I know we’re in the midst of a pretty exciting IndyCar season, but I wanted to take the opportunity to mention something else occurring this summer – the World Cup. I’m a huge soccer fan and will be glued to the TV June 11 – July 11, rooting for England (hey, I was born there) and hoping for some magical goal, incredible matches and a thrilling cup final. Player of the tournament? My pick is Wayne Rooney. Disagree?
I know soccer isn’t very popular in the US, but it’s huge a sport and there are many similarities to IndyCar – the global appeal, Brazilians seem to always do well, cool fans, great athleticism, etc.
There are 32 teams at the World Cup. There are 26 drivers in tonight’s Firestone 500k race at Texas Motor Speedway. So what’s the Nation/Driver breakdown? Before I get into that, check out Rafa Matos visiting the Kansas City Wizards of MLS.
Australia – Ryan Briscoe, Will Power
Brazil – Helio Castroneves, Mario Moraes, Tony Kanaan, Vitor Meira, Raphael Matos, Mario Romancini
England – Alex Lloyd, Justin Wilson, Dan Wheldon, Jay Howard
Japan – Hideki Mutoh, Takuma Sato
New Zealand – Scott Dixon
South Africa – Tomas Scheckter
Switzerland – Simona de Silvestro
USA – Marco Andretti, Danica Patrick, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Sarah Fisher
Not in the World Cup 
Belgium – Bertrand Baguette
Canada – Alex Tagliani
Scotland – Dario Franchitti
Venezuela – E.J. Viso, Milka Duno
We had some time down here in Texas, so IMS Productions asked some of the drivers what their picks were for the World Cup. Take a look -
Who’s your pick for the 2010 World Cup?
And, BTW – IndyCar staffer Arni Sribhen and Indy Lights driver Martin Plowman have a friendly wager going on the England vs USA match June 11. Stay tuned for a blog post on that.
Let’s see… in the most recent 10 World Cups, the winners have been Italy, France, Germany, Argentina, and Brazil. I see Italy, Brazil, and Germany as quite strong again, but not prohibitive favorites. England, Netherlands, and Spain all have very good chances at making the final 4. Should be very interesting! US has a tough road, assuming 2nd in their group, they will most likely face Germany in the first round of knockouts… Looking forward to futbol fever! Best of luck to all teams!
By the way, I’m going out on a limb and picking Spain over Netherlands in the final.
Chile obviously!
As an Irishman based in England, I’m saying Saturday will finish:
USA 2 England 1
[...] a song written for the US Men’s soccer team (we’ve written about soccer on this blog before). Weezer, IZOD, IndyCar and 2011. [...]
im in search of a good mmorpg game based around knights and stuff like that. also if its based around the roman times ill accept that too.