Premier League preview 2010/11 part 2

MANCHESTER CITY

City are going to be one of the most interesting sides to observe over the next year. Having comfortably outspent the rest of the league put together, Roberto Mancini now has to trim down a strong squad into his twenty-five. His signings so far have been impressive – Yaya Toure and David Silva in particular are genuine world-class players – although Mario Balotelli is a huge risk. There’s no doubt about his potential (and, indeed, current) ability, but his attitude is awful and it seriously impedes him. When James Milner eventually arrives he, too, will be a good addition. City have fixed some of their defensive problems by signing Aleksandar Kolarov, an excellent attacking left-back, and Germany’s Jerome Boateng who will probably play at right-back, although centre-back is still a problem that needs urgent work. It’s impossible to discount City from having a serious title chance, although I think there are still questions over Mancini’s quality. If he does not at least keep pace with the challengers he’ll be gone, but there’s enough quality at Eastlands to finally break into the Champions League promised land. Verdict: 3rd

MANCHESTER UNITED

I don’t think it’s just my personal bias that leads me to think that United will slip down the table a little this year. Their greatest strength of two or three years ago, the central defensive partnership of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, is now something of a worry as Ferdinand’s body quietly falls apart and Vidic’s motivations are seriously questioned. The centre of midfield is either ageing to the extent that starting games will be unusual (Scholes, Giggs) or not quite top class (Carrick, Fletcher, Anderson, Gibson). Javier Hernandez is a great signing up front and has been impressive in pre-season but when you get past him and the utterly-vital Wayne Rooney depth in attack is limited to the underwhelming Dimitar Berbatov and sadly past-it Michael Owen. Of course you can never rule United out but for the first time in a long time they start the season looking slightly weaker than their local rivals. Verdict: 4th

NEWCASTLE UNITED

Put simply, Newcastle look no better than they did two years ago and will probably go back down to the Championship. Chris Hughton’s squad were too good for the second tier but they don’t look like Premier League quality in any area. Goals will be hard to come by, as is to be expected when a side relies on Shola Ameobi as the senior striker. Kevin Nolan is probably the club’s best asset, likely to play just behind Ameobi in the role that saw him score eighteen goals last season, but his efforts are unlikely to be enough. The behind-the-scenes circus which will inevitably flare up at some stage in the season will be no help either. Verdict: 18th

STOKE CITY

In two short years Stoke have established themselves as a Premier League club and are now able to start splashing cash on the likes of Kenwyne Jones, who is a little inconsistent but will bring much-needed power to the Potters’ front line. Tony Pulis has assembled a hard-working squad who may profit from other teams’ deficiencies to build further on their recent league finishes and break into the top ten. Goalkeeping is a strong point, with Thomas Sorensen and Asmir Begovic set to fight for the number 1 jersey, behind the improving Ryan Shawcross at centre-back. Backed by the loudest fans in the league, Stoke have every reason to be optimistic about their chances. Verdict: 9th

SUNDERLAND

Sunderland’s seasons have a habit of tailing off nearly as badly as Aston Villa’s, but I still feel they should do well this year. This is mostly down to Darren Bent, one of the most effective strikers in the division, who can be relied upon to hit the back of the net, and a midfield containing maturing young talents Lee Cattermole and last year’s Young Player of the Year Jordan Henderson which will be bolstered by Cristian Riveros, who was impressive for Paraguay at the World Cup. A lot will depend on how new signing 22-year-old Belgian keeper Simon Mignolet deals with being thrust straight into first-team action deputising for the injured Craig Gordon, but if Sunderland can find the season-long consistency that has eluded them for so long, then I think it will be a good year. Verdict: 8th

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

If, as is likely, Spurs overcome Young Boys of Berne to reach the Champions League group stages, then I have a feeling that they may get distracted by their European campaign and lose out on their newfound top four status. There’s plenty to be excited about at White Hart Lane, particularly former Southampton favourite Gareth Bale’s development into a devastating winger, but I think that Manchester City have gone further forward over the summer and Spurs are about where they were at the start of it. Not impossible that they can stay in the Champions League places but more likely that they just miss out. Verdict: 5th

WEST BROMWICH ALBION

Boing, boing, etc. The Baggies should continue their now-customary bouncing between the top two tiers and go straight back where they came from. Their problem remains the same as ever – chairman Jeremy Peace refuses to risk spending £10-15 million on two Premiership-quality strikers and so they don’t score enough goals in the top tier. Roberto di Matteo seems a talented young manager with a little more street smarts than the ultra-idealist Tony Mowbray but I don’t think there’s enough to work with in his squad to survive. Spanish defender Pablo, signed from Atletico Madrid, is a great transfer, though, and should be an important part of their fight against relegation. Verdict: 19th

WEST HAM UNITED

West Ham have done well to keep hold of their key players, particularly the spine of Rob Green, Matthew Upson, Scott Parker and Carlton Cole, and with Uncle Avram at the helm I think there should be some increased stability at Upton Park. That spine has been bolstered by some clever signings like dynamic German midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger, pacy Mexican winger Pablo Barrera and, surprisingly, New Zealand World Cup hero Winston Reid, who scored that memorable last-gasp equaliser against Slovakia. West Ham won’t pull up any trees this season but they should be clear of the relegation places. Verdict: 15th

WIGAN ATHLETIC

Still struggling to attract many fans, Wigan are unlikely survivors in the Premier League but may escape again thanks to the low quality of the promoted teams. Roberto Martinez is commendable for trying to play stylish football on the awful pitch at the DW Stadium but has yet to have any success with it. Hugo Rodallega should score plenty of goals, although the jury is out on how well the much-feted new signing Mauro Boselli will adapt to life in Wigan. Charles N’Zogbia seems to have found his level here, as well, although rumours that he may be handing in a transfer request soon would be bad for both parties. Antolin Alcaraz and Maynor Figueroa will be reliable in defence as well. Verdict: 16th

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS

Wolves finished fifteenth last year mainly thanks to the inadequacies of those around them and they should probably expect a closer brush with relegation this time around. The squad has not been particularly well strengthened (Steven Fletcher didn’t exactly set the world alight for Burnley last year) and I’m not convinced by Mick McCarthy as a top-flight manager. Goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann might be the difference between staying up and going down. Verdict: 17th

FA Cup: Manchester United

Carling Cup: Manchester City

Championship: Middlesbrough

League 1: Southampton (no, really!)

League 2: Wycombe Wanderers

Spanish Primera: Barcelona

Italian Serie A: Roma

German Bundesliga: Bayern Munich

Dutch Eredivisie: Ajax

Champions League: Chelsea

Europa League: Stuttgart

The CDB Awards: South Africa 2010

So, the greatest show on Earth has closed its curtains for another four years (at least until the first qualification match for Brazil 2014 is played in about 13 months’ time) and it’s time to have a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly of South Africa 2010 in the CDB Awards.

Best Match

For me, the most exciting match we saw over the competition was one of the most controversial games – Uruguay’s quarter-final win over Ghana could not be matched for sheer emotional drama. We were treated to some fluent attacking football by both sides, particularly by Uruguay, but Sulley Muntari’s long-range swerver just before half-time stole the initiative for the last remaining African side. Diego Forlan scored a great free-kick to equalise and both sides kept going for it, coming up pretty much on a par with each other and tiring a little. Extra time arrived and it got desperate by the end, with Ghana throwing a couple of kitchen sinks into the Uruguay box right at the death before the Hand of God 2: Hand Harder scandal. Luis Suarez’ instinctive block to deny a last-gasp winner spawned a ludicrously overblown furore, demonising the player for doing what any player (the Ghanaians included) would have done in his situation, and Asamoah Gyan’s failure to convert the penalty with the last kick of regulation play was a great shame, but you cannot deny the spectacle of it. Sebastian Abreu’s inappropriate but wonderfully ballsy chipped penalty to seal the win was the icing of the cake.

Runners-up: Slovenia 2-2 USA, Slovakia 3-2 Italy, Germany 4-1 England, Argentina 0-4 Germany, Uruguay 2-3 Germany

Best Individual Performance

Bastian Schweinsteiger’s unstoppable performance at the heart of Germany’s dismemberment of Argentina was a real highlight. It was a display of total dominance, with tough tackling that never became thuggery, sharp passing to start counterattacking moves, and involvement in two of the goals. His free-kick cross for Thomas Mueller’s opener and effortless slipping away from Angel Di Maria and Javier Pastore to supply Arne Friedrich were excellent. His performance only gets better when you consider that just one year ago, Schweinsteiger was an underachieving winger for club and country. Louis van Gaal has done wonders with him over the past season at Bayern Munich and no-one will have been prouder than him as Schweinsteiger announced himself as one of the world’s leading central midfielders.

Runners-up: Mesut Oezil (Germany 4-0 Australia), Diego Forlan (South Africa 0-3 Uruguay), Ryan Nelsen (Italy 1-1 New Zealand), Jean Beausejour (Chile 1-0 Switzerland), Thomas Mueller (Germany 4-1 England), Xabi Alonso (Germany 0-1 Spain)

The “Looks Like An Alien Sent From Outer Space To Play Just Off The Main Striker” Award

Mesut Oezil.

Best Hair

Honduras didn’t stand out for much in this tournament but fringe player (geddit?) Walter Martinez sported a breathtakingly silly dreadlock affair with the tips coloured alternately red and yellow. Stupendous effort.

Worst Individual Performance

I have never seen one player perform so badly and stay on the pitch the full ninety minutes as Wayne Rooney did for England against Algeria. He looked exhausted, uninterested and cripplingly short of ideas, and you could tell how angry he was with his outing by his outburst to the cameras at the end berating the fans for booing the team.

Runners-up: Abdelkader Ghezzal (Algeria 0-1 Slovenia), Sidney Govou (France 0-2 Mexico), John Terry (Germany 4-1 England), Felipe Melo (Netherlands 2-1 Brazil), Mark van Bommel (Netherlands 0-1 Spain)

Best Team Performance

Tough one to call, but I’m going for Spain’s slow-burning victory over Germany in the semi-final. They only won 1-0 and it was only through a Carles Puyol header from a corner, but what was so notable was the total cohesion and patience as they breezed past what had previously been the best team of the whole competition. Before the game there was reason to believe that Germany might neutralise Spain with their determined pressing all over the pitch but it turned out to be the eventual champions who took the German midfield out of the game, constantly hounding the defenders to force long balls forward, which just completely nullified Schweinsteiger, Oezil, and Sami Khedira. The scoreline suggested a close game, but it really wasn’t at all. Contrast Portgual’s 7-0 victory over North Korea where Carlos Queiroz’s side were no better than average at any stage.

Runners-up: Uruguay (vs. South Africa), New Zealand (vs. Italy), Germany (vs. Argentina)

Most Inspiring Team

Look no further than New Zealand – who would have predicted before the tournament kicked off that the All Whites would be the only team to leave South Africa with an unbeaten record? Ricki Herbert’s lower-leaguers and amateur bank clerks played with more pride than anyone else and you couldn’t help but wish they could have found that elusive goal against Paraguay which would have taken them through as group winners. Their backs-to-the-wall defensive performance to earn a draw with the holders Italy will live long in the memory.

Breakout Star of the Tournament

Turned out to be Bayern’s Thomas Mueller, the 20-year-old right-sided forward who came out of nowhere to sneak the Golden Boot with five goals and three assists. Displayed incredible poacher’s instincts to always arrive in the box at exactly the right time with lethal finishing to boot. Surely the natural successor to Miroslav Klose and now established as a world star.

Worst Team Performance

England’s dire 0-0 with Algeria wins on match alone, but France’s limp capitulation to Mexico takes the crown for its aftermath as well as the ninety minutes themselves. Literally nobody had a good game for France, utterly devoid of any desire and looking desperate to be eliminated just to get away from the clownish Raymond Domenech. Nicolas Anelka’s foul-mouthed tirade to the manager at half-time sparked a few days of hilarious self-destruction that brought such shame on everyone involved that President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to personally conduct an investigation into the team’s performance.

Runners-up: Greece (vs. South Korea), England (vs. USA), Algeria (vs. Slovenia), Slovakia (vs. Paraguay), Switzerland (vs. Honduras), Honduras (vs. Switzerland), England (vs. Germany)

Team of the Tournament

Playing 4-2-3-1 as nearly all the successful teams did.

Iker Casillas (Spain); Philipp Lahm (Germany), Gerard Pique (Spain), Diego Lugano (Uruguay), Jorge Fucile (Uruguay); Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Sergio Busquets (Spain); Thomas Mueller (Germany), Andres Iniesta (Spain), David Villa (Spain); Diego Forlan (Uruguay)

Best Overall Player

Forlan for me was the only man to play really well in all seven games, leading his team to a fantastic fourth place finish with intelligence and flair. Never once did he dive or complain to the referee either, just got on with the job in hand. By all accounts the nicest man at the World Cup, too, always taking time to sign autographs or talk to journalists and fans.

Player Most Likely To Have Earned A Big Money Transfer

Most people will remember Luis Suarez for the handball against Ghana but don’t forget his three well-taken goals, including an absolute pearl against South Korea, his searing pace and constant willingness to get in the box and shoot. Considering his fifty-plus goals for Ajax last season, expect plenty of rumour regarding his destination in the next few weeks.

Runners-up: Mesut Oezil (Germany), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Ghana)

Goal of the Tournament

Look no further than Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s straight-as-an-arrow rocket blast against Uruguay in the semi-final. After several keepers had been caught out by the late movement of the Jabulani ball, Fernando Muslera could not complain about this one. From the moment it left his boot, it never deviated and struck perfectly off the inside of the far post and in.

Runners-up: Siphiwe Tshabalala (South Africa, vs. Mexico), David Villa (Spain, vs. Honduras), Fabio Quagliarella (Italy, vs. Slovakia), Keisuke Honda (Japan, vs. Denmark), David Villa (Spain, vs. Chile), Andres Iniesta (Spain, vs. Chile), Carlos Tevez (Argentina, vs. Mexic0), Miroslav Klose (Germany, vs. Argentina)

Alternative Team Of The Tournament

This is a team of players who might not have gone all the way in the tournament but still stood out as great without really getting all the praise they may have deserved. In many ways every bit as good as those who made the main team of the tournament. Also playing 4-2-3-1.

Samir Handanovic (Slovenia); John Pantsil (Ghana), Ryan Nelsen (New Zealand), Yuji Nakazawa (Japan), Carlos Salcido (Mexico); Anthony Annan (Ghana), Diego Perez (Uruguay); Landon Donovan (USA), Yasuhitu Endo (Japan), Jean Beausejour (Chile); Nelson Haedo Valdez (Paraguay)

Day 23: El Diego On The End Of A Muellering

Argentina 0 – 4 Germany

Paraguay 0 – 1 Spain

Well, we expected one game that could go either way and one comfortable victory today, just in that order.

Argentina-Germany was supposed to be an exciting duel between two exciting attacking forces, but Argentina just didn’t turn up. Right from the start Germany overran them, closing them down quickly and allowing them no time to express themselves on the ball. Even after three minutes, when Nicolas Otamendi conceded a free-kick and some awful marking allowed Thomas Mueller to head in Bastian Schweinsteiger’s cross, Germany looked good value for their lead. That was just the start of a torrid afternoon for Otamendi, who was constantly tormented by Lukas Podolski on the German left, and was at fault for the second goal as well.

Argentina could have come back in the second half as they grew into the game a little bit more but couldn’t summon a really clear-cut chance. Gonzalo Higuain in particular had a really poor game, often miscontrolling the ball and losing posession up front. There was more pressure from Maradona’s men in the first few minutes of the second half but again nothing concrete, just a sense of attacking intent. The second goal arrived after just over an hour, when Otamendi’s pathetic attempt to tackle Mueller freed Podolski in the area. Podolski forced Sergio Romero to come out and then put it on a plate for Miroslav Klose, who could hardly miss from such a tiny distance (luckily, because the finish was actually quite bad). A similar defensive muddle led to a third shortly after, with plenty of bodies in the box from a corner and Arne Friedrich of all people finding space to tap in from virtually a prone position. By that time Argentina’s resolve was all gone and the tie was dead and buried, so when substitute Piotr Trochowski crossed for the unmarked Klose, it was no surprise that his simple but excellent finish made it four. Klose is now only one behind Ronaldo (the fat one) in the all-time World Cup goalscoring stakes.

I really can’t say enough how impressive Germany were. They look the best side left in the competition now, arguably, with every player knowing exactly what they’re doing and what those around them are doing. Schweinsteiger had an outstanding game, pulling the strings in midfield while Mesut Oezil had actually a rather disappointing, uninvolved day. Sami Khedira continued to be a solid, muscular presence up and down the field alongside him, and both full-backs, Lahm and Boateng, were also standouts. Mueller was industrious on the right but picked up a booking that will see him miss the semi-final. That could be a quite a loss for Germany, but you just know that Trochowski will come in and pick up exactly where the Bayern man left off. As for Argentina, I don’t think they ever really looked like winning this World Cup. Their defense has been a mess all the way through and it let them down again today. Maradona’s substitutions failed to lift them out of their malaise either, and there is of course speculation that he may resign tomorrow, but I for one hope he stays because he’s such an entertaining man to be in charge of the national team.

Germany will meet Spain in the semi, as we all expected, but the Spanish didn’t half labour to get there. In the first half Paraguay were the better team, pressing right from the front and not allowing Spain to settle in to their tiki-taka rhythm, much like Germany’s performance earlier except without the counterattacking panache. Neither side had much in the way of chances apart from Paraguay’s disallowed goal, a cool finish from the onside Nelson Haedo Valdez ruled out for Oscar Cardozo, who was just offside and, though he didn’t touch the ball, he jumped for it, thereby making himself a problem for the goalkeeper and being “active” by the letter of the law. For the commitment and effectiveness of their shut-down tactics it was hard not to say that Paraguay deserved to be ahead at half-time, but the goal was illegitimate.

