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 30: Stricken With The Loew Bug, Germany Finish Third

Uruguay 2 – 3 Germany

Sorry about the delay, readers, there have been some internet issues preventing this blog arriving on time. But I couldn’t turn my attentions to the big game this evening before giving a quick mention to last night’s thrilling third/fourth place play-off. It was, of course, the least relevant game of the tournament, as it always is, but this glorified friendly fixture has a habit of taking the pressure off enough to lead to a stonking game with plenty of goals, and last night was no exception as we witnessed the first match of the World Cup in which the lead ever changed hands. That in itself is an astounding fact considering Uruguay-Germany was the 63rd game of the finals, but more on that later.

First to the game itself, and it was very exciting, gradually becoming more and more end-to-end as the game went on, but on the balance of play you’d probably have to say that Germany deserved their win. They had the better of the opening stages and were rewarded when Thomas Mueller, one of the outstanding players of the tournament but somehow omitted from FIFA’s Golden Ball shortlist, slotted in his fifth goal of the tournament after Fernando Muslera awkwardly parried the ball straight into his path. It was an error by Muslera but there was evidence of the Jabulani’s devils at work, swinging the ball late in its arc to wrongfoot him.  Mueller now joins David Villa, Wesley Sneidjer and Diego Forlan at the top of the Golden Boot standings, and if neither Villa nor Sneijder score in the final tonight, Mueller will win the prize by virtue of having more assists (another ludicrous new rule from reliably idiotic FIFA – what exactly was so awful about having joint winners in the past? And what do assists have to do with being a great goalscorer?).

But Uruguay replied quickly with a wonderfully elegant sweeping move instigated by the terrific Diego Perez thieving the ball away from Bastian Schweinsteiger, captain for the night as Philipp Lahm was ill. Perez gave it to Forlan who threaded a perfect through ball in towards Edinson Cavani, who stretched his leg out just enough to place it past Hans-Joerg Butt for his first of the tournament, a goal which he richly deserves for his energetic and unselfish forward performances. There was a simple beauty about that goal that makes it, in my mind, deserve more attention than Forlan’s goal just after half-time. That, too, was of course a great goal, earned by a strong, determined run down the right flank by Edigio Arevalo, one of Uruguay’s best throughout the finals, who crossed it for Forlan. Forlan then unleashed a powerful volley that came off the ground and thudded into Butt’s net. Again, Forlan is now tied on five goals with three others, though he cannot officially win it.

In the minutes that followed Uruguay were solidly in control of the match, bustling and brimming with energy. So naturally Germany then stole an equaliser, a somewhat fluky goal for which Jerome Boateng lumped a cross into the box, Muslera jumped for it and missed, and Marcell Jansen, while apparently trying to duck out of the way, had the ball hit him on the back of the neck and deflect in. His celebration was suitably apologetic.

Admirably both teams pushed forward with greater and greater abandon, both trying to win the game presumably at least to avoid the unnecessary strain of extra time. It was starting to look like that was where we were heading, though, as Luis Suarez and Stefan Kiessling both had good shots saved, until, inside the last ten minutes, when a Mesut Oezil corner was defended a little clumsily by Uruguay, allowing Sami Khedira to rise above and head home for the goal that he too has deserved for his efforts in South Africa. Uruguay did keep pushing and managed to win a free-kick just outside the area with the last kick of the game. Forlan’s resulting effort was a stunner that deserved to go in, but pinged off the left side of the crossbar and out to seal Germany’s bronze medal.

That was that for one of the most entertaining games of the tournament and two teams who have both surprised and impressed me and many others. Uruguay were beaten but will return to Montevideo to a heroes’ welcome having exceeded expectations and put up a good fight against not only Germany but also the Netherlands. Forlan in particular has been one of the best players of the tournament, leading by example on and off the pitch with his constant reading of the game, intelligent passing, inspired set-pieces and five excellent goals. Suarez will be remembered for his goalkeeping rather than his striking in the history books but he too has been impressive and this summer on the back of his incredible goal record last season will surely see him secure a big-money move to a top club, maybe someone like Chelsea if they fail to get hold of Fernando Torres. Cavani, Diego Lugano, Jorge Fucile, Arevalo, Perez and Maximiliano Pereira have all been really good.

Germany know that there wasn’t really any more that they could have done. They played probably the most exciting football of the tournament despite being a reactive team rather an a proactive team, playing mostly on the counter. Surely the German FA must now give Joachim Loew whatever he wants to ensure that he can continue developing this team who, as long as injuries and form hold steady, should be a real force in Brazil in 2014. In Mueller and Oezil they have the two most exciting young players of the tournament, and Schweinsteiger has a strong case for overall best player. They’ll be back.

Man of the Day: Diego Forlan was the best player on the park for me, laying on the crucial pass for Uruguay’s opener, scoring another great goal and so nearly another in the dying seconds.

