Tomorrow begins a National Holiday in my household. Tomorrow, Mexico kicks off the 2010 World Cup against the host nation South Africa, 10 am (EST) on ESPN. And with that, allow me to predict what will happen over the month.

GROUP A: Mexico will win all 3 of its matches. France, thusly, will not, but will manage to accumulate enough points to finish second.

GROUP B: Despite having one of the worst coaches making the decisions from the sideline (yeah, I know, it's not nice to criticize Maradona. Deal with it!), Argentina will coast through the group with its only tough match coming against Nigeria, who will run with them and finish second.

GROUP C: I really want to pick the USA to beat England and the gods of soccer know I will be rooting for not only a USA victory but a USA romp (with Landon Donovan cracking one off the head of John Terry which results in an own goal!), but I need to go not with my heart but with my head. USA 3, England 2! What? My heart and head work in tandem. Surprise!.  England finishes second, getting in with a 1-0 win over Slovenia on June 23.

GROUP D: Not too many folks are talking about Germany, which is fine with those boys. They go 3-0. Australia surprises here and gets to the Round of 16.

GROUP E: The Dutch are loaded. Finish on top at 3-0. Cameroon gets in when 0-2 Japan upsets Denmark on June 24.

GROUP F: The defending champs Italy struggle in their opener but get by Paraguay and then explode vs. Slovakia to finish first. Paraguay gets in the Round of 16, beating New Zealand (maybe the worst team in the tourney proper) on June June 24.

GROUP G: What a group of play this will be. Brazil gets North Korea in the opener. It will be a tough task as North Korea plays with 4 goalkeepers and 6 defenders and one front runner who is actually a midfielder. No joga bonito here but a win nonetheless.  Brazil goes 3-0. Portugal goes 2-1 and gets in on goal differential.

GROUP H: Spain can pretty much play its JV squad and finish first and second. But because there are rules that say a country can only enter one team, Honduras places second.

ROUND OF 16: Mexico over Nigeria. USA beats Australia. The Dutch beat Paraguay. Brazil over Chile. Argentina over France. Germany knocks England out. Italy narrowly defeats Cameroon. Spain KO's Portugal.

QUARTERFINALS: USA soundly beats Mexico in a bloodbath. The Dutch tell Brazil to take their joga bonito back home 'cause it ain't workin' here! Italy takes out Spain. Argentina takes out Germany.

SEMIFINALS: USA no match for The Dutch. Italy plays boring soccer and nips Argentina.

FINAL: Italy 3, The Dutch 1. 

POST CUP NEWS: It's a Coaching Nightmare. Maradona is asked to politely step down. Brazil tells Dunga they want jogo bonito back. Dunga says no. Brazil says goodbye. Raymond Domenech (the world's worst soccer tactician) is done as coach of France. Les Bleaus fans rejoice. Domenech ends up as coach of the Red Bulls. USA's Bob Bradley gets an extension but steps down so he can coach the Red Bulls, who fire Domenech two days after hiring him because newly acquired star Thierry Henry  says "me or him, your choice." Fabio Capello steps down as England coach to take over the Red Bulls who realized that Bradley had already the team and well, he didn't do so well. No big deal. Bradley gets rehired by USA. Bradley hires Alexi Lalas as assistant since Lalas knows more about soccer than anybody else. No, really, he does. Just ask him. Lalas declines the offer to take over as director of everything coaching in France. He grows his beard back and Les Bleaus fans love him. Lalas lasts only 2 weeks. ESPN gives him an offer he can't refuse. Which is good news for us soccer fans because, in all honesty, Lalas is the only soccer announcer on ESPN not afraid to say something negative about David Beckham, who gets hired by England to coach the national team.

One week from tomorrow. Mexico v host South Africa. World Cup 2010. Can't wait.

With that in mind, here are some thoughts as we head into what should be an outstanding tournament with many teams capable of hoisting the championship trophy on July 11.

1) Please, Bob Bradley, please do not start Ricardo Clark in the central midfield with your son, Michael. They are the same player. That is, neither one is technically solid and both run around the pitch looking for someone to foul.

2) Please, Bob Bradley, please start Jose Torres in central midfield. It seems like everyone but you can see the dynamic Torres brings to the game. He has more technical skills in his socks than either your son or Ricardo Clark have in their bodies.

3) Please, Bob Bradley, please do not start Jonathan Bornstein at left back. Holy cow, I train some U14s that can beat him 1v1.

