Brazil favored to Win World Cup.

Brazil is the team to beat in this year’s World Cup, according to a global survey released by The Nielsen Company.

The survey found that 34% of respondents believe Brazil will take home the Cup, 25 percentage points more than any other country. Argentina, England, Germany, and, yes, the United States, all tied for second with each earning the nod from nine percent of the sample. Only six percent believe that defending world champion Italy will repeat in 2010.

A regional breakout of the survey’s results revealed greater insight into how different parts of the world see the tournament unfolding:

* Four of the five global regions polled by Nielsen favored Brazil. Not surprisingly, 57% of the Latin American region – including 86% of all Brazilians – were confident that the Green and Yellow will win it all.

* The one global region that didn’t pick Brazil? North America. Instead, 46% of the region – including 50% of U.S.-based respondents – displayed patriotic optimism by saying that the Stars and Stripes will win its first-ever World Cup. Only four percent of the rest of the world said they liked USA’s chances of winning.

* Within the European region, more people favor Spain (15%) than either Germany (14%) or England (10%). The latter two countries tied for second ahead of Spain in the worldwide survey.

Nielsen’s global survey polled 27,000 consumers in 55 countries on topics related to the World Cup. The survey found that while 34% of people around the world consider themselves soccer fans, an estimated 51% said they will be following the games in South Africa.