[dave11486]

Would you take Brazil to win the World Cup at 3 to 1?

[Dark Horse]

Would you take Brazil to win the World Cup at 3 to 1?

Only time a non-European country won the World Cup in Europe was in 1958. And that took Pele. Pretty steep slope to climb.

After 1958:
1966 (England), 1974 (Germany), 1982 (Spain), 1990 (Italy), 1998 (France). Brazil only reached the final once (and that took penalty kicks in the semis against Holland).

Three out of five times the home team won. I believe the home team is too weak this time, which opens the door to the second 'home' team: Naranja Mechanica...

FWIW, in 1982 everybody thought Brazil - with Socrates - would win it all. Not even close.

[dave11486]

Thanks for your opinion DH. I love watching soccer, but I just don't get enough exposure to it. I thought Brazil was close to a sure pick, but history says that this one isn't going to be easy for them.

[adriano]

yes, i would. Ancient history doesn't matter this time, and Brazil has the talent, maybe the best talent in history, so Pele teams not so steep to emulate. I have more on this in the Welcome to Soccer forum thread.

[Dark Horse]

My angle towards these futures is that of a trader, moving in and out of positions. Buy low, sell high.

Check out the values under 'World Cup Outright Winner' at Tradesports.com. They will stay up, and change, during the tournament.

Brazil would have to win the entire tournament to quadruple in value. Even if Brazil reached the final they wouldn't triple in value. Compare that to Holland or Italy.

[natrass]

Or England (or ... the argies)

[Baphomet]

Brazil had a great team and was the favorite at France 98.
Still, they didn't win.
I agree with DH, European WC's are won by europeans.
My favorite is Germany.

[Jonathan]

Brazil is going to win this one

[Dark Horse]

Brazil has about a 50% chance of running into Italy in the 2nd round. That could turn into a painful repeat of 1982, when Brazil was THE tournament favorite, beaten by Italy (not a serious contender, but the later world champs).

I will be very surprised if Brazil manages to come up with the right mix of players. And I don't expect an overly 'hungry' squad either. Without any of those two, the world championship will remain a distant dream.

[mad]

Anyone know of and/or feel like providing a breakdown of each team. Strengths/weaknesses, recent form etc...

[Baphomet]

The first round of matches will give a clearer perspective of each team. For now, we've only watched friendly ones, and they are like bluffing in poker you know, not their real bet.
Like Germany 2 - Japan 2, when last week it was Germany 7 - Luxembourg 0.

[VivaBarca]

Brazil or England will take down the WC this year. Of course everything can happen, just look at the EC where lousy Greece won 2 years ago, but I doubt something like that will happen this year. I believe these two teams are far better than anyone elso in this tournament. Germany has a fair shot with home-adv. butbutbut, they're team is in a different class. I've placed my bets on these two teams, and I would recommend it to anybody else - those are the worlds bets teams right now! No doubt! Maybe brazil hasnt won a european WC in many years, but this team is the strongest in Many decades! Ronalinho is better than any other player the world has ever seen and he will lead the way to victory - if England doesn't surprise us

[Dark Horse]

LOL England.

[Terris]

Brazil is the big fav this time, there are 2 reasons imo:

1. Ronaldinho

2. There is no other excellent team this time. Argentina not, Italy not (specially after the Juventus scandal), Germany not (defense is a joke), and England is only average too.

+300 is good value for this WC imo.

[Baphomet]

Germany is strong enough to win this cup.

Ronaldinho hasn't scored lately on the friendly games.
Germany is playing local.
300.000 euros will given to each player if they win the cup.

[Terris]

Germany is strong enough to win this cup.

no way...they wont stand a chance against top teams with this defense. Even Costa Rica scored 2 goals...

The 4 german goals mean nothing either, 2 lucky shots + CR defense doesnt have international class as everyone was able to see, lol.

