World Cup
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It's that time... time for me to make my World Cup predictions.
It's that time... time for me to make my World Cup predictions.
Now, in the past, my predictions have been based solely on how a team looks - the hotter the team, the higher I had it in my rankings.
This year, I've dived a bit deeper... and I've come up with a number of criteria (this is also the criteria I apply to picking athletes in the Olympics) to assess how well I think a team (or athlete) will do.
You'll probably notice that skill doesn't really factor into my criteria...
Criteria #1
Countries I am a citizen of. Birth country first, then countries I've become a citizen of by virtue of familial relationships. Normally the order goes somewhat like: Canada, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland - and the UK is substituted in when necessary.
As a side... who decides when teams will participate as Team UK (like in the Olympics) or Team England, Team Scotland and Team Northern Ireland (like in the World Cup).
Criteria #2
Countries I've visited, in order of how much I liked my stay there. For the World Cup, the order is Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Honduras, France, Mexico, Belgium (to be fair to poor Belgium, I've only ever really driven through the country and stopped at truck stops for food), USA (sorry USA, you're always going to be last - and it's totally because I'm Canadian).
Criteria #3
Countries that I want to visit... of the remaining World Cup teams these countries are: Australia, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica, Japan and Russia (once they stop invading other countries).
Criteria #4
All of the remaining countries based on very superficial things like hotness of players, whether or not I think their flags are cool, how people are treated in the country (human rights my way, which isn't everyone's way, so don't bitch to me about it).
So... in the end, here is my ranking for the World Cup 2014...
1. England
2, Netherlands
3. Germany
4. Croatia
5. Bosnia and Herzegovina
6. Greece
7. Italy
8. Switzerland
9. Honduras
10. France
11. Mexico
12. Belgium
13. USA
14. Australia
15. Portugal
16. Brazil
17. Argentina
18. Costa Rica
19. Japan
20. Russia
21. Spain (yeah - I'm probably the only person to put Spain at #21)
22. Cote d'Ivoire
23. Ghana
24. Chile
25. Cameroon
26. Ghana
27. Uruguay
28. Equador
29. Korea Republic
30. Algeria
31. Colombia
32. Iran
So... let's see how my picks fair... World Cup starts tomorrow with one of my favourites Croatia taking on the home side of Brazil.
PS - if anyone needs me for the next month, I'll be watching footy all day long, every day.
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