Day Twenty-seven preview: 7/7/2010

Sorry for the lateness!

Today's the anniversary of the London bombings five years ago, when several terrorists tried to cause chaos in Britain's capital. It came the day after London won the right to host the 2012 Olympics: two days next to each other but with completely different feelings.

As for why this is late: I just got my copy of the Sims 3: Ambitions expansion pack and was trying it out. Good: you get to take over your sim's working life. Bad: laundry! I give it 4 out of 5.

Today's match, which is about to start (aaah!) is Germany vs Spain. This is a close one! Yesterday's match also turned out close as Uruguay played well, but Netherlands eventually won. Here's the stats for today:

1 – FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings: Germany are 6th, Spain are 2nd.
2 – Previous matches: of the 20 games, Germany have won 8, drawn 6 and lost 6. Too close to call.
3 – 1994-2006 World Cup ability: Germany have always made the quarter-finals at least, coming second in 2002, and third in 2006. Spain made it to the final 16 in 2006, the quarter-finals in 2002 and 1994, and didn't escape the group stages in 1998.
4 – 1992-2008 Euro Cup ability: Germany won in 1992, and were runners up in 1996 and 2008, but only made the group stages in 2000 and 2004. But Spain won in 2008, although they didn't qualify in 1992, and made the quarter-finals in 1996 and 2000, but only the group stages in 2004. For having beaten Germany in the 2008 final, Spain win here.
5 – 2020 Group stages: Germany and Spain both have 2-0-1 records.
6 – Odds: (as of 4/7/2010 at bet365.com) Spain are 15-8, Germany 2-1.

The teams are so close, it's impossible to guess from the stats who will win.

Day Twenty-six preview: 6/7/2010

Semi Final One: Netherlands vs Uruguay

1- FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings: Netherlands are 4th, Uruguay are 16th and the worst-ranked team left in the competition.
2 – Previous matches: Only three. One draw, and each team has won one.
3 – 1994-2006 World Cup ability: Netherlands failed to qualify in 2002, but made the final 16 in 2006, the quarter-finals in 1994, and came third in 1998. Uruguay only qualified in 2002, and didn't make it past the group stages.
4 – 2010 Group Stages: Netherlands have a 3-0-0 record, Uruguay a 2-1-0 record.
5 – Odds: (as of 4/7/2010 at bet365.com) Netherlands are 21-10, Uruguay 10-1.

So with Uruguay the outsiders, and all the stats against them, Netherlands have every chance of winning this game and getting into the final. My prediction is for the Brazil-beating team to win!

Semi-Finals: Golden Boot Competition

There are four teams left in the competition, including the one with the top goalscorer. So we only need to look at the players in the top four teams to ask ourselves: who will win the Adidas golden boot? Let's look at who the goalscorers are, and what the odds are from bet365.com:

David Villa (Spain): 5 goals. 1-2 odds. You'd lose money on this guy!
Thomas Müller (Germany): 4 goal. 18-1 odds. Remember that he's not playing in the next game!
Miroslav Klose (Germany): 3 goals. 7-2.
Diego Forlan (Uruguay): 3 goals. 22-1.
Wesley Sneidjer (Netherlands): 3 goals. 10-1.
Luis Suarez (Uruguay): 3 goals. He hasn't scored for a while, but he's had a lot of chances! 80-1.
Lukas Podolski (Germany): 2 goals. 80-1.

Other scorers (who would have to score a lot to win): Cacau (Germany), Kyut (Netherlands), Pereira (Uruguay), Ozil (Germany), Van Persie (Netherlands), Huntelaar (Netherlands), Iniesta (Spain), Robben (Netherlands), Freidrich (Germany).

Semi-Finals: The Players

Let's take a look at the teams remaining in the competition. Most of them have players who play all over the world, except for Germany, whose players all work in their home nation.

In descending order, here are the most popular countries to play in for World Cup finalists:
Germany – 28 players The whole German team plus five Dutchmen.
Spain – 24 players Most of the Spanish team plus one Dutchman and three Uruguayans.
Netherlands – 11 players Nine Dutchmen and two Uruguayans.
England – 8 players Three Spaniards and five Dutchmen.
Italy – 6 players Four Uruguayans and two Dutchmen.
Portugal and Chile – 3 players each All Uruguayans.
Uruguay – 2 players Two Uruguayans.
Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, France, Scotland, Sweden, Turkey – 1 player each Apart from one Dutchman (Scotland), all Uruguayans.

This shows the immense popularity of the European leagues. The first three countries are all finalists, but Uruguay come far down. All of these leagues are either European or South American – the dominance of the sport in these countries is obvious, not just here, but also in the three Europeans and one South American in the final.