2010 World Cup: The Next Champion Will Be...

It's time for our 2010 World Cup champion pick. Who will it be?

At 4/1 odds, Spain and Brazil are the front runners, but cross them off the list. How about Italy, last year's champion, at 14/1 for the repeat? No thanks. 2006 Runner-up France at 20/1 won't be sniffing the Cup championship this year either.

We could go with a homer pick, the United States at 50/1, but while we picked the Americans to win Group C, we aren't that big of homers. Their Group C rival, England, is sitting on 8/1 odds, but we predict more struggles for the English when it comes to dealing with the expectations. All you can expect is an upset from them in the round of 16.

In our view, it's down to Netherlands (9/1) and Argentina (6/1), and we're going with the Argentines. Injury concerns have us frightened on the Dutch front, though you can expect them to be one of the final four teams remaining.

So there you have it. Your 2010 World Cup champion, according to the new and improved Stock Lemon gurus, will be Argentina.

But hey, there's only one way to find out--playing the games! Kick-off of the 2010 World Cup is tomorrow in South Africa, and you can bet that we will have plenty of coverage throughout!

2010 World Cup: Group G Betting

Our 2010 World Cup analysis by group rolls on, with just two more groups to g0. So let's take care of one of those remaining groups, G. Your odds to win the group are as follows:

Brazil... -175
Portugal... +275
Ivory Coast... +450
North Korea... +10000

We want so badly to pick upsets just for the sake of picking upsets, but as you can see from the odds above, they are pretty appropriately assigned. We simply cannot bet against Brazil to take Group G, even if they don't play with their usual flashy style. This year, we will probably see the most complete team effort by the Brazilians, and while it might not be their most exciting squad, it will certainly be one of their best in terms of playing team soccer.

Good as Brazil is, Portugal is not far behind. They wouldn't be a horrible gamble at +275 to win the group, but they would have to play perfect soccer against Brazil for you to see a payday. Then again, we are not sure if they won the battle below to determine whether they are the greatest nation on Earth:

Ivory Coast will muster up a win against the hopeless North Koreans, but can only pray for a tie against one of the stronger two in the group. Once again there is a pretty clear cut 1-2 punch that will likely advance to the round of 16. Our final standings are:

1. Brazil

2. Portugal

3. Ivory Coast

4. North Korea

So, yes, no upsets again. Our standings reflect the odds, but with good reason. And so, we are down to one group left before we throw some 2010 World Cup prop bets your way.

As always, stay tuned!