Marcotti's World Cup Predictions

CNNSI.com's World Cup analyst Gabriele Marcotti will be covering every kick of the tournament, with a "91st Minute" column filed each matchday. Click here to submit a comment or question to Marcotti's mailbag.

In the first round, teams play one game against each of the others in their group. Team get three points for a win, one for a draw. The winner and runner-up in each group advance to the second round. The remainder of the tournament is single elimination.

Darkhorse Team: Cameroon

Predicted Top Scorer: Ronaldo

FIRST ROUND (May 31-June 14)

Group A
1. France, 2. Uruguay, 3. Denmark, 4. Senegal

Group B
1. Spain, 2. Paraguay, 3. South Africa, 4. Slovenia

Group C
1. Brazil, 2. Turkey, 3. Costa Rica , 4. China

Group D
1. Portugal, 2. U.S., 3. South Korea, 4. Poland

Group E
1. Cameroon, 2. Germany, 3. Ireland, 4. Saudi Arabia

Group F
1. Argentina, 2. Nigeria, 3. England, 4. Sweden

Group G
1. Italy, 2. Croatia, 3. Ecuador, 4. Mexico

Group H:
1. Russia, 2. Japan, 3. Belgium, 4. Tunisia

SECOND ROUND (June 15-18)
Single elimination

Cameroon (Winner E) d. Paraguay (Runner-up B)
France (Winner A) d. Nigeria (Runner-up F)
Argentina (Winner F) d. Uruguay (Runner-up A)
Germany (Runner-up E) d. Spain (Winner B)
Italy (Winner G) d. U.S. (Runner-up D)
Brazil (Winner C) d. Japan (Runner-up H)
Russia (Winner H) d. Turkey (Runner-up C)
Portugal (Winner D) d. Croatia (Runner-up G)

QUARTERFINALS (June 21-22)

Brazil d. France
Italy d. Cameroon
Germany d. Portugal
Argentina d. Russia

SEMIFINALS (June 25-26)

Brazil d. Argentina
Italy d. Germany

FINALS (June 30)

Italy d. Brazil 3-2

 

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