The second half was much the same for the first fifteen minutes until an absolutely mental period of play began with a penalty being awarded to Paraguay. I was glad to see it given for arm-holding by Gerard Pique as he defended a set-piece, as it’s the sort of thing that needs to be clamped down on more. But Oscar Cardozo, recalled to the starting eleven after coolly slotting home the winning penalty in the shootout versus Japan, hit his shot too close to Iker Casillas, who had guessed correctly. Immediately after the ball was pumped up into the Paraguay half and David Villa rushed into the penalty area and was brought down by Antolin Alcaraz. Whether or not it was a clear cut foul is debatable but if, as the referee decided, it was a foul, it should have been a red card rather than the yellow given. Either way it was poor refereeing. When Xabi Alonso dispatched the spot-kick, though, he was pulled back to take it again because of encroaching into the area, but replays showed that the same thing was happening (and to a greater and more obvious extent) when Cardozo missed his, and the ref didn’t make him take it again. So more bad refereeing. Alonso’s second kick was poor and saved well by Claudio Bravo, who then should have conceded another penalty because in the ensuing melee in the box he went for the ball but took down Villa instead.

It was a shocking explosion of controversy and drama in a game that had been deathly boring for an hour, but despite that insanity the game returned to its previous rhythm. Spain continued to go forward but their passing just wasn’t coming off. Fernando Torres had already been withdrawn after another really lacklustre performance but they were crying out for some width to stretch the Paraguayan full-backs. Vicente del Bosque didn’t bring any on though, with Fabregas and Pedro, who is nominally a wide right player but enjoys tucking in, keeping things too constricted. Finally, though, the breakthrough was made with ten minutes left, and it was down to some inspiration from Andres Iniesta, who glided forward behind the defensive midfield line and laid a pass on perfectly for Pedro, who had to bury it – but hit the far post. Luckily Villa was on hand to take the rebound and tuck it in, though not before it bounced off both posts. That takes his tally to five for the tournament.

Spain are through to their first ever World Cup semi-final, but on this form they will struggle to beat Germany. There was enough from Paraguay’s determined pressing to suggest that Germany can do exactly the same and stifle Spain while having the attacking players to score goals on the break. I definitely feel that del Bosque has to drop one of Alonso and Sergio Busquets so that he can get more width from midfield if they want to avoid a repeat of this game. Villa is potent cutting in from the left but shouldn’t be the widest attacking player and either Jesus Navas or David Silva would provide a useful option on either flank.

Man of the Day: No question for me that it must be Schweinsteiger. The man whose name translates as “pig supervisor” certainly oversaw everything pretty much all over the pitch. Ballack? Who needs Ballack?

Another two rest days now before the semi-finals, but I’ll still be blogging. Haven’t decided exactly what about yet, though.

Day 22: Uruguay Bring Ghanaian Adventure To Abreu-pt End

Netherlands 2 – 1 Brazil

Uruguay 1 – 1 Ghana (4-2 penalties)

Wow. What a day of quarter-final action. Two extraordinary matches but we’ll start with the first, a shock result as the Netherlands overturned the Brazilian juggernaut.

I’d thought coming into this game that the Netherlands might be the team best suited to beating Brazil, and while Arjen Robben did draw some fouls running down the right at Michel Bastos, he didn’t really take full advantage and the Dutch win ended up being quite a strange one. In the first half, there was only one team in it. Brazil fired a warning shot past their opponents’ bow when they had a goal disallowed after eight minutes and followed through on the threat just two short minutes later when Felipe Melo played a simple forward pass that bisected a static Dutch back line and Robinho made a great run onto it, needing only to sweep the ball past Maarten Stekelenburg to put the Selecao ahead, and so he did. From then on Brazil did what we expected them to and shut up shop, doing a good job of keeping the Netherlands, and particularly key man Wesley Sneijder, quiet. They outplayed the Dutch very simply and Bert van Marwijk’s side were unlucky not to have been punished more by half-time. Maicon in particular came very close with the last kick of the half, a brilliant, sweeping Brazil move reminiscent of that Carlos Alberto goal in 1970, which Stekelenburg got a subtle but crucial touch to and was wrongly called a goal kick. For the Netherlands, their half was summed up by an embarrassing attempt at a corner where Robben subtly poked the ball out of the corner and then walked away as if he hadn’t taken it, but none of his team-mates picked up on it and so Brazil just took it back. Funny, but cringeworthy.

In the second half though, everything changed. Bastos should have been sent off for a second booking when he blocked Robben off on the flank, but the resulting free-kick brought the ball to Sneijder, who put in a cross. Julio Cesar, the Vince Vaughn-a-like goalkeeper who is normally so imperious, came out to meet it, missed it as he jumped with Felipe Melo, and it came off Melo’s head for an own goal. It was a real calamity for Brazil and the incident seemed to transfer all of their previous confidence to the Netherlands. As doubt pervaded every Brazilian move, Sneijder and Mark van Bommel took control in midfield and started to make things happen. The second goal, a header from little Sneijder of all people, was deserved and then Brazil really started to fall apart. The tackling in the match had been competitive from the start, but the Brazilians started reacting to everything in a very negative way. It came to a head when Melo fouled Robben and then proceeded to stamp on him viciously as he tried to take the ball back from him. It was a moment of absolute insanity, completely inexcusable in a World Cup quarter-final when your team is chasing the game. With only ten men Brazil were unable to resurrect their juggernaut playstyle and although they had one or two chances from corners late on that the Dutch failed to deal with sufficiently, they never really looked like coming back and it turned out to be surprisingly comfortable.

The game after was even more eventful and emotional, though. In the first twenty-five minutes Uruguay were by far the better side, and there was a definite feeling that they would regret it if they didn’t take advantage by scoring. That was exactly what came to pass, as Ghana came back into the game, Kevin-Prince Boateng increasingly finding room to manouevre as he moved into the hole behind Gyan. With the last kick of the half, Sulley Muntari completed that turnaround with a frankly ludicrous swerving shot that, as it traveled through the air, echoed with all the complaints about the Jabulani ball. Fernando Muslera was wrong-footed, having taken a crucial step to his right, and so at half-time it looked pretty bad for Uruguay.

What got Uruguay back into it, and always looked like being their likeliest avenue, was a Diego Forlan set piece. This is a side of his game that I wasn’t really aware of coming into the tournament, but his delivery from corners has been consistently dangerous all the way through. His free-kicks too have been brilliant and none more so than the equaliser, which hovered and dodged its way into the net over Richard Kingson’s net. You could make a case for Kingson needing to do better with that shot, but you can’t deny the quality of the shot. From then Uruguay didn’t really kick on to seize back control of the game, though, and as the game dragged on Oscar Tabarez made a bold tactical substitution, taking off the creative forward Edinson Cavani and bringing on the target man Sebastian Abreu. It seemed to be a serious tactical error as Abreu distorted the Uruguayan attack plans, pushing the dangerous Luis Suarez too far to the right. You’d probably say it worked out though.

When extra time arrived things slowed down as both teams were clearly really tired. Ghana, obviously, had played extra time in the second round – I don’t know what Uruguay’s excuse was. There was plenty of effort from both sides but neither seemed able to produce any real end product, and penalties always looked the likeliest outcome. Until, of course, everyone thought it was all over – after a chaotic scramble in the Uruguayan box, Suarez blocked a goalbound shot with a blatant handball and was rightly sent off. You can’t really blame Suarez – he had to take it for the team from his perspective, but it was cheating. Justice would have seen Asamoah Gyan bury his third penalty of the tournament with the last kick of the game, but justice was absent. It was a shocking moment that will stick with the poor man for the rest of his life, but then he had to pick himself up straight away and take another one in the resulting shoot-out. You just felt that the Ghanaians had been jarred mentally by the missed penalty and so it proved as both John Mensah and young Dominic Adiyiah took poor spot kicks which were both saved by Muslera.

It is a great shame that the last African team has departed but Ghana can hold their heads up high. They’ve acquitted themselves very well and got better as they went on. Boateng and Gyan in particular have had excellent tournaments and they came so close to making history as the first African side to reach the semis. Considering how it looked that no team from the home continent would have made it to the knockout stages, the local fans must be proud of them. But sadly they will remember this World Cup for heartbreak more than pride, I fear.

Man of the Day: Hard to say. I’ll go for Sneijder, but Stekelenburg runs him very close for a brilliant save from Kaka and another great one from Maicon. For sheer effort, Gyan gets a mention too.

Tomorrow, we can only hope for another day of such excitement and drama. Germany-Argentina could be a brilliant end-to-end match, two teams who cannot really defend but attack with brilliant skill. I’m going to punt for Germany. Spain should have little trouble dispatching Paraguay.

Day 21: Wish You Were Here

The quarter-finals start tomorrow – good news for those of you who, like me, are suffering from withdrawal. While we wait for proceedings to begin again, though, I thought I’d take a look at those teams who will take no further part in South Africa 2010, having been eliminated already, and also one or two teams who didn’t qualify, whom it would have been nice to see involved in the tournament.

On the whole it’s hard to argue that the teams that failed to get out of their groups deserved to play any further part, but there are, I think, one or two notable exceptions to that statement. One side who I wish had been able to go further was the Ivory Coast. They’ll be looking at that shoddy opening match against a Portugal side who were there for the taking, and wondering how they let it finish 0-0. The last kick of the game, a conservative short corner rather than a cross into the box for someone to get a head on, is a moment that summed up a curious mentality going into that game that they realistically had to win to make sure of qualification, and so it proved. It’s something of a tragedy that probably the most talented African side the world has ever seen has been hamstrung by consecutive terrible draws at this World Cup and the last. Four years ago, they were dropped into a vicious Group of Death containing Argentina, the Netherlands, and what was then Serbia & Montenegro, an even more tricky group than they had this time around. Even if they’d qualified this summer they would have probably faced Spain. When you look at a side containing Kolo and Yaya Toure, Gervinho, Didier Zokora, you think they should be able to do well, but then you see Didier Drogba and you see a player who has such immense talent that with a slightly kinder draw he could have made history for African football. At 32, he has surely now missed his chance to make that impression on the biggest stage of all.

In a very different way it was also a great shame to see New Zealand eliminated. I think everyone took a shine to the All-Whites – written off before the tournament for being a squad comprised of lower league and amateur players, and dreaming of leaving the tournament with a point or even just a goal, they showed incredible determination and pride to bow out unbeaten, having held on for an historic draw with the world champions Italy, who they then finished above in the group standings. Their captain, Ryan Nelsen, had an immense tournament, marshalling the less experienced players like Tommy Smith and Winston Reid who also distinguished themselves against top class opposition. Reid’s last-minute equaliser in the first match against Slovakia to secure the Kiwis’ first ever World Cup point was a moment that will stick in my memory for a long time. Goalkeeper Mark Paston, coming in to the tournament second choice but playing due to Glenn Moss’ suspension, overcame a slightly nervy first game to deliver two assured performances against Italy and Paraguay, and up front young Chris Wood made a really good impression coming off the bench twice and was mere inches from scoring against Italy. It would have been wonderful to have seen them in the knockout stages.

The other team I’m sorry to have seen go was Chile. Their efforts in a losing cause against Brazil a few days ago were not as impressive as their group games, but they really were a breath of fresh air in the first phase. Marcelo Bielsa’s unwavering commitment to attacking football was delightful, and his truly original 3-3-1-3 formation was very effective. The players showed real flexibility in being able to get forward from any position or drop back when others did the same, and if only their star striker Humberto Suazo had been fitter they might have had more finishing prowess to put the icing on a fantastically entertaining cake. Alexis Sanchez seemed to draw all the plaudits from commentators and pundits but for my money the real emerging star for Chile was left winger Jean Beausejour, unoriginally nicknamed “The Frenchman” by his teammates. He showed pace, creativity, a willingness to cross whenever possible and the ability to pull it off most of the time. His goal secured the opening victory over Honduras and he was the most productive of the attacking quartet.

But what of the teams that might have, or maybe should have, been here? An obvious question is how would the Republic of Ireland have fared had they got through their controversial play-off with France? The answer, probably, is not hugely well, but let’s face it, they probably would have done better than the French. Ignoring the changes to group seedings which would have happened if France had not been present, you can’t imagine the likes of Glenn Whelan and Shane Long posing too much of a threat to Uruguay and Meixco, but the qualification alone would have been a significant achievement for Giovanni Trapattoni’s side, one that they would surely have appreciated more than the self-destructive French.

As for a team that really could have made a significant impact on the tournament but didn’t make it, look no further than African champions Egypt. The team that has won the past three Africa Cup of Nations finished inseparable with Algeria in the qualifying group requiring a one-off tie-breaker hosted in the neutral Sudan. Egypt-Algeria has always been a really spicy grudge match so it’s perhaps understandable that Egypt came out second best on the day, despite being unquestionably the best team from their continent, but I would really have liked to have seen how they fared against the rest of the world. I’m sure they would have put up a better fight than Algeria, who looked unpenetrative up front and disorganised at the back. Their squad is comprised of seriously talented players – Essam Al Hadary is by some distance the best African keeper. Ahmed El Mohammadi is an up-and-coming player who can play all along the right flank – at 22, he already has 38 caps and is moving to Sunderland this summer on a loan deal from ENPPI in Egypt. Amr Zaki and Standard Liege’s Emad Motaeb between them have 60 goals in 118 international games. And then there’s Mohammed Abou Trika, behind perhaps only Drogba, Samuel Eto’o and Michael Essien as Africa’s greatest player. It really is a great shame that they haven’t been here to contest the World Cup.

Still, they didn’t make it, and in the end it’s their own fault that they’re not. For those that did qualify, though, the action starts again tomorrow. I predict a win for Uruguay tomorrow over Ghana, but I really don’t know which way the Netherlands vs Brazil will go. My gut feeling is changing constantly, but I’ll listen to my head and say Brazil.

Day 19: Write The Future, My Arse

Paraguay 0 – 0 Japan (5-3 penalties)

Spain 1 – 0 Portugal

The quarter-final line-up was confirmed today, and each one of those four games will feature a South American side. That may well have some deep, meaningful significance but I don’t really think there’s any great secret that those teams have been hiding from anyone else.

For one thing, the Paraguay side that played out a pretty stinky 0-0 draw with Japan and then advanced on penalties was a step or two back from the one that had showed up to draw with Italy and beat Slovakia in its first two group games. They looked a little slower, particularly in attack, than they had been, at least until Nelson Haedo Valdez (a.k.a. My First Carlos Tevez) was brought on. I was really quite shocked that Valdez had been omitted from the starting eleven for this match, as his constant drive and energy had been a big part of Paraguay’s qualification from their group. As both teams played out a barren first half Valdez was conspicuous by his absence, and it was little surprise that he was brought on a few minutes into the second.

If it seems like I’m not saying much about this game, that’s because there’s really very little to say. Japan were set up defensively and didn’t attack well when they did get forward, Keisuke Honda not as impressive as he was in previous matches, and Paraguay were slow and ponderous. Even after Valdez came on, they couldn’t really conjure anything, but at least they had some bite and energy up front. Claudio Morel Rodriguez in particular had a poor game, floating several crosses hopelessly wayward. When extra time rolled around it was obvious that both sides were too scared of losing to really go for the win at all. Penalties were an inevitability. The shootout itself was reasonably exciting, most of the penalties being dispatched excellently, but Japan’s third taker, Yuichi Komano, broke a nation’s hearts by hitting the crossbar which proved to be the decisive miss.

Paraguay now ascend to their first ever World Cup quarter-final but I would be shocked if they made it any further on this form. Their opponents, Spain, had a decent game as they eliminated rivals Portugal by David Villa’s goal, a great finish to a thrilling passing move involving Andres Iniesta and Xavi. Spain controlled the entire game as Portugal sat back constantly, often with ten men behind the ball, content to play ultra-defensively and pray for a counterattacking opportunity at some stage which never truly materialised, save for one through ball that Iker Casillas rushed out to defuse. It was really disappointing to watch – it would be unfair of me not to compare them to Greece, to be perfectly frank. Meanwhile Spain spent the first half admirably trying to play through the Portuguese walls but got nowhere. Watching at home I was crying out for the introduction of Jesus Navas or David Silva to ping some crosses over the top towards Fernando Torres, who had another largely quiet game. However, Vicente del Bosque changed the game a different way, removing Torres for Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente, the best possible recipient of those crosses, and he had an instant impact. Sergio Ramos floated over a piercing cross that Llorente had to dive quite low to get a head on, so it wasn’t a great surprise that he couldn’t put it away convincingly, but the intention was signalled. From then on Llorente held the ball up excellently and brought others into play, and just a couple of minutes later, Villa scored. He’s certainly made a case for starting the quarter-final ahead of Torres, although I don’t think he well. Del Bosque knows that it Torres comes good he will be more effective against the top teams.

As for the red card late on that saw Ricardo Costa leave the field, replays seemed inconclusive as to whether his elbow connected with Joan Capdevila’s face. What’s for sure is that Capdevila’s reaction was embarrassing, but there seemed enough to indicate that the elbow was raised.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the Prancing Prat himself, had another letdown of a match, isolated and unused up front, desperately shifting from one flank to the other to through the middle to try and exert some sort of influence on the game, but Portugal’s defensive tactics just didn’t feed him at all. It’s been another pretty poor tournament for the man who thinks he’s the world’s best player, but for sheer effectiveness I think David Villa has overtaken him in the race to be the world’s second best behind Messi. (Well, actually I’d put the Xavi/Iniesta machine ahead of him, too.)

Man of the Day: I know I must be turning into a broken record this tournament, what with my constant praise of not only Messi and Oezil but David Villa, but Villa really was the difference again today. The most outstanding player in a group of outstanding players was a constant threat from a wide left position, which will encourage his new employers at Camp Nou who were wondering what they were going to do with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He’s solidly established himself as the best centre-forward in world football.

Tomorrow, there’ll be….uh….oh. Hang on. There’s no football tomorrow. What? The World Cup’s over? But there’s a new one starting on Friday, I hear. I reckon England could do well this time.

Seriously, I’ll still be blogging on the rest days. In the couple of days before the quarter-finals I plan to discuss the French debacle and the teams who have left the tournament so far.

Day 18: Juan Thing Led To Another…

Netherlands 2 – 1 Slovakia

Brazil 3 – 0 Chile

Not, I think it’s fair to say, the most exciting day of the World Cup so far, but I suppose we can all breathe a sigh of relief that nothing went disastrously wrong, anyway.