Later today, it’s the World Cup final! Crikey! It’s nearly over. I’m delighted that a new side will be lifting the Jules Rimet tonight and I’m in the happy position of having a personal interest in both sides winning, so I look forward to enjoying it whatever happens. Spain, though, should come out on top if they play to their best, although Arjen Robben has the power to change a game in a second and must be stopped in what could be a fascinating examination of both Sergio Ramos and, to a lesser extent, Joan Capdevila. See you on the other side!

Day 26: Forlan Looks All Round For Uruguay As Netherlands Reach Final

Uruguay 2 – 3 Netherlands

After the early stages of the tournament suggested that South American sides might dominate in the first African World Cup, it is now confirmed that we will see an all-European final, possibly between two sides that have never lifted the trophy before.

The Netherlands found their road to the final a rocky one, though, shattering those silly, arrogant proclamations that had been emanating from Holland about an easy game. For a goal that featured five goals it was quite cagey, with long periods of the game going by in which neither team seemed likely to break down the others’ defensive barriers. Certainly the first fifteen minutes were as tentative as they were even. The Netherlands were slow to accelerate, with Wesley Sneijder, their standout player so far, not exerting any real creative influence, and Uruguay immediately looked like they were lacking a dimension without Luis Suarez. Much of what has made them such an impressive side during this competition has been due to the running of both Suarez and Edinson Cavani around Diego Forlan, pulling defenders away. We saw how crucial that is to their play with their equaliser in the 41st minute – Cavani made an angled run not once but twice to drag away Joris Mathijsen which gave Forlan the space to turn and shoot. What a good shot it was, too, although arguably Maarten Stekelenburg should have done better.

Good as it was though, it wasn’t a patch on the opener. Breaking out of that opening crawl, Dutch captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst pulled an absolute corker out of the bag. Played in by a little through ball advancing on the left, van Bronckhorst didn’t wait to take a touch, he just shaped and from an improbable angle (and the small matter of 41 yards) cannoned the ball at breakneck pace arrow-straight into the inside of the far post. Fernando Muslera did as well as he could but there was no way he could have stopped that shot.  That absolute stunner is a late contender for goal of the tournament that may well not be beaten.

The intervening periods in the first half developed a bit of friction as some late tackles and more cynical fouls crept into the game. This was mostly from the Dutch, I think it’s fair to say, particularly after Forlan scored, and in the few minutes both before and after half-time, Holland looked rattled, defensive and edgy. That was the time when Uruguay could have seized the advantage but again they didn’t have enough penetration without Suarez and eventually the Dutch wormed their way back into the reckoning.

There was (and I’m sure will continue to be for a while) some debate over the goal that capped the Dutch resurrection. When Sneijder’s shot was hit, Robin van Persie was standing in a borderline offside position and was obviously ‘active’. From what I could see of the replay, though, van Persie looked marginally onside, but it was so close that whatever the officials’ decision had been there would have been complaints about it. It turned out to be van Persie’s biggest contribution – the striker had yet another average game, taking a little too much time to himself when opportunities presented themselves and not, to my recollection, getting off a serious shot on goal.

Whatever controversy there was over the second goal was completely absent from the third, which arrived just two minutes later and appeared to have killed the game off. You would have got long odds before the game on Arjen Robben scoring a header but that was what he did, burying with true poacher’s instinct a cross from Dirk Kuyt, who did surprisingly well stretching the Uruguayan right flank despite being right-footed himself. It was a cool, classy goal and it seemed to have taken all of the wind out of Uruguay’s sails. Their inability to mount a comeback was summed up by the substitution of Forlan, apparently carrying a minor knock, who looked resigned to his country’s fate.

There were a few hectic minutes as, out of nowhere, Maximiliano Pereira found himself with the ball on the edge of the penalty area following a well-planned free-kick and slipped a clever curling shot around Stekelenburg’s fingers into the corner of the net. Suddenly Uruguay were filled with urgency and they hurled themselves forward, causing a couple of nervy moments. Indeed, so eager were the Netherlands to see the end of this revolt that Mark van Bommel jumped to conclusions when the referee blew his whistle in stoppage time and kicked the ball away in celebration – for his trouble he was booked, ironic it being for such a simple mistake when he had inexplicably got away with several vicious fouls during the game. For him, certainly, it had been an unconvincing, slightly desperate game.

That was the problem with a few of the Dutch players, and, much like the victorious France side of 1998, they have reached the final having not yet really played all that well. There was so much obviously yet to come from the likes of Sneijder, van Bommel, Robben, van Persie and Rafael van der Vaart that the best player on the park in orange was the right-back Khalid Boulahrouz. Playing only because of Gregory van der Wiel’s suspension, and probably unlikely to keep his place for the final, Boulahrouz didn’t really get forward but just played a solid game in defense, helping to nullify Cavani’s runs.

