ORANJE!

Well we are quickly approaching the start of the 2014 FIFA World Cup! Opening ceremony is early in the morning tomorrow here. The first match I will be watching is the Netherlands vs Spain game at 0620 Sat morning NZ time, (its hard for a pregnant woman to rise at that time, but hey, its better than 0300...) This game will be the the ultimate re-match from last world cup (the less than satisfactory 2010 final, where I am ashamed to say that Spain deserved to win it more, the desperation on the Dutch team lead to some down-right dirty and embarrassing play). This first dutch match will ultimately decide for me, how passionately I support them this time round, if they win or even draw, I may have to change my mind on my belief of them being knocked out by Brazil in the first finals round. 

You may now be wondering, why I have chosen to support the Dutch team (only if you don't know me very well anyway....) New Zealand being the country of my birth and residence would be my natural team to support, but as it is, they have only qualified for the World Cup twice, 2010 being the second. The whole country, myself included rallied behind the team lead by Ryan Nelsen under Ricki Herbert and enjoyed what we would call a successful campaign, no loss, all draws! The team was celebrated as heroes, that's how we do things in little old NZ. This time, sadly no dice.

In 2010 I was lucky enough to also support the land of my grandparents, The Netherlands! It was one of their very successful campaigns. Now we get to see if van Persie can keep a level head and his team in check this time round. They certainly have a very hard road to victory.

Sorry to disappoint, but my call for the final is much along the lines of the TAB, Brazil vs Spain, with Brazil coming out on top due to home crowd advantage. Argentina 3rd and Germany 4th. I would love to however be pleasantly surprised by the ORANJE!