4) OK, Bob Bradley, I owe you one. I was not a happy camper when you picked Robbie Findley over Brian Ching but Findley can be an excellent late second-half sub and bring some spark to the attack. Good choice. Kid has got some speed!

5) Anybody feel sorry for Guiseppe "The Traitor" Rossi who decided to pledge his allegiance to Italy rather than the USA? I sure got a big chuckle when he was left off the Azzurri World Cup squad. Enjoy the Cup Rossi! From your couch!

6) Anybody feel sorry for Germany, which has to play without their captain Michael Ballack? I sure won't miss seeing Ballack run and down the pitch screaming at the referee for a foul he thought was committed on him 20 minutes ago.

7) I love Jurgen Klinsmann and was rooting for him to be selected the USA coach four years ago but I am not so sure he is going to add much to ESPN's coverage. He says a whole lot of nothing. As opposed to Alexi Lalas who is not afraid to say anything.

8) Of the youth teams I train, seems like Spain is the favorite to win it all. They won't.

9) Of the youth teams I train, seems like Brazil is the second favorite to win it all. They won't.

10) Italy 3, Netherlands 1. Azzurri defend their title. You read it here first. 

Thirty-one of the 32 2010 World Cup Teams have announced their preliminary 30-man roster. Only North Korea failed to turn in a roster. Figures!

Anyway, there were the usual surprise picks and surprise non-picks, notably on the Brazilian side of things. Let's discuss.

Brazil Coach Dunga left off his roster the likes of Ronaldinho (too old?), Pato (too young?), and Alex (too, uh, well, don't really have a reason here!). Ronaldinho actually was not really that big of a surprise. Although he has shown good form late in the season, he has clearly overstayed his welcome in the Brazilian squad. It's a shame in a way because when he is on he is a wonder to watch. Nevertheless, Brazil will not miss him and will not skip a beat without him in the midfield because they still have Kaka and he will now become the captain of this ship. Pato is an incredible talent and why he is not in the squad is beyond me. Alex even more so. I hate Chelsea but Alex has had a terrific season for the men in blue.

Still, Brazil remains the favorite to win it all. As usual.

USA Coach Bob Bradley had some interesting picks and non-picks. You can tell from his comments that he was saddened by the fact that he could not add Charlie Davies to the roster. Injured in a car accident, Davies has worked his back to being a possible addition to the squad but doctors have not cleared him to play and Bradley could not afford at this point to leave a spot for the speedy forward. Davies was clearly a player on the rise. What a shame. He is young enough, though, that he will be a future USA rep in the World Cup.

Looking to fill the spot up top with Jozy Altidore, Bradley added Edson Buddle, Eddie Johnson and Herculez Gomez. Buddle is a good pick. He had an outstanding 2009 campaign with the LA Galaxy and is really getting into form this season. Gomez may seem like a surprise pick but the young gun has scored 10 goals for his Mexican League squad Puebla. Keep an eye on this player.

Eddie Johnson? Really? Why? Eric Wynalda wasn't available? Johnson has been given enough chances to establish himself but just hasn't taken advantage of those opportunities. I think Conor Casey or Kenny Cooper would have been better selections and that is saying a lot for me because I don't think either player is World Cup caliber. But while neither one has Johnson's speed, both are better at holding the ball and both will work to get the ball. The next tackle Johnson makes in the midfield will be the first tackle Johnson makes in the midfield.

Also getting the nod although not in a surprsing way was fan favorite Damarcus Beasley. I don't see this one. I like Beasley. A lot. But he can't even get off the bench of his Scottish team and has seemed to just lost his way.

And of course I continue to wonder why Freddy Adu isn't getting his chance. I promise you that if given the same scoring opportunity as Johnson, Adu will finish in fine fashion while Johnson will miss wide. I like Adu. I think he should forget his European dreams and come back to the states, get onto an MLS roster and become a USA fan fave. He's exciting.

Lastly, let's talk about two traitors, er, players, who would be two roster locks.

First up is Guiseppe Rossi, one-time New Jersey wonderkind, who moved to Italy and is now in the 30-man Azzuri roster. He could be -- dammit, should be -- on our roster. If he was, he'd be our best player. By far. OK, I admit, playing for Italy is a bit better than playing for the USA if winning the World Cup is your preference.

Next up is Neven Subotic. He decided to play for Serbia. He was in our Under-17 residency program and played for our U17s in 2005. Now he runs the field for Borussia Dortmund. He would be a welcomed addition to our backline.