So the Netherlands still have plenty of room to improve going into the biggest game of their lives – encouragingly, some might say. Uruguay, though, were clearly not as good as they had been in previous games. Suarez was a huge loss, and although Forlan had another good game, always looking capable of getting things done, he just didn’t have as much space as he did when there were two strikers running off him. In that way it was reminiscent of their first game against France, in which Cavani did not play and neither Forlan nor Suarez had much joy. But overall, despite this loss, Uruguay will look back on this tournament with pride. They have exceeded expectations, even accounting for a relatively good draw, and did it playing an attack-minded formation with a group of largely unheralded players. They also missed left-back Jorge Fucile tonight who’s had an impressive tournament but Diego Perez, Diego Lugano, Egidio Arevalo and the Pereiras (Maximiliano and Alvaro) have emerged with great credit. For a country with a population half that of Greater London, a World Cup semi-final is a brilliant achievement.

Man of the Day: Boulahrouz for me, although an honourable mention for Kuyt.

Tomorrow, I just don’t know which way to call it. On one hand, Germany have been arguably the best team of the tournament and should be well-suited to shutting down Spain. On the other hand, on paper Spain are the better side and David Villa has for my money been the best player of the tournament. Also, Paul the psychic German octopus, who has so far correctly predicted every German result, has spoken and the clairvoyant cephalopod has said that Spain for win, and who am I to argue with that kind of evidence?

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 20: They Showed What They Were Merde Of

What? Where’s the football gone? Come back!

Well, it’s the first rest day of the tournament as the remaining eight teams prepare for the quarter-finals. So I decided to take this opportunity to reflect on one of the biggest stories of this World Cup so far – France.

Before I start on the serious analysis, let me start with HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I mean, come on, it’s pretty funny. Rarely do you get to see a team self-destruct quite so spectacularly.

It all started in 2004 when Raymond Domenech was surprisingly appointed manager of the French national team following their exit from that year’s European Championships at the hands of eventual winners Greece in the quarter-finals. He had been in charge of the under-21 side for the past eleven years. Their qualifying campaign for Germany 2006 was stuttering, with France struggling against such footballing luminaries as Israel, Switzerland and the Republic of Ireland. They were in real danger of not qualifying at all, but then Domenech aggressively begged retired greats Claude Makelele, Lilian Thuram, and Zinedine Zidane to bail them out. Inspired particularly by Zidane, France managed to scrape through. At the World Cup that followed, France reached the final and might well have won if Zidane hadn’t had his infamous moment of madness, but none of it was down to Domenech. The players, with very little respect for their manager, who had little ability to influence a game and omitted talented players like Robert Pires because he was a Scorpio (according to Domenech, Scorpios “can’t be trusted”), held a revolution around the leadership of Zidane to get as far as they did. The result looked good on the manager’s CV but it wasn’t his achievement.

After that successful campaign, Domenech led his side into Euro 2008 qualification. Zidane had returned to retirement, but when Claude Makelele announced that he too was retiring from international football, Domenech disgracefully said no. “As long as he can walk, he will play,” said the loon, “I have the right to pick him.” This disgusting treatment of a player who had given long years of great service to his country and now wanted to be able to prolong his professional career at club level indicated Domenech’s desperation and inability to get the best out of the players who were actually available to him. Domenech kept calling him up and Makelele, to his great credit, played on.

At Euro 2008, France were drawn in an admittedly tough group with Italy, the Netherlands and Romania, but performed poorly. The team was old, slow and uninspired, and finish bottom of the group. They looked hopeless and leaderless, and Domenech should have been sacked there and then. The players blatantly didn’t believe in him but the French Football Federation pointed to the World Cup final two years previous and kept him on. And so the malaise continued into the World Cup qualifiers.

France were again poor in that campaign and finished second behind Serbia, who looked comfortably more assured, competent and determined. They then faced that infamous playoff with Ireland, and but for two missed Irish chances and a disgraceful example of cheating from a self-styled ambassador of the game in Thierry Henry, they would have never made it to South Africa.

When they did reach the finals, their group wasn’t the easiest in the world but considering the playing resources at their disposal, France should have made it out on paper. However, it became clear in the first game, a limp performance in a  0-0 draw with Uruguay, that the same problems that had always been under Domenech’s management were still there. There was no belief and no clear game plan. Time went by but Domenech didn’t act to change things for the better. And it just got worse from there. When France lost horrendously to Mexico, Nicolas Anelka berated his manager to kick off the release of all the pent-up discontent in the camp. Apparently Anelka’s situation was resolved inside the camp and it was agreed it would stay until the details of the story were leaked to the press. As soon as the FFF got hold of it they decided to expel Anelka from the squad, which upset many French players including the captain Patrice Evra, who talked of a “traitor” in their midst.

