Ole, Ole Ole: The World Cup, three days away! ... by gimleteye

No oil spill reaches South Africa where the world's elite football teams will compete on the African continent for the first time. Yea!!! I'm giving up the term, "soccer". So what if it offends. At the World Cup, we watch the beautiful game called football. Can the US beat England on June 12? Here's my analysis:

The US national team has had a much clearer head about what is to come, than England. All the advantages of England's squad-- Premier League stars load the team-- are diminished by having just completed grueling seasons in which they mastered the grooves of their club teams (and worn out?). So what we are going to see (for baseball fans on our blog) could be a tired All Star team. On the other hand, the US players are mostly chipping in the Big Leagues from the sidelines or the edges. They have a lot to prove. Goalkeepers, excepted. This could mean being more focused and cohesive as a unit, and, not entirely unaware that their earnings combined are less than a tenth of what the British stars earn in aggregate. If the poor Yanks win, Great Britain will never be the same. A Yankee victory would be like Big Ben falling into the Thames.

Look at the Brits: huge holes in defense. John Terry, Frank Lampard, and Steve Gerrard are awesome players, but in their last World Cup these three never jelled. It was quite a disappointment. This year Liverpool's Gerrard had an awful, awful season. Four years later, can this trio do better? Ledley King filling in for injured Ferdinand? OMG: King's knee is so gimpy he won't even practice with his home team. Wayne Rooney, genius that he is, will have a huge task against a determined US side.

Onto the best of the rest. Real stars are injured and out of luck, dealing blows to the most riveting questions of the Cup: could Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Arjen Robben or Michael Ballack made the difference for their squads? Idle chatter. On the other hand, the biggest entertainment of the World Cup is hands-down watching the most talented team-- Argentina-- try to find its way to the pitch from the psychiatrist's office.

This incredibly skilled basket case is lead by a former national hero and periodic coke addict, its coach Diego Maradonna. Don't get me wrong: I love this guy. He is Argentina's national soap opera in a track suit. I predict Argentina will find a dozen ways not to win. If Lionel Messi can turn his genius into field leadership, no one will be more happy and amazed than me. But to me, Messi is not a leader of other stars. His genius shines when he has space. He is not a Leonardo Da Vinci put on earth to organize future Michaelangelos. So many stars, so many ways to get lost.

Then there is Brazil. Brazil is to football as Cirque de Soleil is to circus. Let me put it another way: everyone else is just Barnum and Bailey. Now there's nothing wrong with the high wire act and trapeze acts, but wouldn't you prefer dancing in Rio at Carnivale. Every player is a magician with the ball. Argentina plays with anxiety. Brazil plays with joy. The US plays with strength, Brazil plays with intuition. Germany plays with force, Brazil plays the way mercury flows. Italy plays with flashes of brilliance, Brazil plays with brilliance plus moments of transcendence.

Could Spain defeat Brazil? I think the stars on the national team of Spain control the middle of the field better than any others. Their forward line is lethal and quick. Their defense is anchored like cement. Puyol is fanastic. But look at the rest: Iniesta, Villa, Fabregas, Ramos, Torres and for my money, the best player in the world, Xabi Alonso. Spain--whose economy is crumbling like the Miami condo market--needs some good cheer. This could be its year.