deyan's A&B take

World Cup 2010 Predictions

This World Cup is the hardest to predict for many reasons. The tournament is being held in Africa for the first time ever. Because Africa is in the southern hemisphere, the WC will be played during the winter time which will mean chilly conditions throughout. Additionally, no European squad has ever won the WC outside of Europe ever, and with most of the best squads European, this makes predicting the knockout rounds even trickier. With my WC predictions, I have thrown WC history and popularity of the players completely out of the window. What matters most is the form of the players on the squads, injuries, and that the tournament is being played in S. Africa.

Overrated- Germany, Italy, Brazil

Underrated- Chile, Serbia, S Korea

Group A
This is easily the toughest group to predict. The best squad on paper by far, France, has a clueless coach who uses zodiac signs to choose his squad and is unable to determine the shape he wants to play. One day it is a 4-2-3-1, another it’s a 4-3-3. The squad, while talented everywhere on the pitch, do not play together well as a unit and don’t seem to want to play for each other. The perfect example was the two legged playoff tie with Ireland, also known as the Henry hand ball game. What people seem to forget though, is that Ireland thoroughly outplayed them in the two games and it was actually Lloris’s goalkeeping that saved them from crashing out of the tie. The key to their squad is the form of Gallas, because if he is 100% and on form, their defense can be extremely difficult to score on. Uruguay comes in with a very aggressive style of play, and a different system teams are used to playing against. With a 3-5-2 formation, the wing backs play an important role pushing the tempo up field and tracking back defensively. With Suarez and Forlan up top, they do hold firepower up top and could beat any side in the world. With Forlan dropping back between the opposition’s midfield and defense, Suarez essentially plays up top by himself. This makes Suarez the key to the squad. If he takes his chances they will progress into the knockout stages, if not they wont. Mexico, like Uruguay, play an extremely unusual formation, a 3-4-3 if one had to call it, where their star defender, Marquez, plays CDM to block out supporting strikers such as Forlan. Mexico features a good mixture of young studs and intelligent veterans with a good amount of depth in every position. The question lies who is going to start, Guardado or Vela, on the left-wing? Personally, I would choose Guardado, due to his form throughout the year was far superior to Vela, but we will have to wait and see. They key to their squad lies in Dos Santos, the fiery and elusive right winger who one game can seem like one the best young players in the world, and another he looks like the player Barcelona so quickly got rid of. The worst squad in the group, South Africa, of course, has home field advantage. No home team has ever gotten knocked out in the first round. With only one star player, Pienaar, on their squad, most experts believe this year will be the first the home team doesn’t advance to the knockout stages. They key to their squad is not the reliable Pienaar, but rather, and sadly, the referees. If the referees allow the home support to get to their head (think S. Korea) and the home country gets some vital calls go their way, they may advance out of this extremely tricky group. With a group this even, I forecast some 1-1 draws.

Advance- Uruguay, France??

Group B
This is another tricky group. With a coach like Maradona leading the headlines, what else would people expect. Argentina has more star forward options to choose from then LOST has storylines they never explained. This still pales in comparison to the number of different formations and players Maradona has used since he became manager two years ago. But what matters most is who he uses when the WC starts. Besides inexplicably not including Zanetti and Cambiasso in his squad, I believe he got his lineup correct. With underrated Jonas hugging the right touchline and using three center defenders, this allows freedom roles for Tevez and Messi, which is when they are at their best, and Higuan up top alone. With the best player in the champions league, Milito, and Aguero, able to come off the bench they should be unstoppable on offense. The key to their squad is whether the best player in the planet, Messi, can play like the best player in the planet. If he does, then good luck to everyone else. Nigeria has speed all over the pitch. If the coach is smart enough to keep old man Kanu on the bench and use the speed they possess up top in Martins, Obinna, and Odemwingie, combined w the poacher mentality of Yakubu, they will score goals. With a strong defense anchored by Yobo and Shittu, the real questions lie in their weak midfield. The midfield’s ability to protect their defense and create half chances for their speedy forwards will determine if they advance or not. The key player to watch is Fulham’s Etuhu, and whether he can control the center of the pitch will little to no help. South Korea work together as a team better then any squad in the tournament. Their endurance and able to pressure teams into errors makes them a hard team to beat. Their problem is their size, or lack of, which makes them extremely vulnerable to set piece goals. And while they have way more creativity in midfield then Nigeria or Greece, with JS Park on the left and CY Lee on the right, they lack firepower up front. The key player is their main striker is CY Park, who must put his chances away for S. Korea to advance. Greece pulled off the biggest sports surprise in my lifetime by winning Euro 2004. That is about all there is to say about Greece. They play a boring brand of football where not conceding is all that matters. The problem is that their defense isn’t as good as it was, and their only true offensive threat, Gekas, only recently scores on weak opposition. However, with underrated Karagounis picking up the creativity, they may cause a few surprises. He is the key to their squad, because without him on top form, their offense will create no sizzle.

advance - Nigeria, Argentina?