The Netherlands reached the quarter-finals with a routine victory over Slovakia that suggested that they are still yet to move into top gear. They dominated posession without ever seeking to really kill their opponents off, even with a relatively early lead through Arjen Robben. It was a great goal from the returning winger, sprinting to get on the end of a slightly overhit through ball as if to assure everyone that his hamstring is completely fine now, rounding the defender, and slotting a low shot into the bottom corner of the net. In real time, the goal looked slightly strange, the shot being quite a slow one that I automatically assumed would be saved, but replays showed that it was placed perfectly so as to evade the hand of Jan Mucha. It was quite easy in the end for Robben, whose return has balanced the Dutch side better, quashing my initial worries that moving Dirk Kuyt to the left would create the same cutting-inside problems as there were with Rafael van der Vaart there.

The game remained at 1-0 for a long period, with the Dutch clearly in control but seemingly reluctant to expend two much energy against such lowly opposition, a little arrogant but in the end it proved to be justified. Slovakia were unable to muster many threatening attacks on goal, despite young wingers Vladimir Weiss (Jr., Jr.) and Miroslav Stoch looking peppy and potentially useful outlets. As such it was quite a flat, boring game with no sense that anything of any great importance was going to happen after the first goal. Holland wrapped it up with five minutes to go when Mucha came out to try to stop the oncoming Dirk Kuyt, who evaded and found himself in loads of space. His patience in setting himself for the pull-back to Wesley Sneijder was impressive, and Sneijder atoned for an earlier miss by making no mistakes this time. That killed the game completely and manager Vladimir Weiss (Jr.) took the opportunity to give two squad players a few minutes as subs just to say they had played in a World Cup, which I thought was good of him, even though one of them, Marek Sapara, was a player I’d hoped to have seen more of. Then, out of nowhere, Slovakia got a penalty with the last kick of the game when sub Martin Jakubko made a rather pathetic dive over goalkeeper Stekelenburg, and Robert Vittek converted it to make himself joint top scorer again. Most of the Slovakians have only really had one good game, but Vittek’s done well throughout and his four goals in four games reflect that.

In the other second round match today everyone’s second favourite team, Chile, were comfortably overcome by Brazil. Again it was a slightly disappointing match despite having a few goals, with Chile attacking gamely as they were always going to do but suffering from the same symptoms as they have done all tournament, being unable to find consistent finishing to complete their attacking barrages. This was exacerbated by some terrific Brazilian defending, led chiefly by the man of the match Juan, who was constantly getting in the way and was rewarded by scoring the first goal, a strong header from Maicon’s corner. Only a few minutes later the game looked dead and buried as Luis Fabiano passed into an empty net. Going in two-nil down at half-time, Marcelo Bielsa threw any last semblance of caution to the wind by making two substitutions that essentially left Chile with only two at the back, later falling to just one, although obviously part of Chile’s tactics is that the midfield players can all drop back reasonably effectively. It didn’t make much difference, though, as Brazil continued to do an excellent impression of a brick wall.

In fact, both teams could easily have had a penalty, but missed out by two extremes – first, Lucio performed such an elaborate dive that the genuine foul he suffered was overlooked, and later, Alexis Sanchez refused to go down under a challenge in favour of trying to get a shot away, which came to nothing. There was no question of refereeing mistakes, though, as Howard Webb and his assistants had a competent game in a match with little serious incident. If you were watching ITV, though, you would be forgiven for thinking that the English officials had brought peace to the Middle East with their performance. I don’t want to get into a rant that non-British-based readers won’t understand a word of, but suffice to say that even by his own hideously low standards, Clive Tyldesley had a mind-numbingly bad game.

So now the two teams have set up a quarter-final against each other in a few days’ time, and it could be a really interesting game. From what I can see, the Netherlands are perhaps the best-equipped team to beat Brazil left in the tournament, able to match their formation man-for-man and with Arjen Robben running at Michel Bastos on the Dutch right and Dirk Kuyt maybe being able to match Maicon’s work-rate on the other flank. Bert van Marwijk will obviously have to make sure his side fire on all cylinders for that match, though, as anything less will not be enough.

Man of the Day: Juan was absolutely imperious at the heart of the Brazilian defense.

Tomorrow, I fancy Paraguay to overcome Japan in a hard-fought game, maybe on penalties, and Spain to dispatch Portugal in the Iberian derby.

Day 14: I Told You They Were Pasta Their Best

Slovakia 3 – 2 Italy

Paraguay 0 – 0 New Zealand

Denmark 1 – 3 Japan

Cameroon 1 – 2 Denmark

Six groups have now been resolved as the first phase of South Africa 2010 nears its conclusion, and there was a big shock in store as the reigning champions Italy were dethroned by a Slovakia side who looked reborn after two indifferent previous games. Looks like I picked the wrong game to focus on in Paraguay-New Zealand.

I did have both games on in front of me but paid most attention to the 0-0 draw that secured Paraguay’s place at the top of the table, even after Robert Vittek scored the unlikely opener, running onto a delightful pass from Juraj Kucka after Daniele de Rossi gave away posession poorly, because from that moment on it became apparent that the only next goal that could change the shape of the table would be a New Zealand one. So I kept watching, and while the goals kept flying in at both ends on the other screen, the All Whites (today in all black) and Paraguay played out a pretty dull stalemate. Paraguay were quite a way below the levels of their previous performances. Oscar Cardozo, so prolific for Benfica this season, was neither as dynamic, energetic or effective as Lucas Barrios, who was really missed and came on as a sub too late to lift the rest of the tam. Nelson Haedo Valdez put in a shift but couldn’t get any joy and it was little surprise to see him taken off as well. They did what they had to do, though, and took the draw, certainly giving New Zealand far fewer chances than the Azzuri did a few days ago. They’ll need to rediscover that energy in the knockout stages, though.

From what I did see of the Italy defeat it looked like a real classic, though – when Vittek joined Gonzalo Higuain as the tournament’s top scorer in the second half taking advantage of a moment of indecision by Giorgio Chiellini, it seemed impossible that even Italy, who so often squeeze through through sheer force of will, would be able to recover but they came close. Fabio Quagliarella, brought on at half-time with Christian Maggio as Marcello Lippi sought to correct a poor first half, had a shot sensationally cleared just off the line by Martin Skrtel, and later was involved in a strange incident literally inside the Slovakian goal when Antonio di Natale pulled one back with ten minutes to go. Quagliarella tussled with goalkeeper Jan Mucha to pick the ball out of the net and when Kucka intervened both men ended up on the floor, Quagliarella claiming to have been hit in the face. There was little time to dwell on it, though, as soon after, Italy conceded a really soft goal, allowing substitute Kamil Kopunek to run unchecked into the path of a simple throw-in and slot easily past Federico Marchetti. Quagliarella went on to score a good goal in injury time, but Simone Pepe wasn’t able to convert a far-post chance that would have equalised and spared Italian blushes.

For Italy this will be a real kick in the teeth despite low expectations coming into this tournament. On paper they really should have got out of this group, but the ageing elements of the squad were shown up today. Fabio Cannavaro in particular finished his exceptional international career with a shocking game today, lucky to have avoided a second booking for a lunge on Marek Hamsik, and Gianluca Zambrotta and Gennaro Gattuso hauled off at half-time. Cesare Prandelli, who will now take over from Lippi, will need to do some serious spring cleaning to rejuvenate this side, many of whom are sure to be in for a savaging by the Italian press.

In Group F, however, things went pretty much to plan for the top seeds as the Netherlands confirmed top spot with a relatively painless 2-1 win over Cameroon, who leave with nothing after a really poor World Cup. Robin van Persie finally opened his account for the competition with a decent finish from a wide-ish angle and, although Samuel Eto’o equalised from the penalty spot, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar put a straightforward rebound from the returning Arjen Robben’s post-rattling shot to take the points and book a meeting with Slovakia in the next round, which is more appetising than manager Bert van Marwijk could have expected, even accounting for the massive boost that Slovakia will feel having vanquished the holders.

I was more focused on Japan’s impressive victory over a limp Denmark, however, in what was essentially the first straight knockout match of this tournament. In the early stages Japan looked content to play on the counter, as a draw would have suited them, but Denmark had few ideas up front, with Jon Dahl Tomasson particularly having a poor game. The game really came alive when Keisuke Honda netted the first absolute belter of a free-kick of this tournament, following Park Chu-Young’s more measured effort two days ago, from a huge distance out. He was helped by Thomas Sorensen, who made the first mistake of a really bad game by positioning himself badly in relation to his defensive wall, and consequently being stranded when the ball flew past him. It was a spectacular strike, though, take nothing away from it. What was incredible was that the next free-kick was even better, Yasuhito Endo producing a very David Beckham-like curler from a slightly shorter range that again Sorensen prepared badly for, placing the shortest member of the wall on the edge which made it easier for Endo. By that stage Japan looked totally dominant and the result was really a foregone conclusion from then on. It was evident that Denmark just didn’t have any ideas of how to break down a very solid Japanese defense, resorting to aimless long balls in search of Nicklas Bendtner that led to nothing.

In the second half Honda really took control of the game, causing constant trouble for Lars Jacobsen and Daniel Agger as he drifted in and out of the inside left position, and he made the third with a powerful run, keeping hold of the ball magnificently with great strength and ball control before laying it on a plate for the substitute Shinji Okazaki. This came after Denmark had pulled one back with a penalty, given slightly softly for a foul on Daniel Agger, who immediately gave the ball to Tomasson, who had showed exactly why he hadn’t scored in his past fourteen internationals, having been stuck one behind the all-time Danish goalscoring record. He did his best to avoid equalling that record, his average penalty being saved by Eiji Kawashima and nearly fluffing the rebound from a tiny distance, but luckily for him it did just trickle in. The two teams had been about equal in their previous two games but on this evidence it is impossible to argue with Japan’s qualficiation, which is their first appearance in the knockout stages not on home soil, a fine achievement for a nation that will surely grow larger as a footballing power in the coming years.

Man of the Day: Keisuke Honda really ran the show for Japan today, although Yuji Nakazawa was also brilliant at centre-back and Daisuke Matsui was an industrious, creative influence in the midfield. Robert Vittek must also get a mention for his fine example of a good poacher’s performance, but I’m sticking with Honda, who really caught the eye with a performance hinting at greater quality.

Tomorrow will probably begin with a Brazilian win over Portugal, alongside what I suspect will be a draw between North Korea and the Ivory Coast. The real fun happens in the evening, in a Group H with plenty of permutations. I don’t really see Switzerland scoring many against Honduras, and I’m going to plump for a draw there, with Spain to beat Chile and secure qualification. See you tomorrow.

Day 13: They’re Ghana Keep Going

Slovenia 0 – 1 England

USA 1 – 0 Algeria

Ghana 0 – 1 Germany

Australia 2 – 1 Serbia

It’s been a good day for the first African World Cup as Ghana reached the last sixteen ensuring that at least one nation from the continent can carry the local support into the second round. I’ll come to the Group D resolution in a few moments, after I’ve dealt with Group C, where England produced an acceptable performance to beat Slovenia and scrape through to schedule a defeat to Germany on Sunday.

If you were watching England edge Slovenia on the BBC you would be forgiven for thinking that it was the most impressive performance since records began. It is a sad indictment of just how bad the first two games have been for Fabio Capello et al that Guy Mowbray and Mark Lawrenson were purring as if they were watching Brazil circa 1970, because England were not exactly what I’d call impressive in victory. They were certainly much improved, pulling themselves together after a first few minutes that were largely in the same tone as the Algeria game. After about fifteen minutes things started to settle – Steven Gerrard actually listened to his manager’s instructions and stuck more strictly to the left wing, which allowed for better link-ups with Ashley Cole, who was one of England’s better attacking influences. James Milner, replacing Aaron Lennon, put in a much better performance than his stinker against the USA, showing the drive and work-rate he’s been putting in for Aston Villa this season, and gave much better end product than Lennon, the more natural winger, by providing some great crosses, none better than that which led to the only goal of the game. I don’t often have much to say in favour of Jermain Defoe, I’ve never really rated his ability to influence a game, but he made an excellent timed run to meet the cross and volleyed too strongly for the otherwise brilliant Samir Handanovic to save.

England continued to dominate through the first half without really creating many more great opportunities. The first twenty minutes of the second half should have seen them cement the victory though, Defoe in particular narrowly missing a chance he should have done much better with, and Handanovic being equal to a John Terry header that looked promising. But England just couldn’t pull the trigger and it became evident that Slovenia were becoming more confident from being reprieved. Towards the end things got tense as England were mostly on the defensive, and substitute Zlatko Dedic would have scored if not for an immense last-ditch tackle from Matthew Upson. England were overall worth the win, Slovenia having not really fulfilled the promise from their first half against the USA, but they will need to be far more ruthless if they are to stand a chance against a Germany side who are better all over the pitch than Slovenia (except for in goal). This performance was the minimum that is required from a side with quarter- or semi-final aspirations.

I saw very little of the USA-Algeria game but enough to recognise some shameful finishing from Rafik Djebbour for Algeria, and Jozy Altidore of the US, who blazed ridiculously over the bar from barely any distance out at all. It’s a good thing the States got the win because they had for the second time in this group had a perfectly reasonable goal disallowed, this time for offside, but the complaining that I read from some Americans on the web to the tune of “if FIFA wants us to be interested in the World Cup, stop giving us bad referees” was silly – bad referees happen to everyone. It’s part of being a fan. Anyway, I am pleased that the USA got through, I think it would have set back football in that country if they hadn’t, and they are quite a fun side to watch, more so than Slovenia. I would fancy their chances of making the quarter-finals, as well.

And so to Group D, where I would say that Ghana secured their qualification, but they didn’t really – it was thanks to Australia that they made it through. Ghana themselves lost an exciting and open game to Germany. It could have gone either way in the first half, with plenty of chances for either side and a suspicion of handball against Phillipp Lahm who blocked a goalbound header from a Ghanaian corner. Mesut Oezil was the star of the show again for Germany, making brilliant forward runs and slippery passes, and he scored the only goal of the game, an absolute belter from outside the area that Richard Kingson, who had a pretty good game generally, could do nothing to stop. Germany were clearly missing Miroslav Klose – Cacau just doesn’t seem as influential and powerful up front – but pressed their advantage in the second half as Ghana started to run out of ideas.

Ghana attacked plenty, with Kevin Prince-Boateng playing with freedom and adventure, but couldn’t quite find the goal they needed, which means that they have qualified, the first team in my memory to do so, without having scored a goal from open play. Only two Asamoah Gyan penalties have earned them their passage and it is arguable that they did not so much deserve to get through the group as Australia, who picked themselves up remarkably from their opening defeat. Gyan will need to assert himself more against the USA and those who surround him, particularly Andre Ayew, must polish their shooting boots, to find the finishing to reward their industrious midfield play.

As I say, it’s something of a shame for Australia not to have qualified. Their typically plucky effort to recover from what looked like a disastrous opening hammering at the hands of Germany culminated in a 2-1 win over Serbia that ended Radomir Antic’s hopes of leading his team to the next round. I wasn’t able to take in a great deal of the flow of the game but I was impressed by the Australian goals, two in four minutes that briefly raised hopes of the miraculous four-goal swing that they needed to displace Ghana. The first was a typical strong header from the returning Tim Cahill, exactly the sort of late run and score that Australia had hoped to use much more of before his unfortunate dismissal against Germany, and the second was a brilliant long range shot from Brett Holman, who was allowed too much space by Serbia and hit low and powerfully past Vladimir Stojkovic. Holman’s a player who I am told has been heavily criticised by Australian fans but I’ve been really impressed by what I’ve seen of him at this World Cup – I’d be interested to see what Australians now think of him. He may be their Owen Hargreaves now.

So today has set up USA-Ghana on Saturday and Germany-England on Sunday. My instinct would be to expect wins for both the group-toppers. Germany have looked far better and more cohesive than England and Oezil is exactly the sort of player who has far too much intelligence and pace for the likes of John Terry to cope with. The USA will need to match Ghana’s midfield work-rate but as long as they don’t concede any penalties I don’t see where Ghana’s goals are going to come from at this rate.

Man of the Day: Oezil. I’ve just been so impressed by him throughout the group stages and he showed today he has goalscoring power as well as creativity.

Tomorrow, Groups E and F reach their conclusion (although for some reason Group F will play the afternoon fixtures). I’m going to stick my neck out and say that draws for Italy and New Zealand against Slovakia and Paraguay respectively will see the first use of the drawing of lots to decide a World Cup elimination (though I am aware that this is unlikely, I just can’t bet against the All Whites). The Netherlands will probably field a team of reserves but Arjen Robben should be back and they should beat Cameroon who have nothing to play for, while I think Japan’s greater defensive organisation will allow them to edge out Denmark.

Day 10: Everything Turned Out All White

Slovakia 0 – 2 Paraguay

Italy 1 – 1 New Zealand

Brazil 3 – 1 Ivory Coast

It was a day to remember at the World Cup as we saw the most surprising, inspiring result so far in the tournament, as well as an impressive showing from a dark horse and some refereeing controversy.

I’ll start, as ever, with the lunchtime kick-off (only one more of those left!) and Paraguay’s routine win over Slovakia. A win was always expected Gerardo Martino’s side but it’s fair to say that we were hoping for a bit more from Slovakia and their captain Marek Hamsik in particular, their best player who was disappointing against New Zealand and completely anonymous today. Paraguay took full advantage of an off-colour Slovakian performance to comfortably record a victory that puts them in pole position to qualify (and on this form they’ll be glad to have earnt a two point cushion before facing New Zealand themselves), this time moving to the formation I was hoping to see them play with three up front, Roque Santa Cruz returning to the starting lineup. There were worries that they might not have enough width but that really wasn’t a problem at all. Nelson Haedo Valdez, in a performance that reminded me more than a little of Carlos Tevez, put in a brilliant all-action shift on the left of the forward three giving support to the full-back Claudio Morel. Neither Santa Cruz nor Lucas Barrios really took up the same role on the right flank but Slovakia were poor enough not to offer Carlos Bonet any significant resistance on his trips up from right-back. Ironically for a strikeforce that a) has been so lauded pre-tournament and b) has done quite a lot to justify that so far this tournament, none of them have scored yet, with midfielder Enrique Vera popping up to snatch the first goal in great style, latching on to a wonderful pass by Barrios to flick the ball confidently into the corner while being tackled by a Slovakian defender. For me that was the goal of the tournament so far. Cristian Riveros sealed the victory with a powerful shot, although had Oscar Cardozo and Vera not got in each other’s way just before one of them might have scored instead.

