The media coverage is entirely too great. It puts an unhealthy pallor over the entire sport when Brazil wins. If you're talking about the best nation over the past 20 years, it's been Brazil. I'm not getting into before that because a lot of teams put out amateur sides and countries were split. Pele is great, but I don't know how he'd stack up against the players of today if played today (assuming that Pele had modern training, diet, etc).
I feel that when Brazil wins, football gets less watchable. Brazil's win in 2002 has left me with a bad taste in the mouth ever since because of what could've been. FIFA's yellow card rules prevented key German players from playing in that Final. Ronaldo and Ronaldinho were great, no doubt, but it just seemed wrong. It's hard to put it into words. Moreover, it's not just that I don't want Brazil to win (although I've never rooted for Brazil, admittedly), I'd really like to see someone new win. Like when Spain won. They'd been decent for a while, but they always had that monkey on the back. They finally got there.
I can say all of that, but it's like how people hate/dislike/whatever some of the teams in America. A lot of the "hated" teams in America haven't won for a long time or are generally good, but don't really challenge for the title. Look at Duke (they won a few years ago, but hadn't won for ages), the Patriots (they haven't won in a decade), the Yankees (won a few years ago, but always had major defiencies, and hadn't won for a while before that). I don't really know a hockey equivalent, maybe the Red Wings? Basically, if anyone other than Brazil wins, I'll be perfectly fine with it, even if it Hardy's beloved homeland.
I don't hate/dislike Brazil because they've won, necessarily. It's hard to explain. I have Brazilian friends, the club I support has four Brazilians, so it's not that I dislike Brazil or anything, I just dislike the Seleção and everything that goes with them.
---------- Post added at 01:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:18 PM ----------
How can you favour France? France doesn't even favour France.
Well, it's because France usually performs against big teams. Hard to say. When you're a long term supporter of a team (since 1997), you have to believe. You can't be giving up like the French fans did after the 2-0 loss to Ukraine. I believed the whole way that France would still qualify and then they did.
If the team gets together and focuses, they could easily pull off a win over a big team. If the ball rolls in their favor (I was going to make a dice reference, but...), things could potentially happen. Any of the teams on the above list could technically win the World Cup. I didn't say that France was a top pick for me, they're probably 8th or 9th favorite in the World Cup (pre-draw, at least). Having 10 or so teams who could ostensibly win the World Cup is a good thing.
Do I believe that France will win the WC? No. I also don't believe that Colombia, Belgium and Argentina will win. Holland has the players, so there's always a chance, but realistically speaking, they won't win, but you never know, because look at how Spain got over the hump in 2010.
Brazil, Spain, and Germany are my top three favorites, not in any specific order, although probably favoring Brazil because it's in Brazil. The second tier of teams would be Italy and Portugal. The team on the edge would be Holland.
---------- Post added at 01:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:25 PM ----------
However, if you take into consideration the draw, Argentina's chances go way up because of how seeding and placement works. Permutations and Groups can drastically alter a team's chance.s