We are so goddamn close. We are less than a week away from the greatest sporting spectacle on earth. We are just hours away from Mexico's first red card against Bafana Bafana. We are salivating.
With all that being said, time is running out to make predictions and I wanted to make sure I wanted to chisel mine in the proverbial stone that is Blogspot. Enough with this introduction chicanery, lets get to it.
Group A
1. France
2. Mexico
3. Uruguay
4. South Africa
This was an agonizing group to sort through. I still am not sure how things are going to shake out here. The one thing I will guarantee is that France will make it out of the group. Believe me, I am well aware that Crazy Ray is insane and the players hate him, but I can't believe how down people are on Les Bleus. I am not saying that France will go deep in the tournament, but they have too much talent not to make it out of the first round, even though this looks to be the most competitive group.
Speaking of self-combusting, Mexico has a load of impressive young talent, but the combination of the over-reliance on an aging Cuauhtémoc Blano, the unreliability of Javier Aguirre (shaky/shady managing situations is a recurring theme in this tournament), and typical unfocused play of El Tri will be the downfill of this group.
I really, really wanted to pick South Africa to make it out of Group A and I won't be stunned if they do. There really is something to be said about home field advantage at the World Cup to make up, but this is the weakest Bafana Bafana squad since FIFA let South Africa back into competitive football in the early '90s.
Player to watch - Hugo Lloris, GK, France
Lloris is, in my opinion, the best young keeper in the world and is coming off an impressive season at Lyon . France has struggled scoring goals in the group stage the last two go rounds (0 in '02, 3 in '06), so the 23 year-old needs to come up big if France has any shot to go through.
Group B1. Argentina
2. South Korea
3. Nigeria
4. Greece
Argentina might be the most interesting side in this tournament. An incredible wealth of talent, including the guy who has received the torch from Zidane as the most iconic soccer player in the world. But how on earth is Maradona coaching this team? Some soccer journos have said Argentina has a very good shot to lift the cup, but after reading this recent SI piece on Messi which indicated that Argentina's veteran players are going over Maradona's in organizing tactics, I just cannot picture a scenario where Argentina will win it all.
As for the rest of the group, I think the loss of John Obi Mikel is too much for Nigeria. South Korea is a highly organized side that will kill you with its discipline. I've made it clear in the past how much I loathe Greece and the way they play football. 2004 is looking more and more like a fluke. Their best chance at points is against Nigeria on June 17.
Player to watch - Lionel Messi, F, Argentia
I took the easy way out and chose Messi as my player to watch for Group B. Messi has recently been compared to, and deservedly so, to Pele and Maradona, the grandmasters of the game. Lio may have his Champions League and La Liga Titles and his World Player of the Year awards, but he doesn't have what Pele and Maradona have: a World Cup title. Now he has at least one, probably two more cups to compete in, but Messi's performance in this tournament will go a long way to determining whether he truly ranks up with the greats.
Group C1. United States
2. England
3. Algeria
4. Slovenia
Call me a homer or an optimist, but I really do think that the U.S. will beat England. USMNT always plays up to their opponents, no matter their ranking, and the players who will need to be key in that game (Howard, Dempsey, Donovan) have proved themselves against the opposition. But the U.S. always has at least one dud in the group stage (vs. Iran in '98, vs. Poland in '02, vs. Czech Rep. in '06), so I think they'll draw with Algeria, but still beat Slovenia to stay on top of the group with 7 points. The U.S. game will be wake up call for the Three Lions and they should stroll with the rest of the group.
Algeria and Slovenia are not to be taken lightly, however. Slovenia's back line, in particular, frightens me. Holding a Guus Hiddink team scoreless over two critical matches and giving up only 4 goals in all of qualifying is no light feat.
Player to watch - Ledley King, CB, England
With the injury to Rio Ferdinand, King will be the man England looks to at the center of the back line. Despite his relatively low number of caps, King proved himself well in the exhibition with Mexico last week, scoring in a 3-1 victory.
Group D1. Germany
2. Serbia
3. Ghana
4. Australia
It is pretty amazing to think that Germany has made it to at least the quarterfinals in every tournament its entered. Despite some rough seasons at the club level for Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski, those guys seem to save their best for when they suit up for Die Mannschaft.
Injuries to key players has been a notable theme for some of the tournament's most promising teams and Ghana is no exception. The loss of Michael Essien is a huge blow for both tactical and morale purposes, but Ghana still has a promising young core. That being said, I think just might be a little too inexperienced for this go-round. However, four years from now we'll be talking about Ghana as a dark horse to go deep in Brazil 2014.
I don't place a lot of stock in these World Cup warm-up exhibition matches, but Australia did not show much promise in their 3-1 loss to the U.S. on Saturday. If I were a Socceroo supporter, I would have serious concerns about the back line. Edson Buddle's second goal as well the Herculez Gomez goal were the result of mediocre marking. Poor Mark Schwarzer...
Player to watch - Nikola Zigic, F, Serbia
Group G is widely known as the superstar group, but in my eyes, Group D is the group of death. Serbia's defensive prowess is well documented, so its critical that Birmingham City's Zigic lines the score sheet. Goal differential will determine who goes through in the group
That's it for now. I'll be posting the rest of my group predictions as well as how I think the knockout stage will shake out sometime this week. But I'll leave you kids with one of my favorite things about sports....crazy names.
2010 World Cup All-Name XI
GK: Boubacar Barry, Ivory Coast
D: Danny Shittu, Nigeria
D: Rafik Halliche, Algeria
D: Gäetan Bong, Cameroon
D: Siboniso Gaza, South Africa
MF: MacBeth Sibaya, South Africa
MF: Surprise Moriri, South Africa
MF: Ryad Boudebouz, Algeria
MF: Xherdan Shaqiri, Switzerland
F: Prince Tagoe, Ghana
F: Herculez Gomez, USA
Coach: Pim Verbeek, Australia
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