Paraguay have started really strongly, as good as Argentina I would argue, though obviously in a different way. They are solid, athletic, with clever passing and a really energetic frontline who should cause any team in this World Cup problems. Valdez in particular has been a real star.

Things may yet get more complicated for them, though, because their final group game will be against a team who will believe they can do anything – New Zealand, who made today the greatest day in their footballing history by bravely and exceptionally holding on to a 1-1 draw against holders Italy. They shocked the reigning champions by taking the lead after just six minutes, although the debate will rumble on about whether Shane Smeltz was offside when he poked it past Federico Marchetti. I was worried that their will might break when Tommy Smith conceded a soft penalty by holding Daniele De Rossi’s shirt and Vincenzo Iaquinta calmly converted the spot-kick, but they clung on until half-time and during the second half produced one of the most resilient, determined defensive performances I’ve seen in a long time. Inspired by the magnificent captain Ryan Nelsen, they blocked every shot, intercepted every pass, won every header to emerge unscathed from a barrage of Italian pressure. They might even have won it if the thoroughly impressive substitute, young Chris Wood from West Brom, had had just a little more luck when he did really well to power past two defenders and get a shot away. It was only a matter of inches away from restoring their lead.

Ricki Herbert has clearly done a fantastic job motivating this group of players, some of whom, like today’s late substitute Andy Barron, are semi-professionals who had to ask for special leave from their day jobs to play at the World Cup. They have nothing to lose and have channeled that into two performances full of pride, and now they have as good a chance as anyone to make it to the second round. Not even a spot of disappointingly blatant cheating by some Italian players when it came to feigning injury from inocuous challenges (mentioning no names, Domenico Criscito) could stop them. Italy didn’t play all that badly, either – they constantly pressed and changed their formation to keep asking questions of the All Whites. It was just that New Zealand handled everything they threw at them. There are problems for Italy going into their decider with Slovakia, though – Alberto Gilardino looked lost again today and doesn’t look like scoring any time soon, and Claudio Marchisio, supposedly one of the great hopes of this new-look younger Italian side, also had another very poor game. Marcello Lippi may be tempted to bring back an old hand or two into the starting lineup to try to ensure qualification.

The most anticipated game of the day came this evening as Brazil met the Ivory Coast. Sadly, it turned out to be both a one-sided and quite dull game, despite the scoreline. For most of the first half Brazil were unadventurous and uninteresting but too solid for the Ivorians to get anywhere, the returning and obviously below-match-fitness Dider Drogba forlorn and isolated up front, and then out of nowhere they fought their way through and Luis Fabiano hit an unstoppable shot from an improbable angle to give them the lead. It was a very impressive strike indeed, as was his second five minutes into the second half – pity it should have been disallowed for not one but two handballs as he forced his way into a shooting position. There was a laughable image that followed as the referee simply asked Fabiano if he had handled the ball. No prizes for guessing the answer, and that was that.

If it wasn’t already, the game looked totally dead and buried when Kaka suddenly remembered he was a good footballer and made a great run out wide before cutting the ball back right into the path of Elano who made it 3-0, but soon after the Galatasaray midfielder was taken off injured, having been caught painfully right on the shin bone. No word yet on if he’ll be back, but Dunga, who’s always been a big fan of Elano despite his struggles for consistent good form at club level in recent years, will have his fingers crossed. That will be especially true with Kaka suspended for the final group game against Portugal. Yes, Kaka got sent off this evening, given a ludicrous second yellow by the referee who had no view at all of the incident where Kaka simply put his arm out to ward Kader Keita off, it bumped into the Ivorian’s chest and then Keita shamefully crumpled to the floor clutching his face and screaming in “agony”. The Ivory Coast, seeing their teammate on the floor, appealed, then started a stupid scuffle with the Brazilians as they tried to remonstrate with Kaka, and the referee, who had been looking the other way and therefore could not fairly give a card for the matter (which of course was nowhere near a booking anyway), judged by their reaction and showed the Real Madrid man his second yellow. It was disgraceful refereeing, and astonishingly we are now at nine red cards in just ten days.

Man of the Day: Honourable mention to Nelson Haedo Valdez but the best player today was Ryan Nelsen, who was always one step ahead of Italy and who marshalled a less experienced defence to a stirring result. I can’t help but also give shoutouts to Mark Paston, Winston Reid, Tommy Smith, Simon Elliott, Leo Bertos and Ivan Vicelich – it really was an oustanding performance all over the pitch for the All Whites.

Tomorrow, an iffy Portugal may just struggle against North Korea but will probably depressingly scrape it 1-0 or some such, Chile should beat Switzerland and I fancy Spain to regain some confidence by giving Honduras a mighty battering, and then that’ll be that for round two of the group stage!

Day 9: Eto’Oh No!

Netherlands 1 – 0 Japan

Ghana 1 – 1 Australia

Cameroon 1 – 2 Denmark

Nine days in and we have both our first confirmed qualification and first elimination of this World Cup, in Group E where results combined to ensure the Netherlands’ passage into the round of sixteen and also confirm the exit of the first African nation, Cameroon.

The Dutch played first and though they had to wait a few hours to get confirmation of their qualification, they knew after their 1-0 win over Japan that they had almost certainly done enough. Their performance was pretty much a carbon copy of their last, with the same problems occuring, specifically trying to put Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart in the same team. With Arjen Robben still not available I would have turned to Eljero Elia to start on the left, who was excellent when he came on against Denmark and did reasonably well again today as a substitute. There was a definite feeling that Bert van Marwijk was being unnecessarily conservative by picking the same eleven that beat Denmark, as Japan were clearly going to set up to defend and so fielding two holding midfielders in Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel didn’t really make much sense. Indeed it might have helped van der Vaart to fit in if he and Sneijder were playing centrally in a midfield three and Elia was allowed to work the left hand side.

In any case the Dutch got the win they needed and Sneijder’s goal was a pretty good one, even if he was given a little help by Eiji Kawashima’s poor attempt to grasp the shot. They haven’t really got going in the same way that Argentina and Mexico have, though, and so will want to step it up against Cameroon before facing a tough Italy- or Paraguay-shaped opponent in the second round.

The first African side has been eliminated today and after a really disappointing game this afternoon, Ghana, who have the most realistic remaining chance of qualifying, made it a real possibility that none of this continent’s teams will get through. I really hope that doesn’t happen because the home fans have obviously been disheartened by South Africa’s nearly confirmed exit and if they don’t have an African team to support in the knockout stages that would be a huge shame, which would hurt the tournament as a whole.

Ghana really did miss a trick this afternoon, though, playing three quarters of the game against the ten men of Australia, who this time could have no complaints about the red card. Harry Kewell’s handball on the line was so blatant that it was funny and a little pathetic watching him plead with the referee to look at the big screen for the replay. The Aussies were angry because the penalty it led to, converted brilliantly once again by Asamoah Gyan, canceled out the great work they put in the first twenty minutes, including Brett Holman’s inspiring snatched goal after Richard Kingson fumbled Mark Bresciano’s clever free-kick. Holman may have his critics among the Australian supporters but I though he did really well in the Tim Cahill role today and deserved his goal. As Ghana sat back and refused to press their advantage, content to endlessly shoot from long range rather than push hard and try to wear their opponents out, Australia did well to come back into the game and in the end were the more likely winners. The substitutes Scott Chipperfield and particularly Josh Kennedy gave fresh impetus and each had good chances to sneak a winner. Australia still stand the worst chance of qualification – I expect Serbia to play more intelligently against them than Ghana – but have at least given themselves that chance after looking lost following their opener. Ghana, meanwhile, must play Germany in the final game, and need to win to guarantee qualification. Playing for the draw would be ill-advised against Germany.

As I said, I do hope they get through, because one of my better hopes for an African qualifier, Cameroon, are now definitely out as a result of a really exciting battle with Denmark. In a game littered with mistakes it was Christian Poulsen who gifted the opener to Cameroon, his lazy backpass intercepted by the opposition and given to Samuel Eto’o, who doesn’t miss those kinds of opportunities. Denmark fought back well, though, with two good goals, the first a great long-range hoick by Simon Kjaer into the path of the outstanding Dennis Rommedahl who pulled it back across goal for Nicklas “I’m One Of The Best Players In The World” Bendtner to tap in. The second was down to poor defensive work by Jean Makoun more than anything, standing stock still as Rommedahl ran at him, cut inside and slotted uncomplicatedly past Souleymanou Hamidou at the far post. Cameroon didn’t lose heart like they did against Japan and pressed solidly for the last fifteen minutes, and came closest to an equaliser when Thomas Sorensen, capable as always, saved brilliantly at the last minute from Achille Emana who’d made a great run in.

Now Denmark and Japan will duel for the second spot in the next round in a tie that could probably go either way, though I would lean towards Japan who seem better organised all over the pitch.

Man of the Day: Dennis Rommedahl can blow hot and cold but had a very good day today, tormenting Benoit Assou-Ekotto on the Danish right flank. His blistering pace made the first goal and scored the second.

Tomorrow, Paraguay should have too much for Slovakia, Italy will probably put a few goals past New Zealand, and I have a feeling Brazil may embarrass the Ivory Coast.

Day 4: No Pun Found

Netherlands 2 – 0 Denmark

Japan 1 – 0 Cameroon

Italy 1 – 1 Paraguay

Netherlands midfielder Rafael van der Vaart summed up his team’s performance yesterday quite well – “Germany played like us and we played like them”. The Dutch opened their campaign with a game less full of attacking penetration than we expected but kept the ball well and in the end comfortably saw off Denmark. The Danes were a little unlucky that Simon Poulsen’s own goal, a pretty dreadful attempt at a headed clearance that went completely the wrong direction and rebounded off one of his teammates into the net, came just after half time, as it visibly deflated them when they would have hoped to be at their brightest. In the first half Denmark had been growing into the game, fashioning a chance or two for Nicklas Bendtner (albeit chances finished in true Bendtner style) and you felt that if they started the second half strongly that an upset could have been on the cards. Their Plan B never materialised after conceding, though, and the match was almost surrended entirely when Morten Olsen withdrew Bendtner to avoid any reoccurance of an injury after just an hour.

Van der Vaart himself had an average game, taking so badly to his role as Robben’s replacement on the left wing that Wesley Sneijder had to be moved out of his most influential position in the hole to let van der Vaart come back inside. It wasn’t until the young winger Eljero Elia replaced him that the Dutch looked really potent up front, with Elia immediately making an impact. He tore the Danish right back Lars Jacobsen to shreds on more than one occasion with blistering pace, great ball control and one or two sumptuous teasing balls into the box. He was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet with the dinked shot that came off the post for Dirk Kuyt to wrap up the victory.

Elia’s performance was certainly much more assured and exciting than anything in Japan’s 1-0 victory over Cameroon, which for a long time was a very very dull game indeed. Japan were set up for the 0-0 from the get-go and Cameroon were quite clearly set up in a way that didn’t play to their strengths, with Samuel Eto’o stranded out on the right wing and never brought back inside. It’s all very well him filling that role at Inter where his central striker is Diego Milito, but when he’s the best player in his team by miles, giving his best job to Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting is just not good enough. Major mistake by Paul Le Guen. Credit must go begrudginly to Japan, though, who at least looked more determined once Keisuke Honda’s goal shocked everyone out of their comas, and deserved their three points having held on well. Cameroon’s Stephane Mbia must also be mentioned for hitting the best long shot we’ve seen so far in the tournament, crashing against the corner of the crossbar and post just before stoppage time.

Speaking of teams obviously not playing to their strengths, I was surprised by Paraguay, who I would have expected to play more of a 4-3-3 to take advantage of their excellent strength in depth up front. They wouldn’t have needed to sacrifice their hard-working defensiveness as the three man midfield could have gotten behind the ball when Italy were in posession, but the best way to test an ageing Italian defense would surely to have started Oscar Cardozo, who’s a really gifted player, alongside Barrios and Valdez and really ask questions of Al-Ahli-bound Fabio Cannavaro. I would only have been more encouraged to do this in the second half when Federico Marchetti had to replaced Buffon in the Italian goal after the great Gigi suffered a back injury (he’s expected to be fit for the next match, by the way).

That aside, Paraguay played well although the Italian equaliser clearly took the wind out of their sails in a big way. You felt as the game drew to a close that Italy could score at any moment but Paraguay managed to cling on to what will end up as a good point for both teams. They had the better of a slightly off-colour Italy side for much of the game, until Mauro Camoranesi was introduced to make a more orthodox 4-4-2 and allow Iaquinta to play in his more natural role through the middle. Aureliano Torres provided some great deliveries from set plays, none more so than the free-kick that set up Paraguay’s goal, centre-back Alcaraz heading home confidently, and they will be confident on this form of beating both other teams in the group and maybe managing to top the table.

Man of the Day: Simone Pepe impressed me today, as did Thomas Sorensen, but the standout performance was Elia’s, who totally transformed the Netherlands when he came on and terrorised Lars Jacobsen and the rest of the Danish defence. He should have made enough of a case to start the next game if Robben isn’t available again.

Later today I fancy New Zealand to snatch a draw with Slovakia, the Ivory Coast should beat Portugal (please! I drew them in a sweepstake), and Brazil should royally thump North Korea. We could finally see some serious goal action.

Day 3: Australia in “victims of crime” shocker

Algeria 0 – 1 Slovenia

Serbia 0 – 1 Ghana

Germany 4 – 0 Australia

If England fans had any panicky worries last night that a draw with the USA could see them struggle to get out of the group, they can rest easy. Both Algeria and Slovenia showed that they should not pose a threat to either of the other sides in Group C in a frighteningly dull match to start the third day of the World Cup. Algeria were willing and probably had more about them in the game but struggled to control their passing, often overhitting the light Jabulani ball. They had a couple of half-decent chances from crosses but for the most part could not put together a really threatening forward move. They were subject to a couple of very strange tactical decisions by Rabah Saadane, as well – one of their most talented players, Karim Ziani, was deployed on the left wing but the normally right-sided player is clearly totally one-footed and his potential impact was almost completely nullified by his own positioning. Their cause was also hindered by one of the most hilarious sendings off I’ve seen for some time – substitute striker Abdelkader Ghezzal got booked within a minute with a silly shirt-pulling and then gained his second yellow about fifteen minutes later with one of the most blatant and idiotic handballs you’re ever likely to see. His attempts to persuade the referee he should not have been dismissed were comical in their audacity.

Slovenia weren’t different to what we expected them to be per se, but they were a little underwhelming. I expected to see a greater understanding of their own game, a more organised, compact and productive performance, but instead they were simply ordinary. Captain Robert Koren was gifted his goal by a ludicrous mistake by Faouzi Chaouchi, equally as bad as Green’s last night, but this time the mistake was one everyone could have seen coming after Chaouchi’s poor all-round game, in which he constantly tried to overdo the most simple of goalkeeping duties.

The score was no different but Serbia 0 – 1 Ghana was a much more interesting affair, although Serbia, one of my dark horses, were disappointing. Beanpole Nikola Zigic did his best to make things happen but Milan Jovanovic on the left had a poor game, failing to cut inside with any purpose and therefore preventing Aleksandar Kolarov from breaking successfully from left-back. Playmaker-winger Milos Krasic was anonymous too, and much of Serbia’s creativity was expected to come from him. Zdravko Kuzmanovic ran Ghezzal pretty close in the Idiot of the Day stakes with a similarly moronic handball that led to the Ghanaians’ penalty, converted excellently by Asamoah Gyan to win the game, when seeing out a draw seemed achievable for ten-man Serbia.

Ghana put in a pretty decent performance, and they will have been pleased that their makeshift central midfield of Anthony Annan and Kevin-Prince Boateng had a relatively comfortable match in which to work on their partnership. I think they will still hope that Sulley Muntari is fit and ready in time to face Germany later in the group, though, but with Australia up next for them they have a great chance to qualify now.

Speaking of Germany v Australia, I guess the questions over the inexperienced German side have largely been answered with a fantastically assured performance by Joachim Loew’s team. Mesut Oezil completely ran the show, particularly in the first half, with a display of dazzling creativity that really caught my eye. Australia just couldn’t handle his clever runs from in front of their defence. My favourite bit of skill was the subtle pull back from a low Phillipp Lahm pass to play in Thomas Muller, even though Muller blasted over the bar. Germany as a whole were exciting and made a mockery of the odds that some bookmakers have been giving them to win the tournament (16-1 at one stage). Loew sensibly used his second-half substitutions to rotate his strikers, some of whom were out of form, and now they should all be in good confidence going into trickier games against Serbia and Ghana. Certainly Germany have put in the first really impressive performance of the tournament and promised a whole lot more as well.

Australia were of course hard done by, the Mexican referee giving their most important player Tim Cahill a frankly awful red card for an accidental collision that Cahill did a good job of pulling out of, but overall they didn’t really seem likely to compete with Germany at any stage, particularly without a recognised centre-forward for nearly 75 minutes. Josh Kennedy may not be much, but he is at least an aerial threat who could have made space for Cahill to play where he is at his best, behind the main striker. Pim Verbeek will now need to be more adventurous if his team are to recover, but without Cahill for at least the next game I think Australia are all but out.

Man of the Day: Oezil, without a shadow of a doubt. May well be my new favourite player. The only downer was his deserved yellow card for a needless dive early on.

Tomorrow, I’m looking forward to an exciting game between the Netherlands and Denmark that the Dutch should win, probably a draw between Japan and Cameroon, and I would also go for a draw in Italy versus Paraguay, with Paraguay maybe to sneak it. See you then.

World Cup Guide: Group G Preview

GROUP G

BRAZIL

FIFA World Ranking: 1

Team Colours: Yellow shirts with green trim, blue shorts, white socks. Away kit is blue shirts with yellow trim and pattern, white shorts, blue socks.

Manager: Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri is better known as Dunga (“Dopey”, after the dwarf) and is the second of two managers, next to Maradona, who is looking to emulate Franz Beckenbauer by winning the World Cup as a manager having lifted it as captain. His tactics are exactly what you would expect from the former battling midfield player – the most defensive Brazilian side in many years, with two holding midfielders who contribute little to the attacking play. In fairness to Dunga, this is as much influenced by the resources at his disposal as it is by his own nature. Look out for one or two hideous shirts that he wears because his daughter is a fashion designer.

