Groups Review: A-D

I'm going spend some of my last posts before the actual event reviewing the groups, and making my predictions about who will make it to the next round. I'm not brave enough to predict who will win it all, especially as many of the top teams are strong contenders to make it all the way. I'll leave an asterix next to second and third place teams to say I think it could go either way (you might think I'm being chicken about the predictions, but I don't think you could say that to my face). Also, I will not be considering the recent friendlies, they are experimental.

A:
Many would think that France are an automatic choice, but looking over their roster, they don't seem to have the midfield, especially without Nasri. They also struggled to qualify, needing a last minute handball from Thierry Henry in the playoffs. Their best two strikers are now getting on a bit too.

Uruguay finished fifth in CONMEBOL and also had to win a playoff against Costa Rica, which in itself is not an easy feat. They are dangerous because of Forlan's form, he scored the game-winning goals of both the semi-final against Liverpool and the final against Fulham in the Europa cup, but I don't know much about the rest of the team.

I'd say that Mexico is the most likely to win the group, as they had the best form towards the end of the qualifiers, winning 5 of their last 6 games, after replacing Eriksson as their coach. Dos Santos was a player who started playing better under the new coach and is one to watch. Javier Hernandez was signed by Man Utd, and so will probably be my new foci of hatred, especially if Mexico ends up meeting England in the quarters.

Finally, South Africa are the host nation, and though I suspect they would finish last in their group, I wouldn't be surprised to see them pull off a win, especially against France (shades of '02 anyone?) Every host country in the World Cup has made it out of the first round, even USA in '94.

Prediction:
Mexico
Uruguay*
France*
South Africa

B:
When I see Argentina, I think group winners, and then I think, wait, they barely made it, and then I was watching the Champions League Final thinking "Gosh, Milito!" and then I was reminding myself who the coach is. I think Argentina will make it to the next round, but they'll struggle to do so, particularly against Korea.

I don't know many of the names on the Korea team, apart from the ones who play in England, but I understand that they have a work ethic that would frustrate teams more inclined to be spontaneous (see above).

Nigeria probably wouldn't be here, if it wasn't for a remarkable result between Tunisia and Mozambique. Nigeria actually succeeded in tying Tunisia in both group games, and I believe that's a good indicator of what's going to happen here, a lot of score draws.

Greece is not the team it was, one of the oldest in the field, still holding onto the fading glory of Euro 2004, but they boast the top scorer in the UEFA region (who'da thunk it?!) Theofanis Gekas, so things may be interesting.

Prediction:
Argentina
Korea*
Nigeria*
Greece

C:
England is the number one choice to win this group. I'm being objective too.

USA won the CONCACAF region, and had a fantastic run in the Confederations Cup last year, but between the first two games, and the rest of the cup, they were like Jekyll and Hyde, and Charlie Davis was the reason. His running opened up space and created goals, he was involved in almost all the goals the US scored, even Altidore's goal against Spain. I became a big fan of his after that cup, and was sorry to see him go down like that. The USA will not be the same team without him, and despite the attention they're giving to the England-USA match up, they should be focused on the game against Slovenia.

Algeria are the least likely to qualify, but cannot be discounted for the fact that they beat Egypt to get here. Egypt is the two-times defending CAF champion, and the highest ranked African team not in the World Cup, and so Algeria deserve some respect. How much, I cannot tell.

Slovenia pulled off a bigger upset than anyone might consider, seeing they beat Guus Hiddink, holding at home in the second leg-off of the playoff against Russia. If they can keep their defence organized like that, they can do well. However, they finished second to Slovakia in a rather underwhelming group, so I don't know if they'll perform at the next level.

Prediction:
England
USA
Slovenia
Algeria

D:
Germany is the de facto choice here, even without Ballack, and any of the other injuries they've been having.

Australia is a favourite of mine, as you might have garnered from my review of Germany '06, but I think it's going to be really close between three teams, and I read that Australia only have three true forwards, of which one is fully fit, so they may be expecting to force a few no-score draws, and consequently, would miss out.

Ghana would have given Germany a run for their money, but they're missing Essein now, a game-changer, and will be hoping to get at least one win over Australia or Serbia, which is likely, but may not be enough.

Serbia won their group, which included France, Romania and Austria, by a game to spare, with an impressive strike rate of 22 goals in 10 games, unexpected from a small nation, and this makes them the wild card here, they seem capable of beating everyone in this group.

Prediction:
Serbia
Germany
Ghana
Australia

If my predictions hold, then the next round would have these match-ups:

Mexico vs Korea
Uruguay vs Argentina
England vs Germany
Serbia vs USA