I agree with frenchie on the first and last pick, but predict a different winner in the second (of course ) and third. That being said, I think its a very close world cup so far with the "favorites" not showing their real potential and non-favorite teams playing some really good games.
My bet is on Argentina now. Messi is just too much and too clutch. Has showed up at just the right time in every game now. I'm wondering if Frenchie wants to rethink his statement that he can't carry a team like Zidane or Maradona?? Because so far he has.
2) As bad as he sounds, he's right about the Swiss. Just because you are born and raised in Switzerland, that doesn't make you a Swiss citizenship. Citizenship from birth is very much a New World practice. Many of the Swiss players became Swiss because they were good soccer players (no matter where they were born). They weren't "Swiss people who happen to become good at soccer."
Switzerland isn't an "immigrant country" like the US, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Australia... It's an old world country and you're either Swiss, or you're not... but you can become Swiss.
From Wiki:
Acquisition of Swiss Citizenship Jus sanguis
A child is Swiss at birth if:
He is the child of a married couple of whom at least one parent is Swiss.
He is the child of a Swiss mother not married to the child's father.
A child of a Swiss father not married to the mother is considered Swiss by birth when a link of paternity is declared.