THE DARK HORSES
By definition they are little known. Can teams like England and Spain be considered dark horses? I would be more likely to classify them as decent each way bets. I’m not yet convinced that either is really good enough to win this tournament, although England are already into the second phase and Spain have made an excellent start. In the case of the latter, what I think we mean when we call Spain a dark horse is: here’s a country that has a lot of good players and really should win a World Cup but never does. It will be interesting to see how the Spanish do this time. They appear to have a good team spirit and a lot of stars; but no real superstars. That might just work in their favour, but Spain have a horrible way of luring you into a false sense of security, only to let you down badly when you least expect it.
In my view, the real dark horses in this tournament are Switzerland, Mexico, Ecuador and the Ukraine. I know virtually nothing about the Swiss but many pundits are tipping them to do well. Mexico are ranked fourth in the world but have only one big star playing in Europe - Rafa Márquez of Barcelona. Ecuador have romped in to the last sixteen in some style, while Ukraine has broken a leg at the first hurdle.
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