Last Day at Work...

Finally, the last day at work has arrived and I'm itching to get it over with. I'm guessing I can kill off some time with a few coffee runs, a long lunch and a few more fooseball games, at least until beer'o'clock at 4pm.... I'm not gonna miss this place, I've needed a break for quite some time now, and 63 days of travel, football and the occasional beer is just what I need right now...

So who do I think will win the World Cup...?? Realistically it would be hard not to favour the Germans as there is a long history of the hosting country winning the cup, but somehow I just can't bring myself to believe that Germany will win. Obviously, my heart is telling me that England could go all the way and replicate the achievements of 1966, but I have been through far too many highs and low's with our boys to believe it will actually happen again. God forbid if England get to the final stages of the cup and go to penalties again, I don't think I can take that kind of pressure.

So who else....? Argentina is looking good this year with some bright new talent and a point to prove, so my money is on them making it to the final stages. If I did not consider Brazil as a possible finalist I think I would be deluding myself, especially as they have an easy set of group stage games, so expect to see them do well. It's also about time that Holland came to the party and pulled some good results out of the bag. They have a young and talented team that seems strangely un-fancied but I think they may just pull off a couple of upsets if they can qualify for the later stages.

My 'dark-horse' tip for a rank outsider to do well is Serbia & Montenegro who qualified well, didn't concede a goal, and have a tough gritty team of hardworking players. If they can make it out of the qualifying stages they will be a hard team to break down and a good 50/50 bet in a knockout game.

Every dog has their day.....