The four year wait is now almost officially over and in a few hours, the 19th FIFA World Cup will begin. As promised, this is the first of my weekly posts that will span the duration of the World Cup and will contain my musings and rants about the tournament.
Without scrutinizing every single match this week, let's just look into the ones that are of interest. To start, both today's games are quite noteworthy and both should be entertaining games. Africans and Latinos are both known for playing colorful football so I expect the RSA-MEX opener to be a good match. FRA-URU I have certain reservations about because the last time they met, it resulted in a very dour 0-0 result. As I mentioned before, this group's very hard to predict. Logic tells me Mexico and France but then football is rarely decided on logic alone. And it's good for the tournament if South Africa progresses, though without star striker Benni McCarthy (who was dropped surprisingly) it will be difficult. I'm gonna have to sit on the fence for both these matches.
Group B holds interest for me for obvious reasons. Argentina have a history of choking in openers against African teams but they should have no problem winning against Nigeria. The other group B match will probably be a boring draw. Group C starts with what has the potential to be a cracker but may end up in a dull, defensive affair between England and USA. As always, I'll be rooting for the Americans but my head says that England should win. Whatever happens in the other match (SVN-ALG), shouldn't matter. Group D starts with Germany vs Australia which may prove to be tricky for those Nazi s.o.b's (I still remember 2006) but if they don't win this group, then they don't deserve to do well. Serbia vs Ghana will be crucial at the end of the stage in terms of both points and goal difference. Groups E and F are very similar. One dominant team (Netherlands, Italy) and 3 teams with near equal chances of making it. Expect a couple of one-sided games and a host of draws in these groups.
Tuesday is when things should start to get really fun because that's when Group G opens. Brazil vs North Korea should be one-sided but still provide a lot of goals for entertainment and Cote D'Ivoire vs Portugal should be a very exciting match. The best team in Africa against one of the few attacking teams in Europe. Tough to call this one, but Portugal should edge it. Group H is always somewhat boring and dull. In 2002, it had 4 defense oriented teams (Japan, Russia, Belgium, Tunisia) and last time it had Spain, an average European (Ukraine) and 2 below average teams (Saudi & Tunisia). That formula seemed to have been continued this year. Spain, Switzerland, Chile and Honduras. The Chile-Honduras game has the potential to be good but I don't expect too many sparks to fly. Spain should win. The other two should draw.
This leads us back to the first 2 groups before the week ends. Mexico vs France should be particularly interesting because it'll probably decide who wins the group or who goes through along with the hosts (if the latter are doing well). RSA-URU should give the hosts their most practical chance of a win so that match will be great to watch too. The Group B matches shouldn't be that exciting. Argentina should beat Korea and Greece-Nigeria is too close to call.
Predictions
June 11
RSA 1-1 MEX
Both teams are known for playing colorful football so I expect this one to be an attacking game. Crowd helps RSA pull out a draw.
FRA 1-1 URU
Last time they met it was a dull goalless draw, so I'm not expecting much. This year's FRA team is the weakest in a long time and URU aren't half bad so...
June 12
ARG 3-1 NGA
ARG should win this group easily and NGA shouldn't pose a threat. An attacking yet one-sided game.
KOR 1-1 GRE
Should be a dull game because well, it's Greece. The Hellenic sons of bitches who stole Euro 2004 with cagey, defensive football that would put Italy to shame
ENG 2-1 USA
Should be one of the highlights of the week. Could be either attacking or defensive. Heart says America, head says England.
June 13
SVN 1-1 ALG
Boring, below average European team against very average African team should mean a dull draw.
GER 2-0 AUS
Albeit wracked with injuries, Germany should have enough to dispense with Australia without too much trouble.
SRB 1-1 GHA
Ghana's attack versus Serbia's defense and midfield. Won't provide too many goals but shouldn't be too cagey either.
June 14
NED 2-0 DEN
Netherlands should plow through this group. Denmark, no exception.
JPN 1-1 CMR
Will probably be similar to the Serbia-Ghana game.
ITA 2-0 PAR
Paraguay did well in the qualifiers but Italy have a very talented midfield and attacking line, absence of Toni notwithstanding.
June 15
SVK 2-0 NZL
A must-win game for Slovakia and they should win against an inferior New Zealand team.
BRA 4-0 NKR
Should be goals galore for the Brazilians. Reminds me of the Brazil-China game from 2002.
POR 3-2 CIV
Potentially one of the games of the week, one of the few attack oriented European teams, Portugal, should edge out the best African team.
June 16
HON 1-1 CHL
Could be more explosive, but I'm not holding out for anything special. Chile has a better chance of winning.
ESP 3-0 SUI
Spain are playing better than they ever have and Euro proved that they need not choke every single time. Plus, Switzerland are nowhere near their level.
RSA 1-0 URU
Hey, what's a World Cup without the underdog hosts shocking the world?! Could go either way but home advantage might prove decisive.
June 17
FRA 1-1 MEX
Potentially a great match. Could be sullied by both teams willing to play it safe rather than lose on the counter-attack and throw away chances of advancing. Winner of the match will probably decide group winner.
ARG 2-0 KOR
Should be a straightforward win for the Argentines.
NGA 2-1 GRE
I want Greece to lose every match by a huge margin. That probably won't happen, but I'm pretty sure Nigeria will go through, so they'll have to win a couple of matches...bleh...
No comments:
Post a Comment