With the new year nearly upon is it’s time to look ahead and some of the best bets in football for 2013. I’m no expert of course but I’m fairly certain the following six things have a good chance of happening during the next calendar year. Not that I would every recommend putting money on anything I say, you can always find out more details by checking the sportsbook reviews.
So here goes, a few smart bets for 2013.
1. Dortmund will be the new Napoli. I’m sure everyone noticed last year that Napoli picked up a great deal of new “followers” as they made their run in the Champions League. It was, and still is, a fun team to watch full of young stars that play and exciting brand of football. Of course, every year needs a new “it” team and Dortmund are poised to fill the role. They’ve already won two straight Bundesliga titles, though admittedly their chances look poor for a third, but they are in the knockout stage of the Champions League and could easily surprise some people.
2. The USMNT will not win the Gold Cup. It’s an off year Gold Cup, with not spot in the Confederations Cup available. World Cup qualifying will be rolling along so I wouldn’t expect Klinsmann to send a A team to the tournament. If he does, toss this out the window, but otherwise, stick with Mexico.
3. People will continue to be annoyed by the hosts of World Cup 2018 and 2022…but nothing will change. In addition, FIFA will continue to be caught with their proverbial hands in the cookie jar…but nothing will change. If there’s any consistent in the sport of football, it’s that FIFA will be accused of endless amounts of nefarious nonsense and they’ll continue doing business as usual.
4. The cost of goal-line technology will make implementation extremely slow. As great as goal-line tech is and as long as it took for FIFA to finally approve it, you’d think there would be a rush to finally use the new tool. Don’t get too excited though, this tech is expensive and will require a considerable amount of investment from leagues to properly outfit all their stadiums with it. We’ll get there, but it won’t be overnight. The most important thing at this point is FIFA making sure it’s used in major international tournaments. If everyone can finally see it in action, in games that matter, it’ll make the sell easier.
5. Someone is going to pay a TON of money for Radamel Falcao. As much as I’d love to see Falcao remain at Atletico Madrid, he’s going to get sold for a huge pile of cash. Chelsea seems a likely place he’ll end up, but you never know what Roman will do especially with Fernando Torres still around and him actually scoring some goals. Fernando Llorente will likely move for a ton of money as well and considering he’s said he wants out of Bilbao, that move is all but certain.
6. The LA Galaxy will not win a third straight MLS Cup. They’ll still be good but I just don’t see them being able to replace all the potential talent they will or could lose. Beckham is leaving, Donovan’s future is uncertain, Omar Gonzalez will be a hot commodity and Robbie Keane could get bored at any moment and find another club from his childhood he wants to play for.
So there you have it, a few predictions for 2013. Now let’s see how wrong I am on all these.