[Baphomet]

The 4 german goals mean nothing either, 2 lucky shots + CR defense doesnt have international class as everyone was able to see, lol.

Lahm's and Frings' goals were top class, maybe the best two goals for now.

Porras (CR goalkeeper) did great, remember that CR only had to shoots, and both were goals, Germany had about 10.
CR is no favorite, of course, but I don't think our defense sucks. What we don't have is a clear offense, and another Wanchope to back up.

I agree Germany's defense looks weak, but Brazil's even weaker. Lahm, Podolski, Frings, Ballack they are all goal machines, they kick the ball incredibly on targert and strong enough to beat any goalkeeper.

[Dark Horse]

Bump

(I have futures on Italy and Germany. Messed up with Holland).

[ali_g]

yea i took it for a dime to win 3 dimes. it wasnt a bad pick and the odds were good and brazil should of won this tournament

Would you take Brazil to win the World Cup at 3 to 1?

[adriano]

Brazil just didn't show up, not tonight in the whole tournament.

I think football schedule is too busy, those are all very or the most important players in their euro clubs, maybe they were tired after all. Another factor is the team didn's meet any solid opposition before this game and just wasn't prepared to cope with a very determined France. I don't think that having too many stars was the problem, cause i've seen this team destroy Argentina in Confed Cup final in Germany last summer and they had no problems playing all of them. What a contrast with today, no shots on goal that i can remember of.

A well deserved France win, but it's a shame really with all that talent. A real shocker to go out like that.

[McBa1n]

Well said, Adriano...
3 points about Brazil and why they didn't deserve it, despite them having EASILY the best talent on the planet.
#1 - management
Ronaldo, while a sniper, CANNOT be your lone striker in a knock-out round game with your best player (Ronaldinho) is playing miserably. The combo with Adriano was nice, but when Ronaldo would go off and Robinho got on the pitch, they were RIDICULOUS. Robinho HAS to get on the pitch with more than 15-20 mins to play. I know he was hurting, but he showed why he is one of the top young talents in the game every time he played.
I won't say he's better than Messi Or Cesc, but he brought more energy than those 2 combined.

#2 - When a player took a kick from the corner, 2 -3 people were in the box while everyone else was waving their arms outside the 18.
Sorry, Brazil has SOOOO many good players that WOULD NOT sacrifice themselves in big spots on set pieces. When that happens, you deserve to lose.

#3
Ya know what - #3 ties into 1 and 2, so who cares.
Brazil, EASILY had the best talent in the cup, but I've NEVER seen a more selfish team in my life. Portugal, this cup, is 2nd, and while they are close, in my eyes, I havn't seen so many players think they can beat 11 players.
Cafu (I LOVE Cafu) lost a step and a half in the last 4 years... Roberto Carlos still kicks EVERY ball over the net...
Brazil, with all due respect, I have Brazillian family and they even agree with me - has no heart. Heart wins games. You can't show up and be as good as they are and win. You have to have heart to win against well organized teams...
Respect to France. They have a TON of talent that JUST decided to show up in the final 16... Havn't seen them in 8 years.

Brazil seems unwilling with their talent and wow, they miss Big Phil more than I thought they would (meanwhile, Portugal with Big Phil is overachieving like no team I've ever seen).

I'm disappointed in Brazil. They didn't deserve to win, although I thought they would, against France.
Respect to France and Portugal - they were the 2 worst qualifiers IMO - for the final 16, but they have both played very solid.

[Baphomet]

No time for excuses Adriano.

Brazil had a great team and was the favorite at France 98.
Still, they didn't win.
I agree with DH, European WC's are won by europeans.
My favorite is Germany.

[adriano]

These were my first thoughts after the game looking for some reasons. Brazil didn't have a great team this WCUP, they had great attacking players that didn't show up, their defense was too old on the flanks and too shaky in the middle.

European WCUPs won by europeans, blah, blah, blah is total bullshit imo in the modern game.