We are two weeks away from the World Cup Final.

It is said to be the world’s most widely viewed sporting event with an estimated one billion peoples expected to view the last finals on Sunday July 11^th. In the last World Cup in 2006 in Germany, a European dominate field saw Italy snatching top honors over France and Germany beating Portugal for third place.

To date, the final of the 2010 World Cup has been dominated by European and South American teams with 11 of the 16 finalists coming from these two continents. For those statistic enthusiasts (like me) these two continents have each won nine titles apiece (of the total 18). Only seven countries have actually won the title: Brazil (5), Italy (4), Germany (3), Uruguay (2), Argentina (2), England (1) and France (1).

But the game always offers up surprises:

For example, this month defending World Champions Italy was sent home after round one, unable to win any matches and ending last in group F…even behind New Zealand, a country with no top 4 finish ever.

And then there are always disappointments:

Take yesterday as an example when Ghana sealed an extra-time win, repeating their 2006 2-1 win, over team USA to advance to the final 8, one win away from becoming only the third African team to ever reach the quarter-finals (the others were Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002).

But let’s look at the matches still ahead…and dare we make some predictions (this is so perilous but so much fun). Here goes:

Uruguay will win over Ghana to move in to the semi’s again Brazil who will in turn reach the semi after beating Holland. Brazil will defeat the Dutch in the first semi-finals.

In the third group Argentina will overwhelm Mexico while Germany will convincingly beat the struggling English team. When this two winning teams meet it could be anyone’s game, but I think that the Argentineans will win over the young German team.

In the fourth grouping Paraguay will crush Japan and Spain will snatch a narrow win over neighbors Portugal. A Paraguay win could place four South American teams in the  semi-finals, a far cry from 2006 when four European teams reached that stage. I however think that Spain will edge out Paraguay only to loose to Argentina in the other semi’s.

The result: An all South American final with Argentina against Brazil.

My prediction is that Brazil will revenge their 5^th place finish last year (loss against France in the quarter finals) with a victory on July 11^th.

But what do I know?

I am not a soccer, expert. I just track real estate trends, so please share with me your thoughts on this year’s exciting World Cup being held in South Africa and who you think will be in the finals.