My World Cup 2006 Predictions - for now

So... the World Cup 2006 groupings are finally out. I was so excited I could hardly pay attention to my Material Science review class while I
started at my laptop.

I'm sure things will change in 6 months time, but here's my initial predictions... The reason why I'm reserving my confidence is because there's always a bogey team or two that makes it to the semi-finals, and go on to clinch third place. But let's see for now, since the groups are fairly easy to predict this time around. Brazil, France, Spain and Mexico have it pretty easy, whereas I really pity USA, not only did they get paired in the group of death, but against Italy, the team that they trailed by one point in order to be seeded. I still haven't made up my mind about who to support this year, still torn between USA, England and Japan. It seems pretty clear that USA has almost no chance of progressing, whereas Japan might just manage to. Since I'm stayting in America, I might as well support USA from now on.

Anyway, here it goes, in order, of course.

Group A
Germany
Poland

Group B
England
Sweden

Group C
Holland
Argentina

Group D
Mexico
Portugal

Group E
Czech Republic
Italy

Group F
Brazil
Japan

Group G
France
South Korea

Group H
Ukraine
Spain

Round of 16
Germany vs Sweden - Germany
Holland vs Portugal - Holland
Poland vs England - England
Mexico vs Argentina - Argentina
Czech Republic vs Japan - Czech Republic
France vs Spain - France
Brazil vs Italy - Brazil
Ukraine vs South Korea - Ukraine

Quarter Finals
Germany vs Holland - Holland
Czech Republic vs France - Czech Republic
England vs Argentina - Argentina
Brazil vs Ukraine - Ukraine

Semi Finals
Holland vs Czech Republic - Holland
Brazil vs Argentina - Brazil

Third Place
Czech Republic vs Argentina - Argentina

Finals
Brazil vs Holland - Brazil.

Yep. So it looks like Brazil will win yet another title again, with a close contest against Holland. But then hey, it's never predictable with soccer, especially in the World Cup, and that's what's going to make it really interesting.

What do you guys think?