Hark! Yahoo global football
ambassador Jose Mourinho has come down from the mountain (and entered a
nondescript conference room) to present the world with his 16 picks to
advance from the 2014 World Cup group stage written on stone tablets (or
white poster board). With an assist from Yahoo's Melanie Collins, Jose
navigates through the clear favorites and the tougher calls of the group
stage with the same way most fans do: by backing the people he likes
most.
"I'm very emotional, I go always
with my friends," Mourinho says before picking the Netherlands to
finish as runners up in Group B behind Spain, since he and Netherlands
manager Louis van Gaal worked together at Barcelona in the late '90s. In
Group C he went with Greece and Didier Drogba's Ivory Coast advancing
over Colombia and Japan.
In Group D he couldn't choose,
citing Uruguay's strength and his ties to England and Italy. "If I say
England out, next season they don't let me coach here [at Chelsea]."
In Group E, Mourinho said, "I
don't believe in another collapse for France," and chose them to win the
group with Switzerland edging out Ecuador for the second spot. In Group
F, he opted for Nigeria to finish behind Argentina since the Super
Eagles have Chelsea's John Obi Mikel (Victor Moses was on loan at
Liverpool all season, so I guess he doesn't count).
In Group G, Mourinho is certain
no one will finish with zero points, but he does see Germany finishing
top with Portugal behind them. But, he added, that he's afraid for his
native Portugal against the U.S. And finally, in Group H, he said
"Belgium has the talent," but somewhat surprisingly went with Russia to
finish first and Belgium second — perhaps due to their youthful
inexperience.
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