Well, at least this all adds up to excitement. For us fans anyway. The national team coaches need to pare down their rosters to 23 by June 1 so that means seven USAers will be let go. Count on Johnson being one of those.

(Next Column -- World Cup Predictions (rough draft, subject to change just because I said so!) 

...the MLS Season is off to a good start and that makes me happy. As any frequent visitor to this space knows, I am a big fan of MLS. Not ashamed to admit it. I love MLS. And I'm looking forward to the season because I think the Red Bulls will be much approved although not enough to make it to the Championship Game. There, you will see the Seattle Sounders defeat the Columbus Crew, 3-1.

...the Women's Professional Soccer league kicks off this weekend, which is also a good thing. But unlike the MLS I am not yet sold on this league. When a major franchise folds, as did Los Angeles, that spells trouble to me. Hopefully, the league will gain some strength this season.

...the English Premier League is once again proving why it is the best league in the world. My beloved Arsenal are in the hunt for the League title but, alas, I would have to admit that I don't think they will have enough to overtake Manchester United. The injury to Cesc Fabregas all but killed our chances!

...the injury to Brian Ching certainly makes things difficult for US Men's National Team coach Bob Bradley. Ching had certainly worked his way into the squad for the World Cup. He may still make it but his chances diminished a tad with his injury. So what does Bradley do now? Does he still hold a spot for Charlie Davies who seems to be on the mend from his horrific car accident? Does the injury to Ching open the door for the likes of Conor Casey? How about Kenny Cooper?

...and not that it is really that important, but who makes the US squad as the third goalkeeper? How about Kasey Keller? Of course, would he be willing to accept the status of being the third choice? Interesting thought.

...and speaking of national teams, the US Women are looking good. I did not like the selection of Pia Sundhage as coach but I have been proven wrong. Dead wrong. Sundhage has the women playing entertaining soccer.

...how is it possible that our national youth teams can't win big tournaments? How is it possible that our girls' U17s don't even qualify for the World Cup? We have the largest potential pool to select players from than any other country, yet we fail to achieve the kind of success we should be? Could the answer be as simple as I think it is? Could it be that the US Soccer Federation, with its Olympic Development Program, is not exactly getting the best players available but rather are getting the best players whose parents can afford the ODP process?

...I have only seen the new Red Bulls stadium from afar (from the window of a speeding NJ Transit train to be exact) but I have heard from many friends who say the new digs are fantastic. If nothing else, it's nice to watch a Red Bulls game on TV and not see the Giants Stadium football field lines and not see thousands of empty seats. However, I have heard one complaint from all -- parking sucks! Obviously the folks behind the planning of the building forgot that American soccer fans, like fans of all other outdoor sports, like to tailgate prior to the match. Not possible with the Red Bulls. The seats have been filled for the first two games, but count on this prediction -- there will be a ton of empty seats come late summer. 

Every youth soccer coach, no matter the age or skill level of his or her team, practices the skill of scoring goals, or as it is in the soccer vernacular, finishing. Kids love this part of a session.

Followingare some notes on finishing/scoring goals.

1.Take the word “shooting” out of practice sessions; instead, call it “finishing”practice; practice scoring goals; practice putting the onion back in the bag(sorry, that’s an old school saying!)

2.Approximately one-third of all goals scored come off crosses; balls sent intothe center of the goal area from the wing:
• the bestor most effective crosses from the area stretching from the edge of thesix-yard box (extend the line of the six-yard box out toward each sideline) tojust outside the penalty area (extend the line of the 18-yard box out towardeach sideline);
• the bestor most effective crosses land in the middle of the 18-yard box, near thepenalty spot or between the penalty spot of the top of the six-yard box;
       • the farpost is a more potential scoring target than the near post.

3.The key to scoring is creating scoring opportunities. These opportunities arisefrom:
       • creativeruns by the players not in possession of the ball;
       •attack-minded dribbling – the player in possession of the ball taking on adefender in a 1v1 situation;
       •maintaining width in the attack;
       • havingback support in the attack;
       • droppasses.

4.The worst shot is the one not taken!

5.Follow all shots, looking for rebounds or misplays by the defenders orgoalkeeper.

6.On close, angled shots think: “High to the Near Post. Low to the Far Post!”
 
COACHINGPOINT: A major problem in youth soccer is players dribbling too much when inpossession of the ball inside the opponent’s 18-yard box. This is especiallytrue of young girls who have a higher fear of failure than boys. Coach playersto strike the ball toward goal with their first touch.