Tag: predictions

World Cup News – The Final Showdown

After a month of soccer (or football, depending where you are from) taking over our lives, it all comes down to the final matches. With the semifinals over, we now know who will be competing for the #1 spot. Drum roll, please…

This year’s World Cup Final will be between Netherlands and Spain. The Third Place match will be between Uruguay and Germany. I was really hoping to get a Netherlands-Germany final, but this just means I can route for Netherlands and actually care about the Third Place match (Go Deutschland!).

Predictions: I don’t think Netherlands should have too many problems defeating Spain, but I knock on wood as I say that for fear of jinxing them. As for the third place match, Germany shouldn’t have too many problems defeating Uruguay (again, knocking on wood here).

What do you think about this year’s final? And who do you think will come out on top? Sound off in the comments section below.

The third place match is July 10th, and the final July 11th. Both matches air on ABC at 2:30pm.

Wimbledon Gentlemen’s & Ladies’ Semifinals

The Men’s Quarterfinals were today, and boy were there some surprises. Shock of the day came when Roger Federer lost to Tomas Berdych in 4 sets. We almost had another shocker with Nadal, but he was able to bounce back and win his match against Soderling. The draw for the Semis stands as thus:

Berdych vs Djokovic
Murray vs. Nadal

Predictions: I would love to see a Djokovic-Murray Final match, but I also realize Murray will have a real fight if he wants to beat Nadal. For that matter, anyone who beats Roger Federer is someone to watch out for, so Djokovic better be careful if he doesn’t want to be eliminated.

The Ladies Semifinals are tomorrow, and unfortunately do not include my favorite player that from the Quarters – Kim Clijsters. Instead we can look forward to Serena Williams vs Kvitova and Zvonareva vs Pironkova. The only player I even know anything about here is Serena, and I’ll be shocked if she doesn’t at the very least make it to the Finals. Then again, none of my predictions from the Quarters proved to be right (except Serena winning her match) so I guess I’m not one to judge the Ladies side of this tournament. Like I said in a previous post though, I am much more familiar with the Men’s draw. That’s probably why the only one I got wrong on that side was Federer losing (and let’s be honest – no one saw that coming).

Who do you think will make it to the finals this year at Wimbledon? Is it the person you are routing for or someone else? Sound off in the comments section below.

World Cup News – Quarterfinal Matches

After a month of following the best teams in the world, the World Cup Quarterfinals are finally here. Matches start July 2nd. First will be Netherlands vs. Brazil at 10am followed by Uruguay vs. Ghana at 2:30pm. Ghana beat Team USA to make it this far, so it’s ok to route for Uruguay to get a little payback. Don’t worry, it won’t make you a bad person to do so…

July 3rd will conclude the Quarters with Argentina vs. Germany followed by Paraguay vs. Spain. With Team USA knocked out of this tournament, I’ve been routing for Germany to go all the way to the finish line.

Predictions: Seeing as how I didn’t see either Uruguay or Ghana making it this far, it’s hard for me to say here which one will come out with the win. I’m going to hazard a guess and say Uruguay (mostly it’s just a hope they do come out with the win actually, but I’m still putting my money on them anyway). As for the Netherlands-Brazil match, I predict great things and a possible upset here. If Brazil wins, it is not going to be easy. For tomorrow’s matches – I like Germany and Spain for the wins there. If I’m right it means a Germany-Spain semifinal, which would make this football fan very happy.

Who do you think will make it to the Semifinals? And what team are you routing for now that USA is out? Sound off in the comments section below.

Wimbledon Men’s & Women’s Draw Announced

The draw for Men’s and Women’s Wimbledon singles matches has been announced. Here are the notables from each section.

Men:
Section 1 features Roger Federer, who looks to have a clear path to the Quarterfinals. Section 2 has a few potentials, including Novak Djokovic, Lleyton Hewitt, and Andy Roddick. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Taylor Dent or Mardy Fish make it through, although that is more of a long shot. Andy Murray should have a clear path in Section 3, although I will be routing for Robert Kendrick to surprise us all. As for Section 4, Nadal will probably take this section, but I will be cheering on James Blake and Robby Ginepri. Blake especially though, because he is my favorite of the American players. Not only is he a good player on the court, he has showed heart and strength off the court as well. His story is an inspiring one that I’ll probably do a feature on at a later date.

Women:
I honestly care less about the Ladies singles, but that is mostly because most of the players I used to route for either no longer play or have a very slim chance of actually winning. Usually the Championship goes to one of the Williams sisters, and I’m sorry but this is starting to get old for me. I will still predict winners based on likelihood rather than personal preference though. For Section 1, it will probably either be Serena or Sharapova (more likely Serena though, as Sharapova has dropped considerably in the rankings as of late). Section 2 doesn’t really have anyone worth noting that I can see, so I’ll go with the rankings and say Wozniacki of Denmark takes this section. Section 3 will hopefully go to Clijsters, although Petrova and Jankovic have a decent chance too. Section 4 will likely go to Venus Williams, but I will be routing for Sania Mirza of India. I have loved her since her first year appearing in the majors where she surprised everyone by making it all the way to the 4th round in the US Open. I said then that she had potential for greatness, and I’m really hoping this is the year we see that.

Those are all my notables for this year’s Wimbledon. The complete draw is available on the Wimbledon website. 1st round starts June 21st. Keep it tuned to News on Shuffle for all the latest in tennis news and highlights.