Writing about teams #5-1

I have reached the end of the tunnel, and have ranked all 32 teams in the tournament. It was a lot of work, it was fun, but I'm glad the tournament is coming quickly. The World Cup is always a special time--most people support teams that they don't know much about or how they got to the tournament, so they should definitely read my blog to have some background information!

I started at #5 with one of my two favorite teams, Portugal (USA is the other). Portugal is really fun to watch, and women love to watch Portugal because of Cristiano Ronaldo. He's quite a man, on and off the field. He's a great scorer, and Portugal will only go as far as he takes them. I recommend watching highlights of him, when you have a chance.

Ronaldo. What a man.

#4 was Spain, the defending World champions. They're really good, and are getting older. But they have an insane amount of depth. Really, they and the other top 3 teams can all win and no one would be surprised. La Liga (the Spanish League) is a big reason why Spain is so good, so I recommend watching La Liga on the weekends, especially Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid. You'll see why Spain is consistently so good.

Spain National Team

#3 is Germany. What a team. They're so good it's unreal. Great coaching, great scoring, great midfield, great composure and strategy. They just do everything so well. They're going to be good for a really long time, which is normal because Germany is always so good. But I like Argentina and Brazil in their home continent.

German National Team

Argentina. Brazil. The two best teams in the tournament in my opinion. No lack of starpower here. Argentina has Messi and Aguero. Brazil has Neymar and a lot of others, because, well, they're Brazil. I think these two will be in the final, and either can win and it wouldn't surprise me. I'm super excited to see how it turns out, but hope Portugal and USA do well.

Argentina National Team

Brazil National Team

Writing about teams #11-6

The blog has gotten more and more fun to write, as I see the light at the end of the tunnel. This is where I started to write about the legit contenders, starting with France. France has a bunch of top class players, but I just think they're not ready to make a run at the World Cup. Colombia checked in at number 10, but I just think with the injury to Falcao, their best player, that they won't be able to make it further than the round of 8 unless he comes back 100% healthy. #9 was Uruguay, and I only have them in the top 10 because Suarez and Cavani will carry them that far.

Suarez and Cavani

At #8, I chose Italy because I don't think they play a fast enough pace to keep up with the top teams, which have a great deal of speed. At #7, I chose Belgium. This is a really dangerous team, and they're young. I know a lot about these players, because a lot of them play in the Premier League, which I watch every weekend. Finally, at #6, I had the Netherlands, the runner-up from 2010. They're a very talented team, but they didn't get along well in the 2012 Euro, their last major tournament. Coach Louis Van Gaal seems to have sorted things out, and they should be fun to watch.

Netherlands National Team

The one thing that was so difficult for me was picking from so many good players to break down for each team. For all of these teams, there are more than 3 key players, so it's tough to pick the best players. I just really liked writing more and more as the teams got better.