That is easily the World Cup in South Africa. I know the Winter Olympics start on February 12 in Vancouver BC but I do not expect very high TV ratings, not even in the US. The last Winter Olympics in Turin were pretty forgettable. For my taste, other than ski jumping (which to me it is a mind boggling sport!), downhill slalom, and the biathlon, all other events seem pretty boring (with curling being the queen of bore!)
In my opinion the best thing about the Vancouver Olympics will be Vancouver itself. Vancouver is a beautiful city. It looks like a cross between a European and an American city with a lot of parks, high-rises, sidewalks full of people especially on Robson street (shown in second picture below; among dozens of stores and restaurants there are two Starbucks coffee shops right across from each other!) and Gastown. I instantly fell in love with it. It is unfortunate for the visitors that it is going to be cloudy, rainy, wet, and mostly crappy for the duration of the event.
(We took the pictures during our last trip to Vancouver in June 2006.)
Back to South Africa! So what is it that makes some countries successful qualifiers? Obviously the luck of the draw. But theoretically all groups are fairly even in composition since the include seeded teams etc. In addition, most powerhouses regularly field good teams. Why is it that Brazil and Italy (two countries that have nothing in common) are such consistent winners? Why is it that Italy has a higher performing team than Greece and France? What are the intangibles?
So I decided to collect some data about each country that is going to be part of WC2010 and compare them relative to their FIFA rank. The source of data is the CIA Factbook which provides all kind of information about each country. Results will be published in the next few days.
BTW, soccer is a great way to catch up with all the latest geographical changes!
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