World Cup 2010 in South Africa... yes, I'm going to blog about it

So, I've decided to blog about the World Cup, and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to add much, but I've been posting so much on Facebook that I thought I would spare you all the constant stream of thoughts and images and stories and gather them all here instead.

I'm in a couple of pools, two for group and knock-out stage predictions and one for players and points. I've gone with really safe picks, which is lazy and will never happen. There will be a dark horse that makes it to the quarters or semis, and one of the big teams will get knocked out early, I just couldn't commit to those teams.

I've picked Brazil to win, beating Spain in the final, and Fernando Torres to be the top scorer. See? Very safe. My dark horse candidate (that I didn't pick) is Serbia. I think they'll come out of the real Group of Death, and they could beat England (or the US) in the first round. They would then face Mexico, Nigeria, France, Uruguay or Greece in the quarters, no-one too intimidating there.

I've also decided to predict the outcome of every match. It's easier than it looks if you aren't too worried about a dismal success rate. Go on, pick a day and try it.

Day One predictions:

South Africa 1-3 Mexico

France 1-1 Uruguay

Mexico will press constantly, and their attack will be too much for the hosts. France won't be able to score very much this tournament, and Uruguay are better than people think.

The SA-Mex game is already over but I got my hands on a PVR and I'm watching the game now. So far it's pretty exciting. South Africa are holding their own, but Mexico look dangerous. The celebrated vuvuzelas (plastic horns) are creating a constant, extremely loud buzzing in the stadium; it must be getting on the nerves of the Mexicans.

So, there ya have it. I'll try to keep my posts short and pointed, with a broad rather than narrow focus, such as where to watch in your neighbourhood (in Vancouver) but also what the South African experience might mean for Brazil in 2014 and why the Dutch won't win (hint: it's not for lack of scoring).

Sit back, watch some games, and enjoy the beautiful game.

Fantasy Football week 3

I've climbed the table from 10th to 9th with 39pts, on the strength of a few good matches by my defensive corps. I missed out on an outstanding 9pt performance by Shaun Wright-Phillips because the news was he wouldn't play, so I left him off the team, and he scored two goals for his old club Man City. I've also picked the wrong striker twice, leaving me with 3 points instead of 6 or 9.

My biggest worry so far is in goal: Tim Howard of Everton is at -1 after three matches. I don't have a back-up, and I expected better things. Unfortunately, David Moyes didn't bring in any new players this transfer window (anyone of note, anyway) and quite a few players left, leaving him with a short bench.

Good news, though: I'm within 9pts of third, which is the last promotion spot. It's a close race, and I think my point hauls will improve: Fabregas is fit, SWP will start most matches for Man City, my strikers are scoring, and presumably Portsmouth's defence will improve (I've got both Campbell and Distin).

Fantasy Football Week One

Ouch. I'm sitting in 10th place (of 14) after the first round of games. I had a few players really come through, and I had a few come up short, but my biggest mistake was in team selection. I ended with 10 pts, while two of the players I left out got 11 pts between them. Here's the thing, though: Do I get more involved, and spend some time researching the players, the opposition, etc? Doesn't seem like a good use of my time. 

Fantasy Football

I joined a Fantasy Football league this year, complete with transfers, bidding, etc... 14 members were each given £75 million to bid on and buy 16 players in several rounds of blind auctions. I bid quite high in my first round and secured 13 players, probably the most of anyone in the league, but was left with only £5 million for the remaining three. Some astute bidding secured me two more in the second round, and I'm left with £500,000 for one player in the third round. My team so far:

GK - Tim Howard, Everton - 10m

DF - Jose Bosingwa, Chelsea - free (in the second round, even) 

DF - Sol Campbell, Portsmouth - free

DF - Sylvain Distin, Portsmouth - 8m

DF - Lucas Neill, West Ham - free

MF - Ryan Babel, Liverpool - 4.5m

MF - Francesco Fabregas, Arsenal - 15m

MF - Luka Modric, Tottenham - 6m

MF - Martin Petrov, Man. City - free

MF - Theo Walcott, Arsenal - 7m

MF - SWP, Chelsea - free

FW - Gabriel Agbonlahor, Aston Villa - 14m

FW - Dean Ashton, West Ham - 10m

FW - Darren Bent, Tottenham - free

FW - Michael Owen, Newcastle - free

So, it's easy to see that I got many on free transfers, meaning no one bid on them that round, allowing me to overspend on those I really wanted. And I did overspend. No one else bid for a few players I spent a good amount on. That's what happens in a blind auction, I guess. I was also lucky to get a few players that had equal bids; the system makes a random choice. 

Edit: I finished my team off with a .5m bid for Kevin Kilbane. Not a superstar by any stretch, but a solid defender, albeit on a team that will struggle.

Bent's been hitting the net in the pre-season, and Berbatov is off to ManU, so he should get playing time. Owen will be my sub, I can't see him hitting too many this season.