It's time to evaluate the chances of all nations to win the world cup. That eliminates all the second, third and fourth pot winners. Based on the history of football, no team ranked below ninth has a chance to win the World Cup. It would be nice, for instance, to see an African country winning the cup. But in reality, this will not happen.
Based on the current FIFA rankings and the criteria set out above, this leaves:
1. Brazil
2. Spain
3. Portugal
4. Netherlands
5. Italy
6. Germany
7. Argentina
8. England
9. France
First of all, let's evaluate Portugal.
How in God's creation is Portugal ranked third in the world? Taking a closer look at the setup of this team will reveal that they has no chance of succeeding or winning the cup. They might not even make it out of the first round, given that they are in the Group of Death with Brazil and Ivory Coast.
In the past year, Portugal has not met, much less beaten, a true-quality opponent. Albania, Estonia, Liechtenstein, Denmark, Hungary, Malta, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Mozambique and Bosnia: None of these names scream quality.
Carlos Queiroz is a bright manager, having worked alongside Sir Alex Ferguson. So, one would assume he would have learned a thing or two about winning and being a sore loser. His 12 wins in 19 games are very good, and this may be the strength of this team, a methodical manager with some tactical nous.