COUNTDOWN TO 2010 WORLD CUP!

Just as the smoke clears from one great Cup final, we find ourselves on the cusp on yet another Cup journey. This one is widely considered THE BIG ONE; it only takes place every four years: The World Cup. Four years of qualifying matches involving 204 countries narrowed down to 32 lucky teams, all vying for the most coveted trophy in sports.

It's been quite sometime since I've seen such anticipation for a sporting event, but if there is going to be a lot of fuss over an event, this is the one. The teams in contention for the Cup are:

GROUP A: France, Mexico, South Africa, Uruguay

GROUP B: Argentina, Greece, Nigeria, South Korea

GROUP C: England, United States, Slovenia, Algeria

GROUP D: Germany, Serbia, Australia, Ghana

GROUP E: Denmark, Japan, Netherlands, Cameroon

GROUP F: Italy, Slovakia, New Zealand, Paraguay

GROUP G: Brazil, Ivory Coast, Portugal, North Korea

GROUP H: Chile, Spain, Honduras, Switzerland

Because the matches are taking place in South Africa (I believe a six-hour time difference), the matches will be aired LIVE, but at 7:30am, 1oam and 2:30pm here in NYC. A bit of an adjustment will have to be made if you plan on watching your favorite team during the week as all of the matches will take place during the commute to work and during the actual work day.

However, the World Cup is so popular that folks will be spending a lot of time on their computers (you better hope your employer didn't put up that additional firewall to block ESPN3), or sneaking out for that extra-long smoke/bathroom break to run over to bars like Third and Long to catch the matches. That's part of the allure of the Cup. To see what lengths folks would go through to actually see a match. In any case, it's always a fun time and for the next month, national pride will be evident all over the city.

Of course, yours truly has to put in a prediction for the Cup and while I am no expert in these sort of things, I like to think I know a thing or two about a thing or two when it comes to "The Beautiful Game". That being said, I'm going out on a limb here and predicting THE NETHERLANDS to win it all. On paper, they have the tools to do it all; however, if they can keep their "Divas" in check and keep the in-fighting between them down to a minimum, they could surprise a lot of people.

REMEMBER: THIRD AND LONG is open for ALL WORLD CUP MATCHES, INCLUDING 7:30am MATCHES! All drafts $4.00 (except Premium brands) during all WC matches!

Third and Long invites you to join our World Cup Contest on Yahoo! Sports. Free to play! Win a $25 bar tab! Follow the link below and sign up before the first match takes place tomorrow. (You'll need a Yahoo! membership to play)

Group name: Third and Long World Cup. Yahoo!
Group ID#: 23328
Password: Pitch

http://us.wc.fantasysports.yahoo.com/world-cup/group/23328

Who do you think will win the World Cup? Leave your predictions here and let's see how it turns out!

And finally, to get everyone into the spirit of the Cup, here's my favorite commercial from World Cup 2006:



That's It. That's All I Got.