Grant Wahl is a senior writer and the lead soccer writer for Sports Illustrated, and also the author of New York Times Bestseller, The Beckham Experiment. Wahl spoke with RealClearSports from Johannesburg, South Africa, on the eve of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

RCS: This will be your fourth World Cup, do you feel South Africa is ready for this?

Wahl: I'm feeling a lot of excitement, here in Johannesburg, more and more so as we get closer to the opening game. You see South Africa's flags on people's cars, sides of buildings and sides of houses, South Africa jerseys ... and scarves, it's everywhere. I've lived here for seven months and as the game gets closer, I think people are getting more optimistic about the team's chances.

RCS: Much has been made about the racial divide in South Africa, particularly that rugby is a white sport and soccer is a black sport. Are the white Afrikaners getting behind the Bafana Bafana?

Wahl: You go to a rugby match, it's 98 percent white and most soccer matches are 95 percent black. But for the World Cup, it's been a little different. The white community is supporting the South African team, and it does seem like all of South Africa is excited about this, they want the home team to do well. This could be like the 1995 Rugby World Cup (as portrayed in the book and the eponymous movie Invictus), uniting this country. This country has gone through a lot in the last 16 years and there are still a lot of scars in people's daily lives.

In many ways, this could be the most significant event in South Africa since 1994. For starters, they spent over $5 billion on infrastructure: airports, roads and high-speed rail link. There is a lot of concentrated wealth in certain parts of the country and yet there's also crushing poverty, sometimes side by side. In Johannesburg, ... some people are surprised when they first came here, including me, with the fortress mentality here. There are security walls with electric fences on top of that. ... But in the World Cup, people will see lots of South Africa because the matches will be played all over the country. Cape Town is a beautiful city, a lot like San Francisco, with wineries nearby, and Durban, it's another attractive destination. People will get to see a lot of this country.

RCS: There have been a staggering number of injuries in the leadup to this World Cup, to star players, no less. Which injury is the most damaging to his team's chances?

Wahl: I would say Didier Drogba of the Ivory Coast. He may still have a chance to play. He broke his arm and ended up having surgery. He's one of the best goal scorers, and without him, Ivory Coast will have a lot of trouble especially in a tough group that includes also Brazil and Portugal.

RCS: Give us one player who might produce a breakout performance and become an instant household name worldwide.

Wahl: If you're a hard-core soccer fan, there's probably not going to be anybody who'd be a "new star." But to the mainstream (American) fans, I'd say Eljero Elia of Holland, who plays for Hamburg SV. He's very impressive.

RCS: This is arguably the best U.S. squad to ever play in a World Cup. What would you consider a satisfactory result for the Americans?

Wahl: I'd say satisfactory would be getting second in group and making it to the second round, that would not be considered a failure. If they get beyond the second round, that would be viewed as a big success.

RCS: There are only four players on the U.S. squad who are currently in the MLS. What does that say about the U.S. team and the MLS?

Wahl: I think that's indicative of a few realities, some very good for the U.S. A lot of the U.S. players currently playing overseas started their careers in the MLS, and got good enough and went to Europe or Mexico to play at a higher level. The MLS has developed a lot of good young American players, but at the same time, if you're the commissioner, you would want to have more American star power and not continue to be a feeder league for richer European leagues. The MLS's stated goal is that it wants to compete with the best leagues in the world, but they're not anywhere near that right now.

RCS: So what is Grant Wahl's view of soccer's future in America? Is it ever going to be big enough to join the Big Four?

Wahl: I'll try to be honest, I have no idea where it's going in America, I've followed the sport for a long time now ... the quality is improving, but I don't know if it's ever going to be like the NBA and attract a bunch of fans. I feel like the MLS is doing some good things, in terms of infrastructure, building stadiums, and is stable enough so it's not going to fold. But they need to take the next step to close the gap with the European leagues, especially now that we can see 60-70 (European) games a week on TV, we can tell difference in quality. The MLS needs to close that gap.

RCS: How does a kid from Kansas and a Princeton graduate become this hooked on soccer?

Wahl: It just kind of happened. I was like a lot of kids who quit playing soccer when I was 12. I followed pro indoor soccer in Kansas City in the mid-'80s but didn't watch outdoor soccer until 1990, the first World Cup the U.S. played in a long time. Then in 1993, I was a student at Princeton working for the paper covering the school's soccer team. The coach of the team? Yep, Bob Bradley. It's funny how it worked out. I covered him as a sophomore, got to know him a little bit and wrote something in the alumni magazine. He'd probably tell you that I've been asking dumb questions for 17 years. It's kind of cool. I think neither one of us would've thought that he'd be the U.S. coach and I'd cover him for SI now.

RCS: Well, then, give us your assessment on how Bob Bradley has done as the U.S. national team coach.

Wahl: What he's done so far, we know when he's had the best players he's done well, as he did in the 2007 Gold Cup, last year's Confederations Cup and the World Cup qualifying. When he hasn't had the best players, they didn't perform so well. But the bottom line is what he's done in the last four years will be a footnote to what this team does in the next 2-4 weeks. That may not be fair, but that's the way it is.

RCS: Final question. Give us your fearless prediction on who's going to win.

Wahl: Spain. I get the feeling that it's their time, this is the best chance ever for Spain to showcase their talent and they've gotten off to a good start in winning Euro '08. They're at a point where they can be everybody's second favorite team. They not only win but they play entertaining, attractive soccer. They're the new Brazil.