Form: Brazil had no real trouble in topping the South American qualifying table but were criticised by many demanding fans for the run of form through the middle of the campaign that saw three consecutive goalless draws at home against Argentina, Bolivia and Colombia. In early 2009, however, they really hit their stride and sealed qualification to their 19th World Cup (they are the only team to have taken part in every tournament) with a dominant 3-1 win away in Argentina. Their only warmups for this competition have been routine victories against Zimbabwe and Tanzania, in which Brazil have scored 8 goals.

Captain: Originally a winger before retraining as a youth player to centre-back, Lucio is now the most solid rock in an already sturdy Brazilian back line. The Inter man, 32, has already won the World Cup with the Selecao eight years ago and was appointed captain by Dunga following the Germany tournament. At that tournament he set the record for minutes played at World Cups without committing a foul, going for an astonishing 386 minutes spanning two tournaments. Now a treble winner, Lucio will be determinedly aiming to make this the best possible season by securing the biggest prize of all once again.

Key Man: Kaka hasn’t had a very good season for his new club Real Madrid, struggling to pin down his identity in the team and get a run of form going, but he is still the vital piece of the Brazilian puzzle. He’ll play just behind Luis Fabiano, the Sevilla striker who is my bet for the Golden Boot, and in this generation of Brazilian players who are perhaps not as universally gifted as some of their recent predecessors, he’s the one man who really can do anything he wants with a football. Brazil will do well whether Kaka shines or not, but if he can find the form that he lost over the last year, their campaign will really come alive.

Man to Watch: You have to be a ludicrously good footballer to keep Dani Alves out of any team’s right-back slot, but Inter favourite Maicon, likely heading to join Kaka at Real after the tournament if the Special One gets his way, is just that good. Like Alves, he’s such a force of nature that playing a right midfielder really isn’t all that necessary, as he can somehow be a brick wall at the back and bomb down the wing to devastating effect seemingly without breaking a sweat. He’s an incredible athlete and I can’t see any opposition left-back at this tournament keeping him quiet.

Prediction: Built on organisation and athleticism more than flair, Brazil are as formidable as ever and will pose the sternest test to Spain for the Jules Rimet trophy. They are not invincible, though – while they do play with two holding midfielders the personnel they will be employing in that position (Gilberto Silva and Kleberson – yes, that Kleberson, who was rubbish for Manchester United a few years ago) are a little underwhelming. But Julio Cesar has matured into one of the world’s best keepers, they have the world’s two best right-backs, and Luis Fabiano has become one of the top poachers in world football without anyone really noticing. I still feel that Spain have the edge in squad depth and in midfield, but until the two meet in the final I don’t see anyone stopping Brazil.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Julio Cesar (Inter)

12. Gomes (Tottenham)

22. Doni (Roma)

Defenders

2. Maicon (Inter)

3. Lucio, captain (Inter)

4. Juan (Roma)

6. Michel Bastos (Lyon)

13. Dani Alves (Barcelona)

14. Luisao (Benfica)

15. Thiago Silva (A.C. Milan)

16. Gilberto (Cruzeiro)

Midfielders

5. Felipe Melo (Juventus)

7. Elano (Galatasaray)

8. Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos)

10. Kaka (Real Madrid)

17. Josue (Wolfsburg)

18. Ramires (Benfica)

19. Julio Baptista (Roma)

20. Kleberson (Flamengo)

Forwards

9. Luis Fabiano (Sevilla)

11. Robinho (Manchester City)

21. Nilmar (Villarreal)

23. Grafite (Wolfsburg)

NORTH KOREA

FIFA World Ranking: 105

Team Colours: Red shirts with white trim, red shorts, red socks. Away kit is the inverse.

Manager: I’m going to warn you now, this is going to be a short preview, because I’m pretty in the dark about North Korea. Anyway, Kim Jong-Hun is 53 and he favours a disciplined, pragmatic approach to tactics. That’s about as much as I, and apparently the official FIFA World Cup website, know.

Form: North Korea had to dispatch some reasonably handy Asian teams to reach the finals, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, and were a real surprise package, coming through every round of qualifying and meeting rivals South Korea in the third and fourth rounds. Results between the two were close, with two draws and then, in their final meeting, a 1-0 victory for South Korea in Seoul, after which Kim Jong-Hun suggested that the South Koreans had poisoned his team. I’m starting to like this guy. Their friendlies have ended with a surprising 2-2 draw with Greece and a more predictable 3-1 defeat at the hands of Nigeria.

Captain: Hong Yong-Jo is the only North Korean in the squad to be based outside of Asia (and one of only three based outside of North Korea, with two in Japan). The FC Rostov forward scored four in four in qualifying, although he only has three in thirty for his new club. There are no stats for how well he did in North Korea for the brilliantly-named club 25 April, though, so for all I know he’s a lethal predator.

Key Man: Goalkeeper Ri Myong-Guk was nominated for the 2009 Asian Footballer of the Year award after his heroic display in the qualification-sealing draw with Saudi Arabia, and my word, North Korea are going to need him this summer.

Man to Watch: Jong Tae-se is an interesting story. The “People’s Rooney” (I’m not joking) is so named for his stocky build and hard-working attitude and scores plenty too, with 15 in 22 for his national side. He was originally South Korean but renounced his country and got himself a North Korean passport from the embassy in Japan, where he plays his football for Kawasaki Frontale. He apparently had a trial with an unnamed Premier League side in January this year, so maybe he could earn himself a move to Europe with a good enough flight from this sinking ship.

Prediction: To be honest, I have no idea, but it strikes me as unlikely that North Korea will pick up a single point in this group. They may be focused on defense and disciplined but Luis Fabiano in the opening match, let alone the rest of the Brazilian squad, should take them apart. They should fulfill well the role of comedy team, though, having already had their plan to register forward Kim Myong-Won as one of their three goalkeepers foiled by FIFA. They’re now stuck with Kim only being allowed to play in goal, so I’m hoping for red cards for both their main keepers in the first game so we can see how he does in his new role. On a more serious note, if North Korea score a goal, they should be delighted.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Ri Myong-Guk (Pyongyang City)

18. Kim Myong-Gil (Amrokgang)

20. Kim Myong-Won (Amrokgang)

Defenders

2. Cha Jong-Hyok (Amrokgang)

3. Ri Jun-Il (Sobaeksu)

5. Ri Kwang-Chon (April 25)

8. Ji Yun-Nam (April 25)

13. Pak Chol-Jin (Amrokgang)

14. Pak Nam-Chol (Amrokgang)

16. Nam Song-Chol (April 25)

21. Ri Kwang-Hyok (Kyonggongop)

Midfielders

4. Pak Nam-Chol (April 25)

6. Kim Kum-Il (April 25)

11. Mun In-Guk (April 25)

15. Kim Yong-Jun (Pyongyang City)

17. Ahn Young-Hak (Omiya Ardija)

19. Ri Chol-Myong (Pyongyang City)

22. Kim Kyong-Il (Rimyongsu)

23. Pak Sung-Hyok (Sobaeksu)

Forwards

7. An Chol-Hyok (Rimyongsu)

9. Jong Tae-se (Kawasaki Frontale)

10. Hong Yong-Jo, captain (FC Rostov)

12. Choe Kum-Chol (Rimyongsu)

IVORY COAST

FIFA World Ranking: 27

Team Colours: Orange shirts with green trim, white shorts, green socks. Away kit is green shirts with white trim and white horizontal stripes (with their own orange trim) cut off at the right shoulder, white shorts, white socks.

Manager: The Ivory Coast sacked previous manager Valil Halilhodzic after a disappointing quarter-final finish for the most hyped African team in the world at the Africa Cup of Nations in January, leaving themselves with the quandary of whom to appoint to bring together a divided dressing room full of egos and madmen. But they projected a dollar sign into the night sky, and lo! Sven-Man is here to save the day! Yes, it’s everyone’s favourite womanising underachiever, Sven-Goran Eriksson who is charged with organising this talented group of players into a team that can break out of the Group of Death.

Form: The Ivorians were a real letdown at the Cup of Nations but steamrolled their group without losing a game, although the toughest test in that group was Guinea. Didier Drogba was on incredible form, scoring six in five and salvaging results in a couple of hard-fought matches against Burkina Faso and Malawi. Their friendlies have been up and down – a 2-2 draw over Paraguay decent, a 2-0 win over Japan pretty good, but most recently a 1-1 draw with Swiss second division side Lausanne not good at all.

Captain: Talismanic striker Didier Drogba is desperate to play in what will surely be his last chance at a World Cup despite the broken bone in his elbow that seriously threatens his participation. We know he’s one of the world’s best strikers and we know he is absolutely vital to his country’s hopes to getting out of this tough group, but even if he does make it onto the field will he still be in the condition required to make an impact? For the sake of the competition (and the fact that I drew the Ivory Coast in my patented www.random.org sweepstake), I hope so.

Key Man: If Drogba is short of his potential this summer than Sven will look to his probable strike partner Gervinho for goals. The Lille striker has scored one every two games this season and has more guile and creativity than Drogba, though he is less of a one-man battering ram.

Man to Watch: Pay attention to versatile defender/midfielder Romaric, who will probably be employed as a playmaker in this Ivorian team. I would expect him to be the most advanced of a midfield trio alongside Didier Zokora and Yaya Toure, allowing Gervinho and Salomon Kalou to flank Drogba.

Prediction: For my money, everything depends on Drogba’s fitness. If he’s fit and his elbow doesn’t bother him, I think the Ivory Coast will get out of this group, but if not, I don’t think they’ll have enough to push Portugal out of the way. I can’t see them overcoming Spain in the second round though.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Boubacar Barry (Lokeren)

16. Aristide Zogbo (Maccabi Netanya)

23. Daniel Yeboah (Abidjan)

Defenders

2. Benjamin Angoua (Valenciennes)

3. Arthur Boka (Stuttgart)

4. Kolo Toure (Manchester City)

6. Steve Gohouri (Wigan)

17. Siaka Tiene (Valenciennes)

20. Guy Demel (Hamburg)

21. Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal)

22. Sol Bamba (Hibernian)

Midfielders

5. Didier Zokora (Sevilla)

9. Cheick Tiote (FC Twente)

12. Jean-Jacques Gosso (Monaco)

13. Romaric (Sevilla)

14. Emmanuel Kone (International)

18. Abdul Kader Keita (Galatasaray)

19. Yaya Toure (Barcelona)

Forwards

7. Seydou Doumbia (CSKA Moscow)

8. Salomon Kalou (Chelsea)

10. Gervinho (Lille)

11. Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

15. Aruna Dindane (Lekhwiya)

PORTUGAL

FIFA World Ranking: 3

Team Colours: Red shirts with green trim and a green horizontal stripe, white shorts, green socks. Away kit is white with green trim and two vertical stripes, one green and one red, green shorts, white socks.

Manager: Former manager of the host nation, Carlos Quieroz has had a rocky time of it since taking over as Portugal coach in 2008. He’s overseen their most frustrating qualifying period for some time and doesn’t look entirely comfortable as the top man rather than an assistant, in much the same way that he did when he was briefly in charge of Real Madrid a few years ago before skulking back to Fergie at Old Trafford.

Form: Qualifying was pretty horrific for Portugal, with very little cohesion and nearly avoiding even making it into the playoffs. Denmark beat them to the automatic qualification and they only finished a point ahead of Sweden and three ahead of Hungary. Among other lowlights were a 0-0 home draw with lowly Albania, and two nil-all draws with Sweden. Their friendlies have been improving – a pretty poor 0-0 draw with Cape Verde has been followed with more comforting wins over Cameroon and Mozambique, but Portugal are yet to be tested by a seriously good side, and therein lies the worry.

Captain: Now, for the most part of this blog, I will do my best to be unbiased, but I’m sorry, when it comes to this man, I can’t do it. Cristiano Bloody Ronaldo is to my mind the most odious man on the planet, a smug, arrogant cheating little rat. But I suppose he’s a pretty decent footballer. It doesn’t seem like Quieroz has figured out the best way to build the team around him yet, and at times he’s been the only man to have salvaged points for Portugal in qualifying. Another incredible goalscoring season, this time 26 in 29 for Real Madrid, means Ronaldo is the key man for his team, but in past major tournaments he hasn’t really shone. Let’s hope the same happens again for the obnoxious git.

Key Man: This may be an odd choice, but in a group filled with attacking firepower (and North Korea), Portugal need goalkeeper Eduardo to step up. The Braga man was behind Quim in the pecking order but since making his debut last year has won 15 caps and managed to force Quim out of the squad altogether, leaving Portugal with a very inexperienced group of keepers. Behind Eduardo, Beto and Daniel Fernandes have just 3 caps between them. Eduardo needs to marshal a potentially shaky defence if Portugal are to avoid being high-profile casualties.

Man to Watch: Venezuelan-born attacking midfielder/second striker Danny could be a breakout star for Portugal this summer. Probably playing behind Brazilian Liedson, he’s quick and nimble and scored ten goals last season for St. Petersburg side Zenit. Manchester United fans will remember him for scoring the winner in the Super Cup against them in 2008.

Prediction: Same thing I said for the Ivory Coast – if Drogba is fit then I can see Portugal failing to escape this group, as they have talent in their traditional areas (on the wings with Ronaldo and Simao, behind the striker with Danny) but leave something to be desired in midfield and defence. Exciting, dynamic players like Joao Moutinho have been left out of the midfield in favour of Deco, who rarely exerts any influence these days, and Tiago, who was never all that in the first place and has been passed around the European leagues trying to find a club where he can make an impression. My money is on Portugal to exit at the first opportunity, and I look forward to seeing poor ickle Ronnie have a good cry about it.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Eduardo (Braga)

12. Beto (Porto)

22. Daniel Fernandes (Iraklis)

Defenders

2. Bruno Alves (Porto)

3. Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea)

4. Rolando (Porto)

5. Duda (Malaga)

6. Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea)

13. Miguel (Valencia)

15. Pepe (Real Madrid)

21. Ricardo Costa (Valencia)

23. Fabio Coentrao (Benfica)

Midfielders

8. Pedro Mendes (Sporting CP)

10. Danny (Zenit St. Petersburg)

14. Miguel Veloso (Sporting CP)

16. Raul Meireles (Porto)

19. Tiago (Atletico Madrid)

20. Deco (Chelsea)

Forwards

7. Cristiano Bloody Ronaldo, captain (Real Madrid)

9. Liedson (Sporting CP)

11. Simao (Atletico Madrid)

17. Ruben Amorim (Benfica)

18. Hugo Almeida (Werder Bremen)

World Cup Guide: Group F Preview

GROUP F

ITALY

FIFA World Ranking: 5

Team Colours: Blue shirts with white trim and a strange and complex darker blue pattern on the front, blue shorts with white trim, blue socks with white trim. Away kit is white shirts with blue and gold trim, white shorts with blue trim, white socks. Both kits have a snazzy Italian flag on the front of the waistband.

Manager: Marcello Lippi is one of the managers who commands the most respect on the world stage. The only coach to have won both the Champions League and the World Cup, he was named by the Times as one of the top 50 managers of all time. He returned to the Italian job (heh heh) after two years out having led them to victory in Germany four years ago, following Roberto Donadoni’s uninspiring reign culminating in a quarter-final exit in Euro 2008. In Lippi’s book Il Gioco delle Idee: Pensieri e Passioni da Bordo Campo (A Game of Ideas: Thoughts and Passions from the Sidelines), he discussed his managerial philosophies, including primarily the importance of team spirit and unity, and picking players who have good relations with each other and can work together effectively, saying “the best team does not necessarily include the best players”.

Form: Unbeaten Italy finished comfortably top of their group, six points ahead of the Republic of Ireland, though they did not particularly dazzle. Pragmatism and efficiency were the watchwords with attacking verve a little lacking. Recent friendly results have been underwhelming, too, with Cameroon holding them 0-0, Switzerland hanging on for a 1-1 draw and Mexico beating the Azzuri in Brussels. Italian fans, however, are optimistic.

Captain: At 36, and heading to Al-Ahli Dubai at the end of this tournament, centre-back Fabio Cannavaro is entering the final phase of his career. Originally he intended to retire from international duty at the end of Euro 2008 but when a last-minute injury kept him out of that competition he resolved to come back and lead his country’s defence of the World Cup, but while his class and experience remain, there have been signs this season that he may be a fading force physically, having been part of a leaky Juventus defence which was at times seriously exposed as the Old Lady finished a disappointing 7th in Serie A.

Key Man: The obvious choice would be Gianluigi Buffon, still only 32, but, from what I can see, far more important is midfielder Daniele De Rossi, the heir apparent to Francesco Totti’s captain’s armband at Roma. The all-action central midfielder is an excellent well-rounded player with a great physical presence, plenty of skill and an iron will. I’ve not been his biggest fan since he introduced himself to me with an ugly elbow against the USA that earned him a red card, and that wasn’t really an isolated incident (playing next to Gennaro Gattuso must have rubbed off on him), but it’s impossible not to respect this hugely gifted player. At 26, De Rossi is reaching the peak of his powers and, surrounded by the ageing, fading Gattuso, Pirlo and Camoranesi, he needs to be the man running the show if Italy are to go far.

Man to Watch: He’ll start on the bench behind Alberto Gilardino, but 25-year-old Sampdoria striker Giampaolo Pazzini is definitely one to keep an eye on. After four slightly frustrating years at Fiorentina, Pazzini has found a new lease of life with the resurgent Sampdoria where in two years and 56 games he’s already scored 30 goals, drawing the attentions of several Champions League clubs. Strong and imposing, he has combined to great effect with omitted troublemaker Antonio Cassano at club level and could prove a similar foil for the similarly creative Antonio Di Natale if given the chance by Lippi.

Prediction: I’m not quite sure what to think about Italy. On paper they look impressive but their form over the last year has been less than that, and their older generation is definitely fading. They should definitely be solid enough to top their group but when it comes to the knockout stages I think they could be vulnerable to an upset by a team with enough pace and dynamism in midfield. My head says they’ll be out in the quarters at the hands of the Spanish – my gut is making noises about Denmark in the second round.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

12. Federico Marchetti (Cagliari)

14. Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli)

Defenders

2. Christian Maggio (Napoli)

3. Domenico Criscito (Genoa)

4. Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus)

5. Fabio Cannavaro, captain (Al-Ahli Dubai)

13. Salvatore Bochetti (Genoa)

19. Gianluca Zambrotta (A.C. Milan)

23. Leonardo Bonucci (Bari)

Midfielders

6. Daniele De Rossi (Roma)

7. Simone Pepe (Udinese)

8. Gennaro Gattuso (A.C. Milan)

15. Claudio Marchisio (Juventus)

16. Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus)

17. Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria)

21. Andrea Pirlo (A.C. Milan)

22. Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina)

Forwards

9. Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus)

10. Antonio Di Natale (Udinese)

11. Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina)

18. Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli)

20. Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria)

PARAGUAY

FIFA World Ranking: 31

Team Colours: Red shirts with white vertical stripes and trim, blue shorts with white trim, blue socks with white trim. Away kit is white shirts with blue and red trim, white shorts with blue and red trim, white socks with blue trim.

