What's called the "dress rehearsal" for next year's World Cup will start this week. The event is from Junen 14 to June 28.

There are eight teams divided into two groups participating. Who do you think will win? France isn't playing but I'm interested on how this will play out.

Group A:

South Africa (host)
Iraq (AFC Asian Cup 2007 winner)
New Zealand (2008 OFC Nations Cup winner)
Spain (UEFA Euro 2008 winner)


Group B:

USA (CONCAF Gold Cup 2007 winner)
Italy (2006 FIFA World Cup winner)
Brazil (Copa America 2007 winner)
Egypt (CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2008 winner)



Schedule of games here:

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tour...edule_1125.pdf

Group A is ridiculously easy compared to Group B. I don't think USA has much of a chance to advance. I'm going with Spain. They're almost unbeatable lately.

It's what I thought too. Group A is too lightweight compared to Group B. But at least it has Spain, which will probably win this.

I'll be rooting for Italy in Group B. I know, surprise surprise -- but France isn't playing so I don't have a reason to hate them right now haha.

The Spain/New Zealand game was hilarious. Torres had a hat trick just 17 minutes in. I know NZ isn't the greatest team ever, but Spain is just too good. So much skill at every position. They could have scored a lot more than five if they wanted.

Group A

Spain - 3
S Africa - 1
Iraq - 1
New Zealand - 0

Looking forward to the games tomorrow.

The South Afria/Iraq one was boring to watch. The only thing exciting really is the audience cheering for them. The stadium wasn't as packed for Spain/New Zealand. 4-0 for the first half, sacré Torres! I thought they'd score more in the 2nd half. They're really in good form.

I can't wait to see USA/Italy game. Remember the Rossi story?
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Brazil and Egypt's game was great, 4-3 and thanks to Kaka's last minute shot!

That was a great game. I couldn't believe it when Egypt scored twice in a minute to tie the game. I was hoping for a draw. I think that would have been the best outcome for the US.

Well, it would have been funny if US won considering they only played with 10 from the first half. The final score didn't reflect much what happened in the game.

Spain weren't all that impressive today in their 1-0 win over Iraq. They dominated possession but didn't create a whole lot of quality chances and didn't capitalize on the chances they did have. Iraq had several good opportunities to tie it late in the game. In the end, Spain did enough to win and secure their place in the semifinals.

I'll be rooting for Brazil to win it. Anytime there's anything that has to do with the World Cup, I'm always going to root for Brazil.

I missed today's game. There's still South Africa - New Zealand later but I don't think it'll be impressive either.