In the next training session Evra was involved in a huge row with the fitness coach Robert Duverne, presumably because he thought that he was the man who had leaked the story, and then we were shown the bizarre sight of Domenech reading a written statement by the playing squad saying that they would be boycotting training. All semblance of discipline and unity was completely lost, as was any lingering illusions that Domenech was in control of his side. He dropped several players, including Evra, for the final match against South Africa, needing a miracle to qualify, but another poor performance saw France lose to the hosts to leave with just one flattering point. The players never gave any other impression on the pitch other than that they couldn’t wait to be shot of the manager and start the new era under Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc, who was confirmed before the tournament to be taking over after proceedings in South Africa were closed. Domenech himself ended his reign by refusing to shake South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira by the hand, claiming Parreira had offended him when several months previously he had commented on the Henry handball incident. It was a petty, depressing sight that summed up his awful, incompetent tenure that somehow became the longest period in charge of the French national team of any manager in their history.

Now in the aftermath of the debacle, Thierry Henry, still nominally the captain but who played almost no time at all on the pitch, personally requested a meeting with his country’s President, Nicolas Sarkozy, to discuss the issues involved in the team’s exit. That this should be taken to the government is quite insane but I imagine that it will have little consequence for the Blanc era – Henry is a player who will have to be jettisoned by the new manager, having been past his best for a few years now and heading most likely to the MLS this summer, his exit from Barcelona confirmed last week.

Moving forward to the future, France will have the shadow of this World Cup hanging over them for a long time. It’s been a seriously embarrassing and depressing circus that will have affected some players more severely than others and major changes will be needed to lift the nation. Luckily, Blanc seems an excellent appointment, having brought Bordeaux right back to the top of French football playing really beautiful, exciting football in the process, and working closely with Yoann Gourcuff, the midfielder who was underused by Domenech and got harshly sent off in the South Africa match. He’s a player of boundless talent who really can be this new team’s Zidane, and together with Franck Ribery France already have two players to build a team around. There’s also Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri, two excellent young players inexplicably left at home by Domenech in favour of makeweights like Sidney Govou, and also Philippe Mexes, who for many years has been an absolute rock at the heart of the Roma defense and was controversially almost never picked by Domenech and who missed out on both the past two World Cups. Hugo Lloris didn’t have a great tournament here but he is a top class goalkeeper, and there are plenty of other young talents like Lassana Diarra and Mathieu Valbuena who can make a name for themselves on the international stage. I have no doubt that Blanc is the right man for the job, and in Brazil in 2014 France should be back where they belong – competing with the big guns.

Day 16: One Gi-Gyan-Tic Leap For Africa

Uruguay 2 – 1 South Korea

USA 1 – 2 Ghana (a.e.t.)

Not a great deal of time to discuss yesterday’s games, unfortunately. I may touch on them when reviewing Germany’s and Argentina’s wins this evening, or on a rest day.

Man of the Day: Luis Suarez was the benefactor of some hideous South Korean defending for his first goal but the winner was a sublime curler from the corner of the penalty area.

Day 15: Chile Lose Cool But Swiss Avoid Further Conflict

Portugal 0 – 0 Brazil

North Korea 0 – 3 Ivory Coast

Chile 1 – 2 Spain

Switzerland 0 – 0 Honduras

Well, in the end, the tables in Groups G and H turned out in much the same order as was generally expected, but there were some surprises on the final day of group stage action at South Africa 2010.

Portugal and Brazil kicked us off with a pretty dire stalemate, both teams happy to settle for what they’d got and showing very little flair or attacking interest. Brazil continued their streak as the least exciting South American side in the tournament, and there were more yellow cards than goalmouth incidents, getting to the extent in the first half as little feuds started to spring up between certain players that Felipe Melo had to be dragged off by Dunga just before half-time to avoid picking up a second booking. With Brazil missing Elano and Kaka, there was bound to be a slight reduction in flair, with the two replacements Dani Alves and Julio Baptista naturally more physically powerful players than technically gifted, but even with a nine-goal cushion separating them from the Ivory Coast, Portugal dared not attempt to go for the win that would have seen them top the group. Certainly this game suffered from the Ivorians’ failure to beat Portugal when Carlos Quieroz’s side were so utterly abject in the group opener, because that would have seen Portugal needing to attack. Instead what was talked up before the tournament as one of the most exciting games turned out to be a real disappointment.

