Of the above, only New Zealand is a true minnow imho. All other teams are more than capable of winning the tournament, I think. US has looked good in recent friendlies and Colombia has done well over the past year, it seems. And Japan, because I'm biased.
True, but considering that you have two monsters in Brazil and France, "lesser teams" is an adequate term. I voted for Colombia, actually, as theirs is an easier group and they should have an easier time to the semi's than whomever finishes second to Brazil (if form holds, that is).
France is taking this seriously, they want to erase what happened at the WC. Besides being at home, they should do very well.
Agreed. And both giants are motivated for this event, as France want to redeem themselves for last summer while Brazil are back in France after their disaster (relatively speaking) of '98. I expect the top darkhorse to be the winner of Colombia vs Japan. Not because they're better than the other contenders, but because they have an easier path to the semifinal.
Yes I termed it "Lesser" Because France and Brazil are giants compared to the others. I think that Japan will do well as well as Turkey. They performed well in Japan/Korea and i have always liked Japan's style of play (besides the faking of injuries they are kings at it) But serious other than that Japan's style of play is very impressive. Go Japan!