Group G and H Picks

Well, the Cup starts tomorrow, so I'm doing two sets of picks in one. First, Group G:

Ivory Coast vs. Portugal (6/15) - Draw
Brazil vs. North Korea (6/15) - Brazil
Brazil vs. Ivory Coast (6/20) - Brazil
Portugal vs. North Korea (6/21) - Portugal
Portugal vs. Brazil (6/25) - Brazil
North Korea vs. Ivory Coast (6/25) - Draw

1st Place: Brazil 2nd Place: Portugal

Rationale: I might be respecting North Korea and Portugal too much and Ivory Coast too little here. But the Elephants have always been a one man show, and that one man has a broken arm. Portugal barely qualified and Nani is hurt but I still give them the edge over Ivory Coast to get out of the group. After the group, though, I don't see them doing much. Brazil wins this group by virtue of being Brazil.

Now onto Group H:

Honduras vs. Chile (6/16) - Chile
Spain vs. Switzerland (6/16) - Spain
Chile vs. Switzerland (6/21) - Draw
Spain vs. Honduras (6/21) - Spain
Chile vs. Spain (6/25) - Spain
Switzerland vs. Honduras (6/25) - Draw

1st Place: Spain 2nd Place: Chile

Rationale: Spain is simply one of the teams to beat. They might be even better than they were two years ago when they won the Euro 2008. This is a midfield that can use Cesc Fabregas off the bench. That's just silly. They should win this group in a walk. Chile seems to be the least sucky of the rest of this group.

So, that wraps up the picks. I will be checking back in to see how my picks turn out. I fully expect that I will be completely wrong about almost everything. There's a reason I don't gamble on sports, but picking games is fun even if you suck at it. As I write this, opening kick is 15 hours away. Game on.