It’s prediction time! In the week leading up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, whitecapsfc.com will publish the predictions of one Whitecaps FC player or coach every day up until the first match on June 12. Today, we talk to Whitecaps FC assistant coach Martyn Pert.
Don't forget that you too can make your World Cup predictions for a chance to win a trip to Germany to visit the adidas headquarters and take in a Bundesliga match, care of adidas. Make your predictions for the first game now at //www.whitecapsfc.com/worldpup.
WORLD CUP CHAMPION: BRAZIL
Certainly the top ones would be Spain and Brazil but my wife is Brazilian so I’m going to have to go for Brazil. They won the Confederations Cup, they’re in the home country, obviously I can’t go against them because my wife would put pressure on me. They have good players. I was at Cardiff when we played Chelsea and Oscar … what a player he is. Elusive, good on the ball, nice number 10 so I’m looking forward to watching Brazil play.
DARKHORSE PICK: CHILE
They have two exceptional players in Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez. Gary Medel was at Cardiff with me and he’s a close friend. I went to spend a few days to watch them train. They’ve got an intensity and they wiped the floor of England at Wembley. So they’re going to be a good team. If they can get past a tough group with Spain and Holland, they could be a dangerous team. Other than that, Colombia might be a team to watch.
TOP TEAM THAT GETS UPSET: GERMANY, ENGLAND, OR ITALY
You can never tell in the World Cup. In 2002, France were the reigning champions and they lost to Senegal and Argentina lost to Cameroon in 1990. It's hard to predict just one. I just know that all three are in tough groups. There’s always a chance when you have tough groups.
GOLDEN BOOT WINNER: LIONEL MESSI
A player on a team that gets to the final stages probably. The normal candidates would be Messi and Ronaldo. I’m hoping that Sturridge has a good tournament because of England. But I’d probably go with Messi because Argentina has a strong team with other players around him. Both he and Ronaldo are incredibly good but I think Messi has better players around him that will provide him with better chances to get more goals.
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