It is rare to find a Brazilian team that is not thepre-tournament favourite, and this FIFA U-17 World Cup is noexception. In our FIFA.com poll, 29.19% of all users said that therising stars from the land of the Sugar Loaf Mountain will breaktheir own record on September 9 in Seoul by lifting the U-17 trophyfor the fourth time in the country's history.
The future generation of Sele??o stars is looking a good bet then to banish thebitter memory of defeat in the last U-17 World Cup final againstMexico, two years ago in Peru. Certainly their gifted talisman,Lulinha, wasted little time in expressing great confidence in histeammates in an exclusive interview with FIFA.com (click on the link to read thefull-length interview).
However, a closer look at the poll results shows that fans donot believe Korea 2007 will be a walkover for Edgar Pereira'scharges. Brazil only narrowly edged out the "other team"option, which garnered 26.35% of the overall vote, and an analysisof the results by individual language shows that only English users(30.66%) see Brazil as top favourites.
While the French page shows up Argentina (27.15%) as thelikeliest winners, both German and Spanish users see neither Brazilnor Argentina, Nigeria nor Spain as favourites, opting instead forthe "other team" choice. With the German users, it isfair to presume many chose "other team" as a reflectionof their firm conviction that the playingmaking genius of ToniKroos can help lead Germany to their first U-17 World Cup triumphin six attempts.
What is rather more surprising is the fact that the majority ofSpanish users (31.45%) selected this option, leaving Argentina(25.93%) and Spain (12.60%) in places three and four.
Intriguingly, the "other team" option came a poorsecond behind Brazil on the English language page, with 25.19% ofthe vote, even though both England and the USA have qualified forthe global event. What emerges is that neither the Argentinians andthe Spanish, both traditionally strong nations at junior level, northe US, who have looked good in the build-up to the tournament, northe English who are appearing in an U-17 World Cup for the firsttime, are seen by their respective countrymen as clear favouritesto take the title.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is the fact that for allusers Spain rank no higher than fifth in the FIFA.com poll on 10.26%, behind both Argentina(third on 23.60%) and Nigeria (fourth on 10.60%). This despite thepresence of Bojan Krkic in the Iberian line-up, a young man tippedby many to be star of the tournament.
Take part in the next poll!
The latest vote at FIFA.com deals with this very question: Whichplayer do you think will impress the most at the FIFA U-17 WorldCup Korea 2007? Make your voice heard as FIFA.com seeks to give the fans a platform toexpress their views!
No comments:
Post a Comment