Manager: Nominated by fans of Newell’s Old Boys in his native Argentina as the club’s greatest ever player, Gerardo Martino nonetheless only made one appearance in the blue and white of his national side. Since retiring from playing in 1996, Martino has spent several short spells managing several clubs in the Argentinian and Paraguayan leagues, leading to his appointment as Paraguay manager in early 2007. Since then he has presided ably over Paraguay’s most successful qualification since the current South American system was introduced.

Form: For the first time in the current CONMEBOL qualification system, Paraguay broke the 30 point barrier to finish third on 33 points behind only Brazil and Chile, and tied with Chile for the most wins (10). They sealed their trip to South Africa by beating Argentina, prompting the President to declare a national holiday in celebration. Their recent friendlies have been a mixed bag, dominating posession but unable to prevent a defeat by the Republic of Ireland, earning a hard-fought draw with the Ivory Coast, and then dispatching Greece 2-0 in their most recent game.

Captain: Described by the BBC’s South American football correspondent Tim Vickery as “the Paraguayan Nobby Stiles”, 35-year-old centre-back Denis Caniza is the only Paraguayan footballer to be selected for four World Cup squads, having appeared first at France 98. He was voted captain by his international teammates so enjoys their total respect, although he does have to be described as “captain when he plays” for the amount of games that he has a habit of missing through niggling injuries and suspensions.

Key Man: With Manchester City’s Roque Santa Cruz injured for most of the qualification campaign it was Benfica’s Oscar Cardozo who stepped up to lead the line for Paraguay, and he did so ably, partnered with Nelson Haedo Valdez and between them the two scored 11 goals. Cardozo, though, will be the main threat up front, having scored a monstrous 38 goals in all competitions for Benfica this season. He has a frightening goals-to-games ratio of nearly 2 in 3 for his club. Primarily a left-footed player, Cardozo is tall and strong and has an explosive long-range shot.

Man to Watch: Paraguayan fans are less than thrilled that Argentinian-born Lucas Barrios is playing for Paraguay these days, but politics aside, the Borussia Dortmund striker is an exciting prospect. He’s already scored 3 goals in 3 games for his adopted country, having moved to Dortmund off the back of a mind-blowing 49 goals in 53 games for Chilean side Colo-Colo. Due to Paraguay’s embarrassment of riches up front he may start on the bench but you can be sure that he will get some playing time this summer and if given a chance in the box, he’ll almost certainly take it.

Prediction: Paraguay look very strong this year, boasting an experienced side with lots of attacking firepower to juggle around, and should have no trouble qualifying for the second round. I wouldn’t rule out them getting a result against Italy, either, but I suspect they will probably come second and thus face the Netherlands in the round of sixteen. That should be a fascinating match but my money would be on the Dutch there, whose similarly varied attacking talent should expose their main weakness, goalkeeper Justo Villar who is a little short and vulnerable in the air. This should definitely be their strongest showing yet, though.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Justo Villar (Valladolid)

12. Diego Barreto (Cerro Porteno)

22. Aldo Bobadilla (Independiente Medellin)

Defenders

2. Dario Veron (Pumas)

3. Claudio Morel (Boca Juniors)

4. Denis Caniza, captain (Leon)

5. Julio Cesar Caceres (Atletico Mineiro)

6. Carlos Bonet (Olimpia)

14. Paulo da Silva (Sunderland)

17. Aureliano Torres (San Lorenzo)

21. Antolin Alcaraz (Wigan)

Midfielders

8. Edgar Barreto (Atalanta)

11. Jonathan Santana (Wolfsburg)

13. Enrique Vera (Atlas)

15. Victor Caceres (Libertad)

16. Cristian Riveros (Sunderland)

20. Nestor Ortigoza (Argentinos Juniors)

Forwards

7. Oscar Cardozo (Benfica)

9. Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City)

10. Edgar Benitez (Pachuca)

18. Nelson Haedo Valdez (Borussia Dortmund)

19. Lucas Barrios (Borussia Dortmund)

23. Rodolfo Gamarra (Libertad)

NEW ZEALAND

FIFA World Ranking: 78

Team Colours: White shirts with black trim, white shorts, white socks with black trim. Away kit is the inverse.

Manager: 49-year-old Ricki Herbert is a veteran of New Zealand’s only previous appearance at the World Cup (Spain 1982) and currently manages not just the All Whites (the irony of a team with that nickname coming to South Africa is not lost on anyone) but also Wellington Phoenix, the New Zealand representative in the Australian A-League. He was also the first Kiwi to play in England, having made 45 appearances for Wolves between 1984 and 1986. His achievement in bringing New Zealand to South Africa has earned him plenty of popularity with the fans.

Form: As expected, New Zealand had no trouble in winning the Oceanian qualifying section, where their closest rivals were New Caledonia, but faced a tougher test in the shape of Bahrain in the playoff with the fifth-placed Asian team. In a hard-fought tie, the first leg away in Bahrain finished 0-0 before Rory Fallon scored the winner on home soil with a headed goal on the stroke of half time, and goalkeeper Mark Paston made a heroic penalty save early in the second half to seal the success. They’ve put in some determined performances in the build-up friendlies, which did include losses to Australia and Slovenia, but also a surprise 1-0 win against strong-looking Serbia.

Captain: Reliable Blackburn central defender and captain Ryan Nelsen is one of the most capable players in the New Zealand line-up, and has been a revelation in recent years for the Lancashire club after they picked him up on a free transfer from MLS side D.C. United. He will need to be an absolute rock for the Kiwis if they are to spring any surprises in South Africa.

Key Man: Voted New Zealand Footballer of the Year in 2007 ahead of Nelsen and then-Celtic forward Chris Killen, forward Shane Smeltz became the first footballer to play for admirable fans’ club AFC Wimbledon to win an international cap. He’s scored 16 goals in 30 games for the All Whites, including the only goal in the recent friendly victory over Serbia, and the German-born striker, now playing for Gold Coast United, should start up front for the Kiwis.

Man to Watch: Highly-rated West Brom striker Chris Wood has been prolific for the Baggie’s youth and reserve sides and at just 17 years old last year became only the fifth New Zealander to play in the Premier League. Now 18, and with a long-term professional contract with the side now returning to the top division, the youngest member of the Kiwi squad will be on the lookout for his first international goal, and could be a secret weapon for Herbert.

Prediction: It’s going to be tough for this New Zealand side but they are not incapable of surprising people. They will be largely unknown to their opponents and have nothing to lose, but realistically they would be delighted to get more than a point in this group. Italy and Paraguay should make short work of them.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Mark Paston (Wellington Phoenix)

12. Glen Moss (Melbourne Victory)

23. James Bannatyne (Team Wellington)

Defenders

2. Ben Sigmund (Wellington Phoenix)

3. Tony Lochhead (Wellington Phoenix)

4. Winston Reid (FC Midtjylland)

5. Ivan Vicelich (Auckland City)

6. Ryan Nelsen, captain (Blackburn Rovers)

18. Andrew Boyens (New York Red Bulls)

19. Tommy Smith (Ipswich Town)

Midfielders

7. Simon Elliott (unattached)

8. Tim Brown (Wellington Phoenix)

11. Leo Bertos (Wellington Phoenix)

13. Andy Barron (Team Wellington)

15. Michael McGlinchey (Motherwell)

16. Aaron Clapham (Canterbury United)

17. David Mulligan (unattached)

21. Jeremy Christie (FC Tampa Bay)

22. Jeremy Brockie (Newcastle Jets)

Forwards

9. Shane Smeltz (Gold Coast United)

10. Chris Killen (Middlesbrough)

14. Rory Fallon (Plymouth Argyle)

20. Chris Wood (West Brom)

SLOVAKIA

FIFA World Ranking: 34

Team Colours: Blue shirts with white trim, blue shorts with white trim, blue socks. Away kit is the inverse.

Manager: Vladimir Weiss’ father, Vladimir Weiss, represented Czechoslovakia at international level, Weiss himself played for both Czechoslovakia and Slovakia, and his son, Vladimir Weiss, is in the Slovakia squad for the World Cup. You got all that? Good. The middle Vladimir was a reasonably successful footballer in the Slovakian leagues and has managed Saturn in Moscow and Artmedia Bratislava, closer to home, thrice, even leading them into the Champions League group stages in 2005-06.

Form: Slovakia surprised many by topping qualification group 3 ahead of Poland, the Czech Republic and fellow surprise qualifiers Slovenia, who beat Weiss’ side home and away to make top spot far from a done deal. Automatic qualification was secured eventually by a 1-0 win in Poland, coming after other impressive away wins in Prague and Belfast. They lost 1-0 to Norway in a friendly in March but more recently drew with Cameroon and thumped Costa Rica 3-0 to put themselves in decent nick ahead of the tournament opener against New Zealand.

Captain: 22-year-old Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik is one of the hottest properties in European football. He’s an attacking central midfielder who can also play on the left if required with exceptional vision and passing and an eye for goal, too, with 30 goals for his club and 8 for the national side in 30 appearances. He is very much the leading light for Slovakia and is a good tip for the player most likely to make a big-money move on the back of his World Cup performance.

Key Man: Bochum striker Stanislav Sestak is the main man going forward for Slovakia, with a goal every three games to his name in national colours. His two late goals in quick succession turned a 1-0 loss at home to Poland into a vital victory early in the qualifying campaign and he will be relied upon for similar heroics this summer. The 5’11″ striker scored six in qualifying and can also play on the right wing.

Man to Watch: Alongside the much-hyped Hamsik will be his creative midfield partner, Ankaragucu’s January signing Marek Sapara, who twice won the Norwegian league title with former club Rosenborg. Sapara has not been a regular in the Slovakian side since his debut in 2005, but is a solid, determined player with a clever dribble and wide range of passing. If Hamsik makes the headlines chances are Sapara will be just behind him keeping things going in midfield.

Prediction: Slovakia will be confident following their qualifying group win but for my money they look a little less well-rounded than Slovenia, who they edged out in that group. With Hamsik and Sestak they should have some attacking potency but against the Italian and Paraguayan strikeforces I think their defence will buckle. A gallant third in the group.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Jan Mucha (Legia Warsaw)

12. Dusan Pernis (Dundee United)

23. Dusan Kuciak (Vaslui)

Defenders

2. Peter Pekarik (Wolfsburg)

3. Martin Skrtel (Liverpool)

4. Marek Cech (West Brom)

5. Radoslav Zabavnik (Mainz)

16. Jan Durica (Lokomotiv Moscow)

21. Kornel Salata (Slovan Bratislava)

22. Martin Petras (Cesena)

Midfielders

6. Zdeno Strba (Xanthi)

7. Vladimir Weiss (Manchester City)

8. Jan Kozak (Timisoara)

10. Marek Sapara (Ankaragucu)

15. Miroslav Stoch (Chelsea)

17. Marek Hamsik, captain (Napoli)

19. Juraj Kucka (Sparta Prague)

20. Kamil Kopunek (Spartak Trnava)

Forwards

9. Stanislav Sestak (Bochum)

11. Robert Vittek (Lille)

13. Filip Holosko (Besiktas)

14. Martin Jakubko (Saturn)

18. Erik Jendrisek (Schalke)

Il Gioco delle Idee: Pensieri e Passioni da Bordo Campo (A Game of Ideas: Thoughts and Passions from the Sidelines)Fo

World Cup Guide: Group E Preview

GROUP E

NETHERLANDS

FIFA World Ranking: 4

Team Colours: Orange shirts with black and white trim, black shorts, orange socks. Away kit is white shirts with blue trim and two thin Vs across the chest, one blue and one orange, blue shorts, white socks.

Manager: Bert van Marwijk took Rotterdam club Feyenoord to an unlikely UEFA Cup (remember that?) win in 2002 after a second-place Eredivisie finish in 2001, briefly returning there in 2007-08 before being appointed as Marco van Basten’s successor. Van Marwijk has maintained essentially the same formation as van Basten but the style has been turned down a notch to help protect a somewhat wobbly defence. He is well liked by the Dutch fans for his quiet and sensible approach.

Form: The Dutch swept their (admittedly not that testing) qualifying group with a 100 per cent winning record, scoring 17 goals and conceding just 2 in their eight games, and were impressive throughout with no signs of faltering. Their subsequent friendlies have been similarly promising, with one draw against Paraguay last November and wins over the USA, Mexico, Ghana and Hungary in the build up to the World Cup, the 4-1 and 6-1 victories in the latter two games being particularly fearsome. They look in very good shape.

Captain: Long-serving left-back Giovanni van Bronckhorst will retire at the end of the tournament after a fourteen-year international career, 454 club appearances and a trophy cabinet containing Scottish and English Premier Leagues, La Liga and Champions League medals. At 35, though, “Gio” has lost most of his pace and vigour to the extent that he is sometimes used in a defensive midfield role rather than the more demanding left-back position for which he is best known. Netherlands fans will hope that his experience and nous will make up for his physical shortcomings.

Key Man: Wesley Sneijder has had a gold star season at the forefront of Inter’s charge to a treble and will be the playmaker-in-chief for the Dutch side. Voted by 70% of Dutch fans as being the best free-kick taker in the country, Sneijder can spray passes with pinpoint accuracy to any of the forward three and is in arguably the form of his life.

Man to Watch: Exciting young right-back Gregory van der Wiel is the latest in a long line of products of the Ajax youth academy. The 22-year-old has attracted interest from Arsenal and Manchester United as a result of a season which saw him win the Johan Cruyff Young Player of the Year award in Holland, and has been hailed by team-mate John Heitinga as the spiritual successor to Michael Reiziger.

Prediction: The Netherlands look very strong this year, with the only real worry being a slightly shaky-looking back line. The ongoing worries over Arjen Robben’s participation are a problem, as well, and while young Hamburg winger Eljero Elia could step up in his place, Robben’s absence would be a real blow to a settled, cohesive attacking quartet. They should be able to overcome the challenges in this group but face a tricky road to the final stages, probably meeting Paraguay or Italy in the second round and likely Brazil in the quarters. I can see them edging past whoever they meet in the last 16, and they could give Brazil a heck of a match, but I don’t see them being able to undo their organised defence. Quarter finals.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax)

16. Michel Vorm (Utrecht)

22. Sander Boschker (FC Twente)

Defenders

2. Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax)

3. John Heitinga (Everton)

4. Joris Mathijsen (Hamburg)

5. Giovanni van Bronckhorst, captain (Feyenoord)

12. Khalid Boulahrouz (Stuttgart)

13. Andre Ooijer (PSV)

15. Edson Braafheid (Bayern Munich)

Midfielders

6. Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich)

8. Nigel de Jong (Manchester City)

10. Wesley Sneijder (Inter)

14. Demy de Zeeuw (Ajax)

18. Stijn Schaars (FC Twente)

20. Ibrahim Afellay (PSV)

23. Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid)

Forwards

7. Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool)

9. Robin van Persie (Arsenal)

11. Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)

17. Eljero Elia (Hamburg)

19. Ryan Babel (Liverpool)

21. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (A.C. Milan)

DENMARK

FIFA World Ranking: 36

Team Colours: Red shirts with white trim and a white checkered strip horizontal across the chest, white shorts with red trim, red socks with white trim. Away kit is white shirts with red trim, red shorts with white trim, white socks with red trim.

Manager: 60-year-old Morten Olsen is one of the longest-serving managers at this World Cup, having taken the Denmark job back in 2000. Since then he’s led his team to qualification for the 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004 and now South Africa. He is best loved, though, for being the captain of the Danish team through much of the 1980s, a team much admired by the fans and considered the best in their history. Some say Olsen is the most important player in the history of Danish football, and so it’s no surprise that support for his management has always been high.

Form: Denmark defied the odds to top their group at the expense of Portugal and Sweden, only losing once on their way to qualification and completing a double over rivals Sweden to the delight of their fans. They also scored three goals in the last ten minutes to secure a vital victory in Lisbon over the group favourites. In friendlies they’ve been inconsistent, though – a reasonably assured win over Senegal was followed by a defeat to Australia.

Captain: Well-traveled veteran forward Jon Dahl Tomasson is as crafty as ever. The former Newcastle, A.C. Milan, Villarreal and Stuttgart player, now back for a second spell at Feyenoord, plays as a second striker behind Nicklas Bendtner for Denmark these days. His record for Denmark commands respect – 110 caps and 51 goals. He may be getting on a bit but is still dangerous and not to be underestimated.

Key Man: Nicklas Bendtner thinks it’s him, but the main cog in the Danish engine is Juventus midfielder Christian Poulsen. The, shall we say, combative midfielder really gets stuck in and if Denmark are to compete with teams like the Netherlands who keep possession so well, they will need Poulsen to be at his irrepressible best to win back the ball whenever possible.

Man to Watch: You may have heard people talk about him already, but Palermo centre-back Simon Kjaer is a really promising player whose stock is rising fast in the world game. At just 21 years old he is already an assured and reliable presence at the heart of the defence who can confidently deal with any opponent. Clubs all over Europe are chasing his signature and he has a chance this summer to push his potential salary up by a digit or two.

