JOHANNESBURG

And the winner is. ...

As the World Cup opens Friday amid a celebration of exceptional vibrancy with host South Africa playing Mexico, two countries float above the field of 32 teams: Spain and Brazil.

Yes, Africa is the host. Yes, Asia is developing. And, yes, there are dark horses  the gifted but erratic Argentines, the talented Dutch and the ever self-confident English among them.

But player for player, performance on performance, the Spanish and the Brazilian squads look to be the best. And for both, anything less than victory at the final of this 64-game soccer marathon, to be held here July 11, will be a bitter disappointment.

Spain, which has never won the World Cup, has stolen the higher ground from Brazil, a five-time winner. Not only are the Spaniards camped in a university town in the hills to the north, while Brazil’s training is at a high school just outside the Johannesburg suburbs, but it is Spain that talks, and thinks, the Beautiful Game of individual creativity and sportsmanship within a team construct that was once Brazil’s forte.