There was little point in turning over to watch North Korea and the Ivory Coast, either, because while that game did at least produce some goals as the Ivorians won 3-0, everything they did hinged on a Brazilian victory. North Korea, who I’d hoped might be determined enough to leave with at least a point to really compete, just didn’t really show up, and their defense looked as frail as it had a few days ago. Sven’s boys bombed forward essentially at will and probably should have scored more than they did. Their second was great to watch – not for its scorer Romaric’s simple header but for the volley that ricocheted off the crossbar to set it up. Didier Drogba took the ball in mid-air with a sublime controlling touch before swivelling and rifling it powerfully against the bar. It was a moment of star quality that raised predictable “what if?” questions about what might have been had he been fully fit to face Portugal. It’s a shame for Drogba that his World Cup career will now almost certainly be over after two consecutive groups of death. He has his critics and he’s certainly prone to disappointing acts of petulance and dishonesty on the pitch, but he’s an astonishing player and a great humanitarian who does lots of work for his several charities, so I feel sorry he hasn’t had more of a chance of shine on the biggest stage of all.

No such injustices in Group H, where the two most exciting teams to watch managed to qualify (scoring some incredible goals in the process), and the closest rivals to Greece’s dullest-team-in-world-football title, Switzerland, were lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw with Honduras that put them out. I didn’t watch much of that game but I saw enough to know that the Swiss were again limited in attack (with Eren Derdiyok yet again missing one or two pretty easy chances) and that they should have lost, with a Walter Martinez goal ruled out for offside that looked on to me, and Georgie Welcome missing a golden chance right at the end of the game from very close in. Oh well, I don’t think anyone will really miss either team.

Chile 1 – 2 Spain was a slightly strange game in that Chile were the dominant side in the first half yet still went in at half-time two goals down. Both Spanish goals were contenders for goal of the tournament, the first a simply perfect sort-of golf drive of a shot by David Villa pouncing on a goal left open by Chile captain Claudio Bravo’s mad dash out of the area to rob Fernando Torres. That sort of shot looks easy but would usually be missed, but Villa executed it perfectly to take him joint top of the Golden Boot standings. The second was scored after the referee, Marco Rodriguez (a.k.a. Dracula), played advantage to a foul by Marco Estrada. Spain took full advantage with some gorgeous interplay between Villa and Andres Iniesta, who calmly placed his shot from the edge of the area precisely past the gloves of Bravo. I can’t decide which one I enjoyed more, but they were both absolutely beautiful. The foul in question led to the predictable culmination of a period of Chilean indiscipline, as Estrada was shown his second yellow card. The trip looked accidental but Estrada should have received his second booking a few minutes earlier when he hacked down Iniesta, so it rather evened out, but Rodriguez the referee really did have quite a poor game. Thanks to his distinctive appearance I do remember him from previous internationals and every time I’ve seen him he’s been too quick to hand out cards, and doesn’t even get them right that often. I hope he doesn’t take charge of many more matches in this tournament.

To Chile’s credit they kept going despite the obvious setbacks and opened up the game again with a goal just after the restart. Rodrigo Millar, who had only just come on at half-time, took a shot from the edge of the D that took a severe deflection off Gerard Pique past Iker Casillas. However Spain’s numerical advantage started to show and the game slowed down as both teams realised that this result was working out for both of them. Chile were beaten but did play reasonably well apart from the bookings, which earnt three important players suspensions for their second round meeting with Brazil, which could be a real cracker. I wouldn’t discount them from winning that by any means. Spain had another good game, with Pique impressing at the back and Iniesta and Villa running the show up front. Torres had another off day again, though, and was hauled off just a few minutes into the second period for Cesc Fabregas. He looked some way short of form and fitness and I hope he can recover to play a bigger part in this World Cup, because when both are fit and firing his partnership with Villa is the best in the world. Spain now go on to meet Portugal and they should win that game. Their midfield in particular stands out as being several levels above the likes of Raul Meireles and Tiago.

Man of the Day: David Villa had another great game, getting into some great positions and showing a really quick brain in some of his link-up play. His goal really was superb, as well.

Tomorrow the knockout stages begin! It’s getting serious now, and I think we will be seeing a win for Uruguay over South Korea, and I’ll go for an extra-time victory for the USA over Ghana.

Day 12: Game Evra for France and the Hosts

Mexico 0 – 1 Uruguay

France 1 – 2 South Africa

Nigeria 2 – 2 South Korea

Greece 0 – 2 Argentina

Our first pair of second round matches has been decided and, after some frenetic matches, it’s Uruguay and Argentina who secured top spots to book games against South Korea and Mexico respectively. Which means that it’s the end of the road, as I think everybody was suspecting, for the French circus of merde, but they sadly managed to assume the role of party poopers by derailing what looked like a possible South African miracle.

