World Cup 2010.2

It strikes me that a quick overview of how the World Cup tournament comes to be might be helpful.

There are 32 teams chosen from various international FIFA futbol associations. Slots in the tournament are awarded to the associations and have nothing to do with FIFA's overall worldwide rankings of soccer clubs. Ergo, the 105th ranked North Korean team is one of the 32 teams in the tournament while the 10th ranked Croatian squad is watching the whole event in some bar in distant Zagreb.

From here the 32 teams are placed into 8 groups of 4 teams each. These 8 groups play an average of three matches a day for a round robin of games lasting nearly a month. In the end, all 4 teams in each group have competed against one another and the top 2 teams of each group form a single elimination play-off pyramid.

Within groups, each game played is an opportunity to acquire points. Points are assigned thusly: 3 for a win, 1 for a tie, 0 for a loss. So within each group 9 is the maximum # of points and 0 is the minimum.

When you think about it, the whole process is one of the most meritorious and egalitarian on the planet. It both rewards excellence while putting out there the possibility of impossible chance--the basis of all HOPE.

This is why the plethora of ties matters so much in the first round of competition; especially, because so many of these 1 point 'victories' leave wide open the possibility of spoilers within any group advancing to the next level... i.e. HOPE. But such things also ratchet up the drama and excitement.

Today I was greatly thrilled to see 24th ranked Switzerland hand 2nd ranked Spain a defeat in the final game of round one. It's a big upset. The only match that compares in the first 16 games is 31st ranked Paraguay's upset of 5th ranked Italy. Granted Italy is the current world Champion, but their prospects of actually winning a consecutive title are not considered that good; however, many aficionados of the sport have cash riding on Spain.

My novice's eyes are turning toward the Netherlands and Argentina, but clearly Brazil is the team to beat...the fact that 105th ranked North Korea even scored a single goal against them in round one play is enough to carry that medieval nation's self-esteem through the next 4 year's of austerity, repression, and self-delusion. And that's the power of the World Cup.