Who’s gonna win the World Cup next summer? Easy: Brazil or Spain, say bookies. That’s because said number crunchers pay no mind to upsets and always go with safe bets. Brazil, for example, are five-time World Cup winners and always produce a final worthy team. And Spain is red hot. Although they’ve never won a World Cup, the European champions didn’t lose a single qualifying game. Not one.
As for the United States, they’re hoping to repeat their 2002 World Cup quarterfinal finish or better, this after getting knocked out in the opening round of the 2006 tournament. Granted, the Yanks are no where near the favorites. And they could get paired with formidable opponents in the group stage. But like U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati says, “Why play unless you believe you can win?”