After a successful testing of my dual-wielding screen system allowing me to follow both matches at the same time, I originally began by focusing my attention on the game at the top between Mexico and Uruguay, an exciting match between two teams who clearly did not want to have to meet Argentina in the next round. It was end-to-end with chances for either team and Mexico nearly took the lead when Andres Guardado fired an absolute missile from range that thumped against the crossbar and bounced narrowly back into play. I daresay the goal is still rattling from the blow. By and large, though Mexico continued to suggest that they lack a striker with enough of a poacher’s instinct to finish off their exciting attacking moves. Guillermo Franco started again today and he just doesn’t look like he has the finishing ability to be a threat at international level. By contrast Luis Suarez finally got the goal that was definitely coming to him by neatly tucking in a header just before half-time, the result of a fabulous cross by Edinson Cavani on the far right. The game continued in a similarly attacking vein for most of the remaining time, and the competitive edge to a game many were writing off as a draw was obvious to see when Diego Perez suffered a head wound after jumping aggressively with Giovani dos Santos. However, I had mostly switched my attention to the other game in the group since about the half-hour mark.

France and South Africa went into the game knowing that both teams needed to win by at least four goals to stand a chance of qualification, but this France team giving such a performance would have been unimaginable. A team in total disarray following their well-publicised chaotic few days (I’ll probably go into more depth on the subject when we start having rest days with no matches played), France saw their captain, Patrice Evra, dropped along with Abidal, Toulalan, Govou, Malouda and, obviously, Nicolas Anelka, with Yoann Gourcuff restored to the team and Djibril Cisse and Andre-Pierre Gignac starting up front. I can only assume that Thierry Henry was one of the ringleaders of this players’ revolt otherwise he surely should have started in a game where big game experience was required. South Africa were far more settled mentally, though they too made a few changes to field a more attacking 4-4-2. The hosts started brightly, undaunted by the enormity of their task, and got just reward with Bongani Khumalo’s header from a corner opening the scoring.

The moment that really gave hope to the possibility of the rout they needed was not a goal but the somewhat harsh red card for Gourcuff halfway through the first period. There was certainly contact with the elbow in the defender’s face but it’s hard to say he meant it – there didn’t really appear to be any malice in the collision. Still, Gourcuff will probably have been glad to have been shot of the Domenech regime just that bit earlier than everyone else. Almost immediately after South Africa doubled their advantage, Katlego Mphela bundling over the goal line to get the goal he has deserved for his hard-working performance throughout the group stages. At half-time it really seemed possible that South Africa could pull off this miraculous achievement – France again just weren’t there, the players looking tired and frustrated with frankly awful body language, and South Africa just had to push them hard enough. Mphela had a couple of decent opportunities in quick succession early on in the second period but couldn’t quite convert them, but you sensed that everything was still possible even as another twenty minutes passed and the chances slowed somewhat. It was all brought down to earth, though, when Franck Ribery made an explosive burst into the penalty area with the ability we all know he’s capable of but that we hadn’t seen at all so far, the goalkeeper rushed to meet him by necessity but Ribery pulled it back and Florent Malouda could not miss.

It was immediately obvious that South Africa didn’t have the capacity to recover and score the required three in twenty minutes. The whole thing petered out from there. It’s a huge shame to see the hosts leave the tournament, the first time it has ever happened in the group stage, but they have done better than many expected them and will look back with some pride at their victory over a great footballing nation when the disappointment has been digested. France will be glad to get out of the tournament and return home, finally free of the tyrannical lunacy of Raymond Domenech and ready for a serious makeover under Laurent Blanc. Uruguay advance to the last sixteen in form and could realistically reach the semi-finals, while Mexico will probably fall short against Argentina.

Speaking of Argentina, I started by paying attention to their match with Greece hoping to see the ultra-negative anti-footballers punished by some more of Argentina’s incisive attacking play. I was disappointed. Greece, knowing that they needed to avoid defeat to have a chance of progression, parked the bus as we expected, but Argentina too knew that a draw secured first place and so declined to take any risks. Lionel Messi, surprise captain for the day with Mascherano rested and Juan Veron overlooked, was kept mostly quiet in the early stages by Sokratis Papastathopoulos. Late on they managed to snatch the goals that ensured a 100% record for the group through Martin Demichelis, who has been suspect at the back so far but who thumped home after a corner caused panic in the box, and Martin Palermo, Maradona’s favourite who was brought on for the last fifteen minutes and tapped in after Messi’s shot was palmed away by the Greek keeper. It was a pretty dull match and so I spent little time watching it, so forgive the lack of in-depth analysis.

Much more engrossing, not necessarily because of the standard of football, which was raised in aggression but low on quality, was Nigeria’s draw with South Korea that ended the hopes of another African nation. Considering how the two sides have played in their three games I don’t think it’s unfair to say that South Korea definitely deserved to go through more, but we may look back on the group stages in a few days’ time and say that this really was the group where an African nation really should have progressed. Nigeria were typically sloppy in front of goal throughout the game. They did take the lead through Kalu Uche’s tap-in but wasted a few good chances, none more awfully and hilariously than Yakubu’s miss from four yards of a totally open goal. It was harder to miss than to score and that moment is destined to be replayed on a thousand “World Cup Gaffes” DVDs hosted by Danny Dyer. Yakubu will have been glad that Kim Nam-Il conceded a penalty just a few moments after coming on allowing him to put the ball in the net a couple of minutes later, but that equaliser to Lee Jung-Soo’s scruffy goal and Park Chu-Young’s excellent free-kick strike should have been followed up on competently, and it just wasn’t. Nigeria tried to get forward but never really looked like scoring a third. South Korea, for their part, weren’t great but did enough to hold on. They were less fluent than they have been in previous games and will need to recover the form of their opener if they are to overcome Uruguay. Argentina on this form should get past Mexico and could go far, though my personal suspicion is that they will meet Germany in the quarters and exit then.

