An odds on favorite to win the World Cup this year and every year, Brazil will field a relatively untested and inexperienced 2010 World Cup team.  Just because they are inexperienced, don’t think that they are any less capable of winning it all because if you sit down and talk with Brazil soccer fans, this squad has more talent and potential than soccer has ever seen.  The only thing holding them back might be Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri, better known to the world as Dunga, Brazil’s head coach.  Did you know that the translation of Dunga is “Dopey”, one of the seven dwarfs? How fitting.

In the 2006 World Cup, Brazil was cruising along in group play, amassing a 3-0 record without breaking a sweat.  In the round of 16, the energetic African team from Ghana proved to be no match and were easily disposed 3-0. With everyone expecting the yellow and green to make it to the semifinals, Brazil drew France in the quarterfinals.  Anyone that knows French soccer knows that it’s a slowed down methodical tempo and someway, somehow, France was able to keep a clean sheet and escape with a 1-0 victory.  It was a few weeks later that Dunga became the new team coach and the current coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, was terminated.

Hungrier than ever, Brazil made every South American team look secondary in World Cup qualifying a few months ago. They even made our predicted World Cup Champion Argentina look like boys in a man’s game. Their young and very talented team won’t start anyone over the age of 31 and still has awesome firepower with the likes of Kaka and Luis Fabiano, always making them fun to watch.  If Dunga doesn’t screw it up, expect Brazil to go far in the 2010 World Cup.  Just not all the way.

Spain is undoubtedly the hottest international squad in soccer right now.  Spain have only lost one of their last 38 matches and had a winning streak of 15 consecutive match wins, before falling to the United States in the Confederations Cup Semifinals.  Strangely enough, a team with as much history has Spain has never performed well in the World Cup.  In the last 80 years, Spain have not finished better than 4^th in the competition, failing to even qualify 6 of 18 times.   This year will certainly be their best performance to date.

With four games remaining in their UEFA qualifying, Spain is firmly on top of their group and in this bloggers opinion a 100% shoe-in to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.  The 2006 World Cup looked promising to begin, however a Round of 16 match-up against France spelled disaster.  David Villa put Spain on top early but the lead did not last as France answered with three consecutive goals to knock Spain out before the quarterfinals.

When you have won as many games as Spain have in the last four years, you would expect one man to be leading the team the entire way however Spain had an unexpected change in management.  In 2008, Luis Aragones left as manager of the Spanish International Soccer Team and Vicente Del Bosque took over.  Many were unsure if Spain could continue their recent dominance and disbelievers were soon on the Spanish bandwagon as Vicente won his first 13 matches.  (Who would have thought the US would prove to be too much!)

The make-up of the Spanish squad should be well known to all soccer fans.  The same squad responsible for the dominating 2008 Euro performances will most like stay together for the 2010 World Cup.  Villa and Torres (When Torres is “right” in the head) is the most dangerous 1-2 striker combo in the world and if your plan is to win a shootout against Spain, you can pack your bags.  If it weren’t for Argentina, this blogger would have Spain winning it all.

Coming off of a disappointing exit to host nation Germany in the 2006 World Cup, Argentina appears ready to push farther in next year’s event.  With longtime Argentine legend Diego Maradona at the helm, Argentina is our choice to win the 2010 World Cup but it will be anything but easy.

Argentina have four games remaining in World Cup qualifying and they are anywhere but in.  Continuing not to show up where there’s altitude, they sit 4^th in the CONEMBOL standings, and to qualify, must hold or improve their position.  Should they slip to 5^th, they would square off against the 4^th place team from the CONCACAF division, which looks to be Mexico or Honduras.

Currently, Argentina are two points clear of 5^th place team Ecuador and four points clear of 6^th place team Uruguay.  Of their four games remaining, two are road matchups against Paraguay and Uruguay and two are home matchups against Brazil and Peru.  Argentina could easily go 1-3, which could cause them not to qualify, but I am counting at least 6 points, which should solidify their position.

Goalkeeping is shaky at this point, as Maradona has admitted he has no real #1 keeper.  Juan Carrizo had been the man in goal for Argentina, however his play had been terrible of late, (Including his play for Serie A Italian team Lazio) so Diego has tried National team rookie Mariano Andujar.  Not much action so far but it looks as if Mariano will get the start against Brazil, which could prove to be his make or break game in determining his future with the team.

Every 4 years, the World gets together to perform the greatest sports tournament known to man.  While the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, College Football’s Bowl system, and the Superbowl can capture millions of viewers in the US, the World Cup is able to capture billions of viewers across the globe.  The United States gives Soccer a bad rap and to be honest, I was never much for soccer until the 2002 World Cup.  A senior in High School at the time, I had friends stay over and watch the games with me and it was an awesome experience.  Most of us have come from different countries and some even brought flags to waive in my living room at 2:30 and 5:30 in the morning (Again, Sorry Mom and Dad).  Germany lost to Brazil in the final, and the US overachieved.  It was a World Cup to remember.

The 2010 World Cup promises to be another memorable tournament, as there is no true favorite in the field.  When you couple that with the location, there is sure to be a ton of headlines in World News.  South Africa has battled a tough last few weeks in making sure that there would be suitable stadiums to play in and hopefully the World Cup will be remembered for the games and not for anything else.  Over the next few months, we would like to preview the top 16 contenders in the 2010 World Cup.

That’s All Folks will be selecting ARGENTINA as their 2010 World Cup winner  As a promotion, if any other team wins the 2010 World Cup and you have correctly selected that winner, you will win a $20 Gift Card of your choice.  International readers are more than welcome to post their winner as well.  While we will have a total of 17 posts about the 2010 World Cup, please limit your entry to 1 per registered commenter.