Prediction: Even with the depth in this group Denmark look pretty interesting. They are arguably a better balanced squad than Cameroon in terms of ability in every position and could make life difficult for many a team in South Africa. I think they’ll make it out of this group and could even spring a surprise against Italy in the second round.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Thomas Sorensen (Stoke)

16. Stephan Andersen (Brondby)

22. Jesper Christiansen (FC Copenhagen)

Defenders

3. Simon Kjaer (Palermo)

4. Daniel Agger (Liverpool)

5. William Kvist (FC Copenhagen)

6. Lars Jacobsen (Blackburn Rovers)

13. Per Kroldrup (Fiorentina)

15. Simon Poulsen (AZ Alkmaar)

23. Patrick Mtiliga (Malaga)

Midfielders

2. Christian Poulsen (Juventus)

7. Daniel Jensen (Werder Bremen)

8. Jesper Gronkjaer (FC Copenhagen)

10. Martin Jorgensen (Aarhus)

12. Thomas Kahlenberg (Wolfsburg)

14. Jakob Poulsen (Aarhus)

19. Dennis Rommedahl (Ajax)

20. Thomas Enevoldsen (FC Groningen)

21. Christian Eriksen (Ajax)

Forwards

9. Jon Dahl Tomasson, captain (Feyenoord)

11. Nicklas Bendtner (Arsenal)

17. Mikkel Beckmann (Randers)

18. Soren Larsen (Duisburg)

JAPAN

FIFA World Ranking: 45

Team Colours: Blue shirts with red and white trim, white shorts with blue trim, blue socks with white trim. Away kit is the inverse.

Manager: Takeshi Okada was briefly in charge of the national team at France 98 but left after the tournament. His second, more long-term spell started in 2007 when he replaced Ivica Osim who had suffered a stroke. He bears a certain resemblance to a Japanese Sven-Goran Eriksson, and would be happy to emulate Sven’s traditional quarter final finish.

Form: Japan cruised through the various Asian qualifying sections until the final phase, where they were twice frustrated by Australia and finished second, though they booked their plane tickets an hour earlier thanks to the quirks of kick-off times. Their preparations have been less than ideal, though, with four losses in four friendlies against Serbia, South Korea, England, and Ivory Coast. In the game against England they showed signs of quality but shot themselves in the foot with two late own goals.

Captain: This will be goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi’s fourth World Cup, and strangely though he has been named as captain for his experience he will not start as the first choice goalkeeper, with Seigo Narazaki having impressed in qualifying (he, too, is in his fourth tournament). Kawaguchi has amassed 116 caps and is just 7 away from the all-time Japanese record.

Key Man: 26-year-old central midfielder Makoto Hasebe is a candidate to wear the captain’s armband if, as expected, Kawaguchi starts on the bench. The Wolfsburg man is a disciplined, mostly defensive-minded central player with plenty of stamina and determination, but can pick a pass well if needed to play further forward or on the right flank.

Man to Watch: CSKA Moscow midfielder Keisuke Honda became the first Japanese player to play in the Champions League quarter-finals this season and one of Okada’s main tasks this summer will be to find the best way to utilise him. Usually an advanced midfielder in the centre, Honda takes a powerful free-kick and likes to get forward and take a shot, and can also play at left-back if necessary.

Prediction: Japan should be willing enough but will be too short of quality to get out of this difficult group. Their former talisman Shunsuke Nakamura has been in decline in the last few years since leaving Celtic for Espanyol and they look a little devoid of invention and creativity.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus)

21. Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale)

23. Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, captain (Jubilo Iwata)

Defenders

3. Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata)

4. Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Nagoya Grampus)

5. Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo)

6. Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers)

13. Daiki Iwamasa (Kashima Antlers)

15. Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo)

22. Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama)

Midfielders

2. Yuki Abe (Urawa Red Diamonds)

7. Yasuhitu Endo (Gamba Osaka)

8. Daisuki Matsui (Grenoble)

10. Shunsuke Nakamura (Yokohama)

14. Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale)

17. Makoto Hasebe (Wolfsburg)

18. Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow)

20. Junichi Inamoto (Kawasaki Frontale)

Forwards

9. Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse)

11. Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus)

12. Kishu Yano (Albirex Niigata)

16. Yoshito Okubo (Vissel Kobe)

19. Takayuki Morimoto (Catania)

CAMEROON

FIFA World Ranking: 19

Team Colours: Green shirts with red trim, red shorts, yellow socks with red trim. Away kit is yellow shirts with thin vertical red stripes and trim, green shorts, red socks.

Manager: Paul Le Guen has been in charge of Cameroon for just one year after leaving Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the 2009 season, whom he led to a Coupe de la Ligue victory but couldn’t bring out of the relegation zone. He quickly imposed himself on the team by dropping veteran defender Rigobert Song as captain and installing talismanic striker Samuel Eto’o, who then inspired the team to complete qualification for the finals. Le Guen was part of the Lyon success story, winning the second, third and fourth of their incredible seven straight French league wins, but struggled at Rangers and PSG. Has made a solid start with Cameroon, though.

Form: Under former boss Otto Pfister (one of the best names in sport) Cameroon made a slow start to their qualifying group, losing to Togo and drawing with Morocco, before Le Guen’s arrival perked things up. Both Song and Eto’o responded well to the change in captaincy, with Song winning back his place and Eto’o scoring the goals that put the Indomitable Lions through. Their friendlies haven’t been amazing – a come-from-behind one-all draw with Slovakia was followed by a routine loss to Portugal and an exciting but eventually disappointing defeat at the hands of Serbia, albeit without Eto’o.

Captain/Key Man: Samuel Eto’o was the subject of one of the strangest transfers of recent years when he was included along with £60 million in a deal to bring Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the world’s most over-rated striker, to Barcelona from Inter. Under Jose Mourinho’s stewardship, Eto’o has been playing in a slightly unusual role out on the right wing as a hard-working inside forward to make room for Diego Milito in the centre, but has done pretty well in that position on the way to winning the treble in his first season. Still one of the world’s most devastating finishers, Eto’o is a striker feared the world over and will be Cameroon’s main chance of getting out of this group. If you take him out of the equation Cameroon just don’t have much in the way of firepower, but Eto’o knows that this may be his last chance of making the impact on the World Cup that we all know he is capable of.

Man to Watch: Stephane Mbia joined Didier Deschamps’ Marseille last summer and became an integral part of their title-winning side having repositioned himself from central midfield to centre half. The 24-year-old could yet start at right-back for Cameroon, though, with no player having made the position his own in qualifying. Strong, powerful and versatile, Mbia’s physical presence will make life difficult for forwards.

Prediction: Will run it close with Denmark to get out of the group, and while it could go either way, my money is on Cameroon being pipped at the post and having to settle for third in Group E. Their midfield is willing, but Alexandre Song aside, relatively limited and their strength in depth isn’t quite good enough, with everything depending on Samuel Eto’o being fit and firing. A lack of experience in defence past Song, Geremi and Mbia if he plays there may be telling as well.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Carlos Idriss Kameni (Espanyol)

16. Souleymanou Hamidou (Kayserispor)

22. Guy N’dy Assembe (Valenciennes)

Defenders

2. Benoit Assou-Ekotto (Tottenham)

3. Nicolas N’Koulou (Monaco)

4. Rigobert Song (Trabzonspor)

5. Sebastien Bassong (Tottenham)

8. Geremi Nijtap (Ankaragucu)

12. Gaetan Bong (Valenciennes)

14. Aurelien Chedjou (Lille)

19. Stephane Mbia (Marseille)

Midfielders

6. Alexandre Song (Arsenal)

7. Landry N’Guemo (Celtic)

10. Achille Emana (Real Betis)

11. Jean Makoun (Lyon)

18. Eyong Enoh (Ajax)

20. Georges Mandjeck (Kaiserslauten)

21. Joel Matip (Schalke)

Forwards

9. Samuel Eto’o, captain (Inter)

13. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Nuremberg)

15. Pierre Webo (Mallorca)

17. Mohammadou Idrissou (Freiburg)

23. Vincent Aboubakar (Cotonsport Garoua)

World Cup Guide: Group B Preview

GROUP B

ARGENTINA

FIFA World Ranking: 7

Team Colours: Blue and white striped shirts, black shorts with white trim, white socks with blue trim. Away kit is blue and darker blue striped shirts with white trim, white shorts with blue trim, blue socks with white trim.

Manager: Dear oh dear, where do you start with Diego Maradona? Obviously a legendary player, El Diego is, shall we say, a somewhat eccentric manager. The man who runs over journalists and then insults them for letting themselves get run over nearly presided over the most disastrous Argentinian World Cup qualification group for many years, with only a last-gasp win at Peru guaranteeing them automatic qualification. His tactics are oddly defensive for such an exciting attacking player, and he seems to have an unhealthy man-crush on 36-year-old lumbering striker Martin Palermo, to the extent that he nearly excluded Inter Milan’s 20-goal-a-season hitman Diego Milito until someone managed to knock some sense into him. Palermo is still in the squad, though. Simply put, Maradona is the biggest threat to Argentinian success this summer.

Form: Not a lot. Previous manager Alfio Basile was sacked for the team being in third place in the group after ten games, but Maradona’s introduction saw further tumbles down the order, particularly after a humiliating 6-1 reverse against Bolivia. Their friendly preparations continued with their recent routine 5-0 win over minnows Canada – how much that really says about them I’m not sure, even if Messi was in the stands.

Captain: 25-year-old Liverpool holding midfielder Javier Mascherano was appointed captain by Maradona, who described his team as “Jonas [Gutierrez], Mascherano, Messi, and eight more”. Ignoring that statement’s ludicrous elevation in status of Newcastle’s inconsistent winger Gutierrez, it does make clear how important Mascherano is to the manager’s plans. With only three central midfielders in the squad, Argentina need their captain to dominate the midfield after an indifferent season for his club.

Key Man: I’m not going to try and be clever – it’s clearly the best player on the planet, Lionel Messi, upon whom Argentinian hopes rest. It’s hard to believe that Leo is still only 22 years old when he turns out destructive and beautiful peformances every week for Barcelona. The frustrating thing for Argentina supporters is Maradona’s refusal to build the team around his talisman. With the players available to them, Argentina could easily mimic Barcelona’s formation, which gives maximum freedom to Messi to do what comes naturally, but they don’t and so Messi can be somewhat stifled. He’s still capable of breaking those shackles and driving his team forward single-handedly, though.

Man to Watch: Much-sought-after winger Angel Di Maria has reportedly just moved to Real Madrid from Benfica, and will almost certainly start Argentina’s opener against Nigeria. The left-sided player is a hugely exciting talent, with a great turn of pace, mazy dribbling and a wicked cross. Also only 22 years old, a good tournament would establish him as one of the world’s leading forward players.

Prediction: Argentina have been given a relatively kind draw and should make it out of the group stage without huge problems, barring any huge calamities from Maradona. A second round tie against Uruguay or France could be a potential banana skin, but again you would expect them to edge past those teams. A quarterfinal against Germany would be winnable as well against another vulnerable side, but it’s hard to see Argentina making it past Spain in the semifinals (not that that wouldn’t be an acceptable achievement for this team and this manager). Their weaknesses (no goalkeeper with more than 6 caps’ experience, limited defence, willingness to use Palermo) could well be exploited by any of the above.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Diego Pozo (Colon)

21. Mariano Andujar (Catania)

22. Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar)

Defenders

2. Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich)

3. Clemente Rodriguez (Estudiantes)

4. Nicolas Burdisso (Roma)

6. Gabriel Heinze (Marseille)

12. Ariel Garce (Colon)

13. Walter Samuel (Inter)

15. Nicolas Otamendi (Velez Sarsfield)

Midfielders

5. Mario Bolatti (Fiorentina)

7. Angel Di Maria (Real Madrid)

8. Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes)

14. Javier Mascherano, captain (Liverpool)

17. Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle)

20. Maxi Rodriguez (Liverpool)

23. Javier Pastore (Palermo)

Forwards

9. Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid)

10. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

11. Carlos Tevez (Manchester City)

16. Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid)

18. Martin Palermo (Boca Juniors)

19. Diego Milito (Inter)

NIGERIA

FIFA World Ranking: 21

Team Colours: Green with white trim, away kit is the inverse.

Manager: Lars Lagerback is a recent recruit to the Nigerian cause, having joined five months ago following Shaibu Amodu led the Super Eagles to a third-place finish in the Africa Cup of Nations, which apparently was not good enough. Lagerback himself had only just left his post as Sweden manager after ten years in the job when he failed to lead them to qualification for this tournament, but before that he had done a fine job with his native country. This is first job outside of Sweden and it remains to be seen what his approach to the Nigeria job will be.

Form: A third-place showing in the Africa Cup of Nations is really not that bad a result to come to South Africa on the back of, but Nigeria’s pre-tournament friendlies have been going less well. A 5-2 win over DR Congo has been followed by disappointing draws, 0-0 with Saudi Arabia and 1-1 with Colombia. A further game against unknown quantities North Korea will be played on Sunday, and Nigeria will very much want a convincing win there to get their preparations back on track.

Captain: Portsmouth forward Nwankwo Kanu claims to be 33 years old. I’m not certain how much I’m actually going to comment on that considering any legal possibilities, but let’s just say that he looks a lot older (he certainly has the pace and mobility of a 40-year-old), and that coincidentally there have been recent scandals involving the Nigerian youth international teams and their players being several years older than their birth certificates claim. So, um, yeah. Kanu is a somewhat bewildering choice for the national team, as he is certainly in the twilight of his career and his best is long past. Pretty much unable to move at all during a game, he just hangs around and waits for the ball to come to his feet before shooting or laying it off.

Key Man: French champions Marseille’s left-back Taye Taiwo is an exciting player who, as well as being defensively solid, can attack well and has a thunderbolt shot from range in his arsenal. He will be an important player going forward trying to break down teams like Greece, and will also have to step up to the plate when he marks Leo Messi in the opening game. If Taiwo fails things will be much harder for the Super Eagles.

Man to Watch: Hoffenheim winger/striker Chinedu ‘Edu’ Obasi was one of the standout performers for Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations and will likely be deployed on the right hand side at the World Cup. He has plenty of pace and a strong finish and could make a serious impact on Group B.

Prediction: Nigeria should be strong enough to overcome South Korea and Greece but will probably a level short of seriously challenging Argentina for superiority in the group. I would expect them to go out in the second round against whichever team wins Group A, probably Mexico. Anything more would be a serious achievement for this team.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Vincent Enyeama (Hapoel Tel Aviv)

16. Austin Ejide (Hapoel Petah Tikva)

23. Dele Aiyenugba (Bnei Yehuda)

Defenders

2. Joseph Yobo (Everton)

3. Taye Taiwo (Marseille)

5. Rabiu Afolabi (Red Bull Salzburg)

6. Danny Shittu (Bolton)

15. Dele Adeleye (Metalurg Donetsk)

17. Chidi Odiah (CSKA Moscow)

21. Uwa Elderson Echiejile (Braga)

Midfielders

7. Chinedu Obasi (Hoffenheim)

10. John Obi Mikel (Chelsea)

11. Peter Odemwingie (Lokomotiv Moscow)

12. Kalu Uche (Almeria)

13. Ayila Yussuf (Dinamo Kiev)

14. Sani Kaita (Alania Vladikavkaz)

19. Lukman Haruna (Monaco)

20. Dickson Etuhu (Fulham)

Forwards

4. Nwankwo Kanu (Portsmouth)

8. Yakubu Aiyegbeni (Everton)

9. Obafemi Martins (Wolfsburg)

18. Victor Obinna (Malaga)

22. John Utaka (Portsmouth)

SOUTH KOREA

FIFA World Ranking: 47

Team Colours: Red patterned shirts with blue trim, white shorts, red socks. Away kit is white patterned shirts with blue trim, blue shorts, white socks.

Manager: Former PSV and South Korea midfielder Huh Jung-Moo is in his third period as manager of the national side. The 55-year-old scored the goal against Japan that qualified South Korea for the 1986 World Cup, beginning their run of six consecutive appearances in the tournament, and is a very popular coach. As a player he was nicknamed Jindogae after a local species of dog for his tough, combative style and was caught on camera appearing to kick Diego Maradona at the 1986 World Cup, so I’m sure the two will be pleased to reunite in Group B.

Form: Mixed. Huh won the AFC Coach of the Year award late last year for guiding South Korea to a 27 game unbeaten run, although their qualifying campaign stuttered at times, particularly against neighbours North Korea who held them to three draws, two of them goalless. A good warmup victory over Japan was followed on Sunday by a slightly embarrassing defeat to nonqualifiers Belarus, so their form could be better.

Captain: English fans will be familiar with Manchester United’s all-action midfielder Park Ji-Sung, who is a huge icon in Korea having emerged under the stewardship of Huh. Capable of playing anywhere across the midfield, Park will likely be utilised in the centre by Huh to maximise his influence on the game. Should be an excellent captain, as his determination should inspire the team to push on against resolute defending sides like Greece.

Key Man: Monaco winger Park Chu-Young will be vital if South Korea are to prise sides like Greece apart. He has searing pace (he can run 100m in 11 seconds) and a creative football brain. He’s also a dangerous dead-ball specialist, and Korea may look to play to his strengths by drawing free kicks in good areas.

Man to Watch: Ki Sung-Yong is an exciting prospect in the centre of midfield. His vision, technique and range of passing has earned him the nickname of the “Korean Gerrard”, which is high praise indeed. Currently plying his trade for Celtic, Ki is one of the “Double Dragon” pairing, which also includes Bolton winger Lee Chung-Yong, so known for their influential roles at the same time playing for FC Seoul before their moves abroad. Both are highly rated and could make an impact in South Africa.

Prediction: On their day South Korea can be a real handful, and are one of the more accomplished Asian sides. They should give a good account of themselves but I expect them to fall short of qualification for the round of sixteen, as they may lack sufficient bite up front to score the necessary goals.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Lee Woon-Jae (Suwon Bluewings)

18. Jung Sung-Ryong (Seongnam Ilhwa)

21. Kim Young-Kwang (Ulsan Horang-i)

Defenders

2. Oh Beom-Seok (Ulsang Horang-i)

3. Kim Hyung-Il (Pohang Steelers)

4. Cho Yong-Hyung (Jeju United)

12. Lee Young-Pyo (Al-Hilal)

14. Lee Jung-Soo (Kashima Antlers)

15. Kim Dong-Jin (Ulsang Horang-i)

22. Cha Du-Ri (Freiburg)

23. Kang Min-Soo (Suwon Bluewings)

Midfielders

5. Kim Nam-Il (Tom Tomsk)

6. Kim Bo-Kyung (Oita Trinita)

7. Park Ji-Sung, captain (Manchester United)

8. Kim Jung-Woo (Gwangju Phoenix)

13. Kim Jae-Sung (Pohang Steelers)

16. Ki Sung-Yong (Celtic)

17. Lee Chung-Yong (Bolton)

Forwards

9. Ahn Jung-Hwan (Dalian Shide)

10. Park Chu-Young (Monaco)

11. Lee Seung-Yeoul (FC Seoul)

19. Yeom Ki-Hun (Suwon Bluewings)

20. Lee Dong-Gook (Jeonbuk Motors)

GREECE

FIFA World Ranking: 13

Team Colours: White shirts with blue trim, white shorts, white socks. Away kit is blue shirts with white trim, blue shorts with white trim, and blue socks.