Man of the Day: In truth nobody really excelled today but Mphela did as much as anyone to push South Africa towards what could have been a famous feat. Luis Suarez, though, probably had the best performance of the day, so we’ll give it to him.

Tomorrow, I expect the USA to have little trouble beating Algeria and frankly I refuse to commit to any sort of prediction regarding England. Germany will beat Ghana, though I’d love for the Black Stars to prove me wrong about African sides in the last sixteen, and I’d be surprised at any result other than a Serbian win over Australia.

Day 11: I Wouldn’t Tell The Dear Leader If I Were You…

Portugal 7 – 0 North Korea

Chile 1 – 0 Switzerland

Spain 2 – 0 Honduras

The second phase of group matches came to a close tonight with things looking pretty clear in one group and wide open in another, although nobody has actually confirmed qualification yet in either case. Unfortunately all three games turned out to be mostly one-sided affairs, too.

This was most evident in the opening game, the final lunchtime kick-off where Portugal broke North Korea’s willpower to create a pretty depressing seven-goal rout. Watching the first twenty-five minutes, you wouldn’t have seen it coming, with the North Koreans having the better of the earlier stages, every bit as resistant in defense as they were against Brazil but now with some added adventure, getting forward with more purpose than the Portuguese. The captain Hong Yong-Jo was particularly prominent, getting involved with most of the North Korean play in the final third where star striker Jong Tae-Se was less visible, unable to get the better of Ricardo Carvalho and Bruno Alves. As soon as the first goal went in, though, a simple finish by Raul Meireles from an incisive Tiago pass, their determination was visibly weakened, and this only got worse in the second half. They had been lucky to hang on to 1-0 at half-time but it only took Simao five minutes to extend the lead, and then the underdogs were completely lost. Probably feeling a little beaten down by the driving rain and plentiful Portuguese support, their dogged determination and organisation in defense simply melted away as tiredness crept in quite quickly. The goals became easier and easier to come by for Portugal, particularly using the avenue of Fabio Coentrao hurtling up from left-back, who had a very good game, making mincemeat of Cha Jong-Hyok.

Portugal haven’t confirmed their qualification but now are clear favourites to get through, because the Ivory Coast will realistically need to at least match this scoreline on Friday and hope that Brazil, who are already through and will be able to rest a few players, do a similar job on Portugal. The latter isn’t that unlikely, actually – Portugal just aren’t all that, especially in midfield, and this result should not be taken out of proportion – but it’s tough to see the Ivorians producing such a concerted, focused battering ram of an attacking performance. They, perhaps above all other teams here at the tournament (except perhaps England), are the most prone to producing attacking displays that do the job but are not truly representative of their potential power. North Korea are out but I think we can safely say that this result will not go down well at home and they will be under pressure to get at least a point in the last game, so I have trouble imagining the Ivory Coast scoring a great many. Their fate seems sealed.

There were fewer goals in the second match but it was far more compelling viewing than Portugal’s victory – Chile eventually secured a 1-0 victory over Switzerland, who, with ten men for most of the game following Valon Behrami’s entirely preventable red card for a raised arm in the face, parked the bus for as long as possible and nearly got away with it too. There was only ever going to be one winner but it took a long time to get there, with Chile not quite being able to take full advantage of their total dominance. Returning striker Humberto Suazo looked short of match fitness and sharpness and was duly hauled off at half-time. Alexis Sanchez was again impressive with his pace and trickery but also showed the same lack of a killer touch as he had against Honduras, save the effort that he had rightly disallowed for offside. The standout attacker was Jean Beausejour, who put in several testing crosses from the left but that nobody was able to pick up on properly. The breakthrough came with about fifteen minutes to go when Esteban Paredes, the substitute striker who went on to miss two great and pretty easy chances to take the game beyond doubt, whipped in a lovely cross from the byline and CSKA Moscow winger Mark Gonzalez headed it well at an angle that prevented Stephan Lichtsteiner from blocking it lest he end up handling the ball. Chile definitely deserved to win but will be worried with the quality of their finishing. Chances may not come quite so easily against Spain in the final game.

