Spain's cup could still runneth over

Happy New Year, comrades. So, what delights will 2014 hold in store for us in the sporting universe?

The first thing to state is that, despite the recent nationwide upsurge in optimism, the Republic of Ireland will not be winning the World Cup. I’m sorry to burst the bubble, but the awkward reality remains that we didn’t actually qualify, and so in all likelihood there will be no competitive international football action here this side of September.

As for the World Cup itself, it will be the third one in a row we’ve missed out on (depressing, eh?) but, despite myself, I’ll still probably end up watching it. In fact, to be honest, I’ll almost certainly uphold the tradition of a lifetime by watching every single minute of every single game, no matter how uninspiring. At this precise point in time, Foul Play is leaning towards backing the Spaniards, rated fourth in all markets at a vaguely insulting 7/1, despite having been clearly head and shoulders above everyone else in the world for the last six years.

The ‘Spain’s time is up’ hypothesis appears to be based on the age profile of some of their key players, a very challenging first-round group, and the historical fact that every single South American World Cup has been won by a team from said continent. But such rules were made to be broken, the climate will hardly be any great obstacle to a team whose own summers are invariably sweltering, the pressure of home advantage may stifle Brazil more than it inspires them, and the prize is immense. A fourth straight major title in a row would, without doubt, definitively lay to rest any debate about who exactly is the greatest international team of all time.

For anyone inclined to be sceptical, I refer you to the full 90-minute rerun of Spain’s 4-0 evisceration of the Italians two summers ago at the Euro 2012 final. Don’t over-think this one: sometimes a price is too good to be true, and this one most certainly is. Snap it up, sit back and enjoy. A more ambitious but undeniably tempting punt on the Dutch at 28/1 might be worthwhile, or if you really wanted to roll the dice, Croatia at 150/1. There is a general pattern of the European teams being significantly under-valued.

Closer to home, Champions League combat will crack into action next month. Foul Play will have a nibble of the roughly 80/1 available on Manchester City winning an unprecedented Quadruple (it was over 200/1 back in August, but I’ve been hesitating unduly). All known history suggests that the task is impossible, but this is clearly an extraordinary team, and that may yet prove to be an understatement.

There was a tendency to fritter too many points away in the early months, and an alarming discrepancy between Manchester City’s performances at home and on the road, but this would appear to have been rectified of late. The recent 2-0 triumph at Newcastle offered the strongest declaration yet that Pellegrini’s crew have the steel and guts to complement their preposterous skill levels, and will continue to grind out wins in the more obviously tricky fixtures. Other recent displays (hitting 11 in two home cup-ties against West Ham and Blackburn) have demonstrated frightening levels of fluency, to which their Premiership rivals can only aspire.

The path to glory is not entirely clear. At the time of writing, Manchester City have yet to actually hit top spot in the table (a legacy of early-season setbacks) and Barcelona, hardly a fallen giant, lie in wait in the next round of the Champions League. But such obstacles are there to be cleared, and the 2014 sky-blue vintage stand on the verge of conquering worlds unimaginable to their esteemed predecessors such as Paul Dickov, Sun Jihai and Richard Dunne. Go forth and conquer, lads.