CAIRO: A couple of weeks in to the tournament, and with Italy, Spain, Egypt, England and Germany all crashing out prematurely, I had begun to question whether I knew anything about football at all. I’m still undecided, but I’m happy that two of my picks, Ghana and Brazil, have made it to the final. Ghana have been the real surprise team of the tournament, and have looked awesome so far. A deadly forward partnership between Osei and Adiyah have knocked home 12 goals between them, and Brazil’s defence will need to be on top form to stop them adding to that. Worryingly for Ghana, the Brazilian back line has been on top form throughout the tournament, with A Seleção only shipping 3 goals over 6 matches thus far. I’ve not been completely convinced, though, and they narrowly scraped through their semi-final match against Costa Rica. You can never underestimate Brazil, though, and with Alan Kardec in good form and plenty of goals coming from midfield, they will definitely threaten. I’d hate to make any predictions, but I’d love to see Ghana win. African youth really is the future of football – look at how many of the Premiership’s latest stars are Ghanan, Ivorian, Cameroonian, Nigerian, South African – and I think it would be great to see an underdog African team win something big. Either way the score falls, Egypt is hoping for a record crowd for the match, which would bring the youth level to the global stage. We shall see. BM
