Coaching For The Brave

Psst. Do you want to know who's going to win the world Cup? Would you like a sure fire way of beating the Bookies? Read on you lucky man... Every bookmaker currently has Brazil as their favourite to win the World Cup. You can get 3 to 1 if you hurry. Why are they favourites though? What makes them so special? I've delved into the World Cup statistics to find the factors that really matter. The ones that over the last 19 World Cups have made a difference. They are fascinating and do lead you to a clear winner. Is it Brazil though? From a statistical point of view the following factors provide the best indicator of a World  Cup Winner. The Continent where the tournament is played, FIFA Rankings from just before the tournament and the average age of the team. Continent By far, this has been the biggest indicator. you can pretty much guarantee that the winner will come from South America. 15 out of the 19 World Cups have been won by a team from the continent tha

Ryan Giggs has finally given up the ghost and hung up his Reeboks. Great news for defenders everywhere. The announcement has thrown up stats galore. One stuck with me as probably the greatest stat I've ever seen. It's simply mind boggling. Here it is: Ryan Giggs has played at the top level for so long that if George Best had played for the same amount of time he'd have played under Alex Ferguson. That is an amazing piece of information. Do you agree or can you top that? Enjoy your retirement Ryan. Although I think you've got a very busy season around the corner.

Things don't always turn out as you wish. It's a shame really. The boy with the world at his feet has taken more backward steps recently. It just goes to show that pace, skill and a big head aren't all that's required to make it as a top level professional footballer.  After announcing to the world that he was the next great thing Wilfred Zaha has gone backwards. It was never meant to be this way... After Fergie mindlessly blew £15 million on the self appointed teenage protege, Wilfred must have thought he'd made it. The biggest club in Britain wanted him. Unfortunately, no one told him Fergie was retiring and handing over to Mr Moyes. After bit parts in early games Zaha was shipped off to lowly Cardiff.  This is the guy who wanted to show Premiership defenders how good he was. So, how did he do? Well he only managed to play 15 games all season netting...never. This gives him an awesome career of 138 games in total and 18 goals. Yep 18. Defences every