Manager: Otto Rehhagel still endures at Greece after nearly 10 years in charge, having unexpectedly won Euro 2004 with his hugely unwatchable brand of stoic, defensive football. A big favourite in Germany where he holds the records for most wins, draws and losses in the Bundesliga, and his teams in that league have also both scored and conceded more than any other. Crikey. You can’t say he hasn’t done a great job for Greece considering the resources at his disposal (zero flair throughout the entire country).

Form: A patchy qualification campaign saw Greece draw with lowly Moldova and Israel as they nearly allowed Latvia (yes, Latvia) to finish ahead of them in the table. They managed to scrape into the playoffs thanks to a win away in Switzerland and then stifled Ukraine in the playoffs to reach South Africa, but never really convinced. So far their only friendly has seen them lose comfortably to Paraguay, which is what you would expect.

Captain: Veteran midfielder Giorgos Karagounis scored the first goal of Euro 2004 to start Greece on their remarkable journey to the trophy in Portugal. Signed a contract at his club Panathinaikos last year that will take him through to 2012, and he says he wants to end his career there. A forward-thinking midfielder, Karagounis was once described as one of the most underrated players in the world, and while his best is past, he is still as determined as ever and will be the driving force behind the Greek midfield.

Key Man: 30-year-old Frankfurt striker Theofanis Gekas was the only bright spark for Greece in qualification, finishing top of the European qualification scoring charts with 10 goals, including four in one game against Latvia. He will be the main target for Greece when they occasionally decide to get the ball forward.

Man to Watch: One young player who could make a difference in this group is Sotiris Ninis, a 20-year-old right-sided winger with pace and skill. He is the youngest player ever to be selected for Greece by Rehhagel. The rumoured Manchester United, Real Madrid and A.C. Milan target has even at his tender age been named as one of the vice-captains of his club, Panathinaikos, by manager Henk ten Cate, which tells you something about his maturity. He may not start but expect to see him come off the bench if Greece haven’t scored.

Prediction: I can’t help hoping that Greece don’t progress from the group as their style of football is so unattractive and boring, and although they could potentially make it out, I don’t think they will. Nigeria have more of a goalscoring threat and Greece have been in such underwhelming form in qualifying. Rehhagel also sprung a surprise by picking not one but two completely uncapped players in his 23, so experience might be a factor if a key player or two gets injured.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Kostas Chalkias (PAOK)

12. Alexandros Tzorvas (Panathinaikos)

13. Michalis Sifakis (Aris)

Defenders

2. Giourkas Seitaridis (Panathinaikos)

4. Nikos Spiropoulos (Panathinaikos)

5. Vangelis Moras (Bologna)

8. Avraam Papadopoulos (Olympiacos)

11. Loukas Vyntra (Panathinaikos)

15. Vasilis Torosidis (Olympiacos)

16. Sotiris Kyrgiakos (Liverpool)

19. Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Genoa)

22. Stelios Malezas (PAOK)

Midfielders

3. Christos Patsatzoglou (Omonia)

6. Alexandros Tsiolis (Siena)

10. Giorgos Karagounis, captain (Panathinaikos)

18. Sotiris Ninis (Panathinaikos)

21. Kostas Katsouranis (Panathinaikos)

23. Sakis Prittas (Aris)

Forwards

7. Giorgios Samaras (Celtic)

9. Angelos Charisteas (Nuremberg)

14. Dimitris Salpigidis (Panathinaikos)

17. Theofanis Gekas (Frankfurt)

20. Pantelis Kapetanos (Steaua Bucharest)

World Cup Guide: Group A Preview

Only eight days to go! I am becoming ludicrously excited about the World Cup, and so it’s about time to get started on the group-by-group team preview. One will be posted here every day and then on Friday the 11th, the real action starts.

GROUP A
South Africa

FIFA World Ranking: 83

Team Colours: Yellow shirts with green trim, green shorts with yellow trim, yellow socks. Away kit is the inverse.

Manager: 67-year-old Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira is in his second spell in charge of South Africa, having previously resigned in April 2008 before being brought back in October last year. He is hugely well-traveled, and shared the world record of having been one of only two coaches to take four different teams to a World Cup (Kuwait in 1982, UAE in 1990, Brazil in 1994 and 2006, and Saudi Arabia in 1998). He will catch up with the man who overtook him, the Serbian Bora Milutinovic, this summer. He’s also managed in Ghana, Turkey, and the USA, so certainly won’t be short for knowledge, but he doesn’t have a great deal to work with.

Form: As hosts, South Africa did not have to qualify for this tournament, although ironically a lack of competitive football was exactly what this team did not need. They finished fourth at the dress-rehearsal tournament the Confederations Cup last summer and performed reasonably well though they failed to beat a big team.

Captain: Aaron Mokoena has endured a pretty horrific season with relegated penniless scumbags (bias mine) Portsmouth, where he has at least been able to get plenty of defending practice in. The 29-year-old is a solid defensive midfielder who can play at centre-half as well, and he celebrated winning his 100th cap in their last friendly against Guatemala, where he wore the squad number 100 to commemorate the occasion. He will need to prove himself an inspirational leader, though, to help his country through their group.

Key Man: Undoubtedly Everton’s sought-after midfielder Steven Pienaar, who is the only touch of real class in the South African squad. He can play wide on either side or as an advanced midfielder through the middle, and you can be sure that Bafana Bafana will constantly be aiming to give him the ball in the hope that his silky dribbling can work some magic.

Man to Watch: With Benni McCarthy omitted due to lack of fitness, 32-year-old striker Siyabonga Nomvethe has been given a chance to return to the international fold having been overlooked for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations and the Confederations Cup last summer. He doesn’t have an outstanding scoring record for club or country but is by far the most experienced of the short-staffed South African frontline and will need to step up if South Africa are to have any chance.

Prediction: Everyone wants to see the hosts do well at the World Cup but realistically, South Africa are not going to progress from this group. (There aren’t many groups they would get out of.)  They just don’t have enough quality players to make an impact at this tournament and would do well to get a single win against any of the other teams in the group. Fourth place in Group A beckons.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Shu-Aib Walters (Maritzburg United)

16. Itumeleng Khune (Kaizer Chiefs)

22. Moeneeb Josephs (Orlando Pirates)

Defenders

4. Aaron Mokoena, captain (Portsmouth)

14. Matthew Booth (Mamelodi Sundowns)

3. Tsepo Masilela (Maccabi Haifa)

2. Siboniso Gaxa (Mamelodi Sundowns)

5. Lucas Thwala (Orlando Pirates)

19. Anele Ngcongca (Genk)

20. Bongani Khumalo (SuperSport United)

21. Siyabonga Sangweni (Golden Arrows)

Midfielders

6. MacBeth Siwaya (Rubin Kazan)

10. Steven Pienaar (Everton)

11. Teko Modise (Orlando Pirates)

8. Siphiwe Tshabalala (Kaizer Chiefs)

13. Kagisho Dikgacoi (Fulham)

17. Surprise Moriri (Mamelodi Sundowns)

7. Lance Davids (Ajax Cape Town)

23. Thanduyise Khuboni (Golden Arrows)

12. Reneilwe Letsholonyane (Kaizer Chiefs)

Forwards

15. Siyabonga Nomvethe (Moroka Swallows)

9. Katlego Mphela (Mamelodi Sundowns)

15. Bernard Parker (FC Twente)

MEXICO

FIFA World Ranking: 17

Team Colours: Green shirts with red trim, white shorts with red trim, white socks with red trim. Away kit is all black with red trim everywhere and some green trim on the shirts.

Manager: In his last spell in charge of Mexico, Javier Aguirre took his country to the last 16 in 2002 without hugely impressing. He has since enjoyed a successful period at the helm of Osasuna in Spain, whom he took to an unexpected Champions League qualification in 2006. After that he went to Atletico Madrid, whom he returned to a strong position in the Spanish league following some poor previous seasons. Despite returning them to the Champions League he was sacked in 2009, which turned out to be just in time to bail out ailing Mexico. Has a reputation of being somewhat difficult to get along with.

Form: Under the management of Sven-Goran Eriksson, Mexico’s qualifying campaign started poorly, with the team struggling to impress themselves on their opponents, and only scraped through to the final phase of qualifying on goal difference over Jamaica. Losses against Honduras and the USA in the first three games of the final phase saw Sven removed and replaced with Aguirre, who, despite a bad start, losing 2-1 to El Salvador of all people, revitalised the team who eventually qualified with a game to spare. Have been impressive since, their stylish display against England in a recent friendly evidence of their youthful verve in attack.

Captain: Cultured defender-midfielder Rafael Marquez was surprisingly replaced by Aguirre as captain in favour of the more tenacious midfield general Gerardo Torrado. The Cruz Azul captain is amusingly known as “El Borrego” or “The Sheep” for his bushy hairstyle. Spent the first half of the 2000s in Spain but never managed to hold down a regular place at any of his several clubs there, but has prospered back home in Mexico resulting in his elevation to the international captaincy. A strong, bustling player, Torrado is highly influential for Mexico.

Key Man: PSV Eindhoven left-back Carlos Salcido is an adventurous, attacking full-back whom Mexico are keen to utilise at every opportunity. The 30-year-old perhaps doesn’t posess the technical ability of some of his teammates but his work rate and determination are second to none and you can expect to see him pop up on the left wing frequently. If opponents can shut him down they limit Mexico’s attacking options.

Man to Watch: It’s hard to look past Manchester United-bound striker Javier Hernandez, who has recently burst onto the international scene with 7 goals in 11 games on the back of a similarly promising scoring rate for his hometown club Guadalajara. Looks pacy and exciting, and will likely be used by Aguirre as a secret weapon coming off the bench to finish teams off.

Prediction: Having recovered from the poor Sven era, Aguirre’s side look an exciting prospect. There are plenty of options in a youthful forward line (as well as 37-year-old veteran Cuauhtemoc Blanco, coaxed out of retirement by Aguirre) who can do all kinds of damage to teams who are not prepared for it. They have an excellent chance of claiming top spot in the group and could go quite far, realistically the quarter-finals.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Oscar Perez (unattached)

13. Guillermo Ochoa (America)

23. Luis Ernesto Michel (Guadalajara)

Defenders

2. Francisco Javier Rodriguez (PSV)

3. Carlos Salcido (PSV)

4. Rafael Marquez (Barcelona)

5. Ricardo Osorio (unattached)

12. Paul Aguilar (Pachuca)

15. Hector Moreno (AZ Alkmaar)

16. Efrain Juarez (Pumas)

19. Jonny Magallon (Guadalajara)

20. Jorge Torres Nilo (Tigres)

Midfielders

6. Gerardo Torrado, captain (Cruz Azul)

8. Israel Castro (Pumas)

18. Andres Guardado (Deportivo La Coruna)

Forwards

7. Pablo Barrera (Pumas)

9. Guillermo Franco (unattached)

10. Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Veracruz)

11. Carlos Vela (Arsenal)

14. Javier Hernandez (Manchester United)

17. Giovani Dos Santos (Tottenham)

21. Adolfo Bautista (Guadalajara)

22. Alberto Medina (Guadalajara)

URUGUAY

FIFA World Ranking: 16

Team Colours: Blue shirts with white trim, black shorts, black socks. Away kit is white with blue trim.

Manager: 63-year-old Oscar Tabarez, another manager in his second spell in charge of his team, having previously led Uruguay in Italia ’90. Plenty of experience, having managed Boca Juniors and Cagliari twice, as well as a short spell some years ago with A.C. Milan.

Form: Uruguay nearly benefited from Diego Maradona’s managerial circus to qualify automatically from the CONMEBOL group, but eventually had to settle for their third straight play-off, overcoming Costa Rica to return to the tournament, having missed out in 2006 at the hands of Australia. They scored more goals than Paraguay and Argentina who finished ahead of them in qualifying, and they do look more competent in attack than defence.

Captain: 29-year-old centre-back Diego Lugano is Uruguay’s best defensive asset, who scored one of the crucial goals to get the team past Costa Rica. Can be somewhat temperamental (something of a tradition for Uruguayan captains) and also likes to make the odd expedition into the opponent’s box. Uruguay will need him to be at the top of his game.

Key Man: You can’t look past experienced striker Diego Forlan, who since enduring a torrid time at Manchester United has been reborn in Spain at first Villareal and now Atletico Madrid, scoring at just about a goal every other game for the past six years and frequently topping the La Liga scoring charts. He is the man who Uruguay will turn to to power their way out of the group, and if he can get the service, he will put them away.

Man to Watch: Ajax’s exciting 23-year-old forward Luis Suarez will play just behind Forlan in the Uruguayan starting lineup, and can also play on the wing if necessary. Has a phenomenal scoring record for the Dutch club of 74 goals in 97 games, and manager Martin Jol entrusted the youngster with the club captaincy following the departure of Thomas Vermaelen to Arsenal. Together with Forlan he forms a potent front line that every team in this group will be scared of.

Prediction: If Forlan and Suarez can fire then Uruguay could surprise a few people. Much will depend on their first game against vulnerable France. If Uruguay can get a result in that game it should give them the confidence to capitalise and get out of this group, but if not their frailer defense may see them overtaken by France and Mexico. I reckon they may just sneak through at France’s expense.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Fernando Muslera (Lazio)

12. Juan Castillo (Deportivo Cali)

23. Martin Silva (Defensor Sporting)

Defenders

2. Diego Lugano, captain (Fenerbahce)

3. Diego Godin (Villareal)

4. Jorge Fucile (Porto)

6. Mauricio Victorino (Universidad de Chile)

16. Maxi Pereira (Benfica)

19. Andres Scotti (Colo Colo)

22. Martin Caceres (Juventus)

Midfielders

5. Walter Gargano (Napoli)

8. Sebastien Eguren (AIK)

11. Alvaro Pereira (Porto)

14. Nicolas Lodeiro (Ajax)

15. Diego Perez (Monaco)

17. Egidio Arevalo Rios (Penarol)

18. Ignacio Gonzalez (Valencia)

20. Alvaro Fernandez (Universidad de Chile)

Forwards

7. Edison Cavani (Palermo)

9. Luis Suarez (Ajax)

10. Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid)

13. Sebastian Abreu (Botafogo)

21. Sebastian Fernandez (Banfield)

FRANCE

FIFA World Ranking: 10

Team Colours: Blue shirts with red and white trim, white shorts with blue trim, red socks with white trim. Away kit is white with thin red and blue stripes and trim, blue shorts with white trim, white socks with blue trim.

Manager: Raymond Domenech is to leave his post at the end of this competition, and it is utterly inexplicable why it has taken the French authorities so long to ask him to do so. Since taking control of Les Bleus in 2004, Domenech has been making ridiculous tactical and selectional decisions left, right and centre, and has been dining out on France’s fluky road to the final in 2006. As a keen astrologer, he admitted publicly that the reason he did not pick Robert Pires was because he “distrusted Scorpios”, and after the 2006 World Cup when Claude Makelele announced his retirement from international football, Domenech quite insultingly announced that he would keep calling up Makelele regardless, saying “as long as he can walk, he will play. I have the right to pick him”. French fans will be rejoicing at the news that Bordeaux’s Laurent Blanc is to replace him after the tournament, but will be desperately wishing that he was already in charge.

Form: A highly uninspiring qualifying tournament saw France finish second behind Serbia and requiring a play-off against the Republic of Ireland to make it through, and we all know what happened there. France, as they always have been under Domenech, have been deeply average and underperforming recently, and there seems little reason to get excited about this team.

Captain: Disgraced cheater Thierry Henry says he will not have a problem with being used as a supersub, having replaced Nicolas Anelka from the bench in recent games. This is a rare astute decision by Domenech, as Anelka is in the form of his life and Henry has passed his peak. The va-va-voomster does still have something to offer but is no longer the world-beater that he used to be, as evidenced by his expected imminent move to the New York Red Bulls. William Gallas will probably start with the armband in his absence.

Key Man: No question about it, Franck Ribery is the main man for France. His presence was sorely missed by his club Bayern Munich in the Champions League final this year, and his highly intelligent wing play will be the main attacking outlet for France this summer. A successful tournament could elevate him to the top tier of players in the world today.

Man to Watch: Look out for Bordeaux’s hugely exciting playmaker Yoann Gourcuff. At 23, he should already be the focal point of the French midfield, but of course isn’t under Domenech. He has an astonishing range of passing and will get forward and make things happen. If he is given the proper freedom to play his game, he and Ribery could make France great to watch. (If that doesn’t happen, you can be sure that Blanc will build the team around him in future.)

Prediction: On paper France have a decent squad with potential to play some really exciting football. However, everything comes down to how badly Raymond Domenech is going to mess this team around. He doesn’t know how to make them play well and he doesn’t know how to change a game when things aren’t going his way. Unfortunately I don’t think France should expect a particularly successful campaign, and, as said above, that first game against Uruguay will be crucial. I think the winner of that game will join Mexico in the second round, and I have a sneaky feeling that that winner will not be France.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Hugo Lloris (Lyon)

16. Steve Mandanda (Marseille)

23. Cedric Carrasso (Bordeaux)

Defenders

2. Bacary Sagna (Arsenal)

3. Eric Abidal (Barcelona)

4. Anthony Reveillere (Lyon)

5. William Gallas (Arsenal)

6. Marc Planus (Bordeaux)

13. Patrice Evra (Manchester United)

17. Sebastien Squillaci (Sevilla)

21. Gael Clichy (Arsenal)

Midfielders

8. Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux)

10. Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille)

14. Jeremy Toulalan (Lyon)

15. Florent Malouda (Chelsea)

18. Alou Diarra (Bordeaux)

20. Abou Diaby (Arsenal)

22. Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich)

Forwards

7. Sidney Govou (Lyon)

9. Djibril Cisse (Panathinaikos)

11. Andre-Pierre Gignac (Toulouse)

12. Thierry Henry (Barcelona)

19. Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea)