Group C (the World Cup)

• Argentina
  
• Côte d'Ivoire
  
• Netherlands
  
• Serbia and Montenegro
  

The group of death. The outcome is impossible to predict, Serbia and Montenegro is probably the least favourite to advance, but who knows. I thought they looked to be tiring towards the end of the match I saw.

It's quite possible for the Netherlands to win the whole World Cup, but I predict that Argentina and Ivory Coast will go through.

Group B (the World Cup)

• England
  
• Paraguay
  
• Sweden
  
• Trinidad and Tobago
  

England and Sweden seem like clear favourites to advance, but Paraguay might surprise them. England has problems with their strikers, but their midfield is very strong. I expect Lampard and Gerrard to score most of their goals. Peter Crouch or Theo Walcott have a chance to become new stars if everything goes perfectly.

I saw some friendlies, and I think Paraguay will have trouble with their defence. Sweden also seems rather confused about their defensive line-up, but they will attack relentlessly (or maybe not, the results lately have been less than promising). As they're our neighbours I pretend to believe in them still. :/

Trinidad and Tobago have Dwight Yorke and Shaka Hislop, but that's not enough to make a good team, sorry guys.

Group A (my World Cup predictions)

The Football World Cup starts with a group stage. There are eight groups, and the top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage.

I think the usual suspects will do well, but there'll always be some surprises. No-one's yet forgotten how Greece won the European Championships.

In my analysis I favor the teams and players I'm familiar with, and I'm heavily influenced by experts' opinions. :)

(I will most likely edit parts of the posts after getting more information. There are many friendlies being played before the WC, and I'll watch some of those. However I won't be changing my predictions after the games start, naturally!)

Group A

• Costa Rica
  
• Ecuador
  
• Germany
  
• Poland
  

Germany is the clear favourite in group A. They're the host nation, and they have a solid team. I think they'll go far.

Costa Rica is most likely the weakest team, and playing in Europe favors Poland. However I'd like to see Ecuador to finish second.

Hard Rock Hallelujah!

Oh my god! Finland has just won the Eurovision Song Contest!

I've watched the show faithfully since I was a kid. Many people hate it, but I've always thought it's great fun.

Finland has entered the contest 40 times, and it's nearly become part of our national identity that we'll never succeed. We're always moaning about that (and about Sweden doing so well), but now all that is over. (I'm not sure I can deal with that...)

Lordi's victory was monstrous, but don't try to tell me they only won because of the shock value, it was a very catchy tune!

"Rock 'n roll angels bring thyn hard rock hallelujah
Demons and angels all in one have arrived
Rock 'n roll angels bring thyn hard rock hallelujah
In God's creation supernatural high"

Writing in English

When I started to write this blog I decided to write in English. Sometimes I wonder how much easier it would've been to write in Finnish (my mother tongue). Oh, how much more interesting this blog would've been. :)

Seriously though it's sometimes frustrating when you are limited to only saying things you can say. I'm not trying to be too modest here, I know my English is rather good, but there's a huge gap between my passive and active vocabulary. I can read about almost anything fluently but I can't write about things.

As the World Cup approaches for example I realize that I can't really use any soccer terms or phrases without looking them up somewhere. Well no matter, a huge part of why I'm writing this blog is to practice writing in English.

Another reason for blogging is the desire to be part of the Internet community. I might be the quiet dull kid sitting in the back row, but I still don't want to be left outside, and as English is the current lingua franca it's logical to use it.

The potential audience is larger this way, but I suspect the actual amount of readers might be bigger if I wrote in Finnish. It might be easier to build a real community, but let's be honest here: I don't necessarily want that. I feel rather conflicted about whether I really want anyone to read this blog or not.

And while in some ways it might be easier to produce text in Finnish, the truth is that writing has never come easy to (for?) me. No matter what language I use I'm quite used to staring at blank papers and screens.

My Preferences

I think many people are familiar with Project Implicit.

"The IAT was originally developed as a device for exploring the unconscious roots of thinking and feeling. This web site has been constructed for a different purpose -- to offer the IAT to interested individuals as a tool to gain greater awareness about their own unconscious preferences and beliefs."

I completed two Implicit Association Tests with the following results (and my comments):

Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for Tom Cruise compared to Denzel Washington.

When I decide which movies I want to see neither of those actors make much difference either in positive or negative sense. I think Denzel is a better actor, but I feel slightly sorry for Tom these days, because the media presents him as some kind of an insane freak.

Tom Cruise definitely evokes stronger feelings in me, but I think those feelings are mostly negative or confused. Denzel Washington seems like a decent person, and when I think of him, the word "reliable" comes first to my mind.

Your data suggest a strong automatic preference for Ocean compared to Mountains.

That's not surprising as an initial reaction, but when you think about it more it's not so clear (but that's not the point, I get it). Both seem potentially dangerous and hostile places, I don't like sailing or laying on the beach, and I can associate mountains with some good things like hermit sages and daoist paintings.

2006 FIFA World Cup sites

Here are some sites dedicated to the coming Football World Cup:

• The Official Site
  
• Wikipedia site
  
• BBC SPORT
  
• World Cup Soccer Blog
  

And while you're looking through those, you can listen to 16 Horsepower live at Pinkpop 2000. :)

Sundries

If you've ever read rec.sport.soccer, you probably remember Victoria Barrett, because she used to be a very prolific writer in that newsgroup. These days she seems more interested in blogging. Her blog is called Sundries, which is a new word for me: "Articles too small or numerous to be specified; miscellaneous items".

She used to get into a lot of arguments with people, and many wondered whether she was a fake person or not. Whatever you think of her views or lifestyle, she certainly seems to have amazing amount of energy. Besides studying she is interested in various subjects from soccer and politics to all kinds of girly activities. I can only admire her ease of writing, and the amount of text she manages to produce for her blog.

Football Fever Rising

The Football World Cup starts in Germany on 9 June 2006, and I'm starting to get excited! The English Premier League is practically over with Chelsea winning the title, and I have to admit they deserved it.

I found this cute and funny Unofficial England World Cup Song: Once, Before I Die. You can watch the video clip and sing along.

It might sound like I'm supporting England, but don't count on it. The first time I watched the World Cup was in 1986, and then I supported them for sure. Usually I like Argentina too, and often I've liked the teams that end up in the third place. Any team can win me over with a little effort. :)

So here are the teams in alphabetical order: Angola, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Holland, Iran, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Mexico, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Serbia & Montenegro, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Togo, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, USA and Ukraine.

There's no Finland, we've never made it to the World Cup or Euro Cup finals (except women have), but "once, before I die", I hope. :)