Why Mark Watson probably shouldn’t visit Brazil in a hurry…
Brazilian football fans could be forgiven for taking a disliking to someone they’ve probably never heard of after Friday’s World Cup draw.
During the draw I logged on to Twitter and saw a “Tweet” from moderately successful comedian Mark Watson saying: “It looks like the traditional easy route for Brazil.”. Just three minutes later he followed this up with: “…I take it back now they’ve drawn Ivory Coast. So, North Korea are out of the competition.”. His final “Tweet” regarding this was: “Wow, I really put the kiss of death on Brazil there. Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast. Blimey.”. Yes Mark, you did.
Comedian Mark Watson put the kiss of death on Brazil
So that’s this year’s “Group of Death”. If you asked me which teams I wanted England to avoid from the respective pots, Ivory Coast and Portugal would have been high on my list. That’s not to say that I’m writing North Korea off but lets be honest, the odds on them getting through the group will have gone from large to astronomical in the space of ten minutes.
Obviously, Brazil’s position as one of the favourites is warranted. It seems that no matter who retires or goes out of form, there’s always someone ready to step into their boots. Perhaps the players who benefit most from this are those still plying their trade in Brazil, as after the World Cup they are almost guaranteed a move to Europe if they impress. Recent examples include Gilberto Silva who successfully made the transition to Arsenal, and Kleberson who, lets just say was less than impressive for Man United.
Hernanes could be in for a move to Europe if he impresses in South Africa
The Ivory Coast have suddenly become a feared force in world football and I was dreading England getting them in their group. They seem to have a perfect blend of pace and strength and have a world class striker in Didier Drogba. Their back line includes a number of players from the English leagues, including Emmanuel Eboue, Kolo Toura and Abdoulaye Meite as does the strike force of Drogba and Aruna Dindane. Finally, the midfield powerhouses of Didier Zokora and Yaya Toure are capable of pulling the strings when it matters.
Surprisingly, Portugal only just made it to the World Cup after sneaking into the play-offs by a point. It would however, be foolish to write them off with the quality in their squad. Carlos Queiroz hasn’t had the easiest of times as national team manager, but a squad with players like Pepe, Cristiano Ronaldo and Joao Moutinho can only do so bad can’t it? After all, they’ll probably knock us out on penalties at some point as per usual!
Carlos Queiroz is struggling in his second spell as Portugal manager
So what does this mean for poor old North Korea? Expected by most to be the tournament’s whipping boys before the draw, and now almost certainly expected to be. I however, will be watching with caution. Remember Senegal and South Korea in 2002? I’ll say no more.
One thing that is for sure however, is that Mark Watson won’t be gigging in Brazil any time soon!
Very well put together article, the Mark Watson part was a different angle to take, which made it interesting, but whilst it was relevant I think it dominated too much of your article. Well done for going and trying a something different though.
Didn’t spot any errors or spelling mistakes, good work creating a flawless article in that sense.
Others may disagree with you and say that the Ghana, Australia, Germany and Serbia group is the group of death with no minnows there at all, I think it would have been worth a mention at least, even if you didn’t agree.