A lot was taken away from the game by its frustratingly over-officious referee, Khalil Al Ghamdi, who set the tone by booking Suazo in the first minute and blew his whistle for pretty much any contact whatsoever. He ended up issuing nine yellow cards and a red, some of which, shall we say, were more deserved than others. Despite his clear desire to take full control of the game, Al Ghamdi seemed to be losing it as on more than one occasion the game threatened to descend into a brawl as Swiss and Chilean players clashed preparing for set pieces. It wasn’t easy on the eye, that’s for sure. Switzerland, for their part, weren’t great, even accounting for Behrami’s dismissal. The defense did well, with Diego Benaglio looking assured in goal and Stephane Grichting putting everything into his performance, but the midfield struggled to stop Chile’s dominance of posession in just the situation where Gokhan Inler should have been at his best. Blaise N’kufo, hero in the Spain victory, just couldn’t get anything done alone up front (poor captain Alexander Frei, just returned from injury, was withdrawn after the red card) and was most involved in the game when trying to defend set pieces. They have to give Honduras as big a thwacking as possible on Friday to maximise their chances of qualification but I just don’t see that many goals in them. They’re a 1-0 side built for exactly the situation that Spain put them in, and I think they could struggle to do the task required of them against the Hondurans.

Speaking of Honduras, they’ll be pretty chuffed to only have lost 2-0 having been outclassed in every department by a much more confident Spain, and particularly David Villa. The Barcelona forward showed his class by scoring unquestionably the goal of the tournament so far, beating two men as he ran in from the left flank and using the defender’s incoming tackle to slide down and power the ball past the grasp of Noel Valladares. He doubled his tally just a few minutes into the second half with another great shot, albeit one that took a crucial slight deflection on its way in from just outside the area. He seemed in such potent form that it was quite a shock to see him put the ball comfortably wide from the penalty spot after the impressive Jesus Navas was brought down in the area, having sent the keeper the wrong way.

Spain as a whole were very good, although still short of top form. The introduction of Navas from the start gave them a little more flexibility with greater crossing ability. Fernando Torres, the main target for such crosses through the middle, was a bit off-colour, though, obviously not yet at full match fitness following his injury, but Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos did well. Xavi got himself into great positions and passed well as usual but should have been more willing to shoot when it was one. One chance towards the end of the second half could have been taken if he’d had the drive to hit first time the return pass from Navas on the edge of the area.

Honduras just weren’t able to cope with Spain and never looked like equalising, although half-time substitute Georgie Welcome kept running and running as if he alone believed otherwise. Sergio Mendoza had a torrid time at right-back, given the unwanted task of keeping a lid on Villa, and the midfield just weren’t able to hold on to the ball for any length of time. Switzerland should be more to their liking, though, and it must be said that forward Walter Martinez has my favourite hairdo of the tournament (I’m sure that thought will comfort them after such a comprehensive loss).

Man of the Day: It has to be Villa, though he’s run close by Fabio Coentrao and Jean Beausejour. He underlined his status as the deadliest striker in the world with his stunning first goal and did my fantasy football team a world of good too.

Tomorrow, Groups A and B come to a close. Group A will be a close one but I have a feeling Uruguay will sneak a win over Mexico, and France’s remarkable spiral of self-destruction that saw them refuse to train yesterday will almost certainly end in a hilarious loss to the hosts South Africa. I think that’s what everyone would like to see happen, anyway. In Group B it should be straightforward for South Korea and Argentina, who should not have problems beating Nigeria and Greece respectively. I’ll probably be watching Mexico-Uruguay and Greece-Argentina but may switch games if it looks worth my while. See you then.

Day 7: …and Aquariuses Can’t Manage

Argentina 4 – 1 South Korea

Greece 2 – 1 Nigeria

France 0 – 2 Mexico

Groups A and B really took shape today as one former World Cup-winning team all but booked their spot in the second round, one former European Championship-winning side came from behind to stay in the hunt for theirs, and another team who had won both in the last twelve years were practically spectators as their own chances all but vanished right before their eyes.

The first of those, of course, was Argentina, who survived a wobble in the first period of the second half to seal what was eventually a comfortable victory over South Korea. Despite a lot of hard work and effort from Huh Jung-Moo’s side, Maradona’s men, particularly Leo Messi, ran riot throughout the first half and were given the goal they deserved after about fifteen minutes when Park Ji-Sung’s poor marking in the penalty box allowed Messi’s clever free-kick to drift over him and off the shin of the unsuspecting Park Chu-Young, who couldn’t really have done anything about it. Gonzalo Higuain then scored the first of his hat-trick by tucking away a routine header after more poor defending from South Korea saw two defenders in red trying to cover four attackers as Maxi Rodriguez’ cross came in. With the defence overstretched, Higuain’s job was really done for him. In fact, even though he scored a hat-trick, Higuain wasn’t really the most effective player on the pitch, his other goals coming from a tap-in after Messi did brilliantly to set up a chance and hit the inside of the post, and then another fantastic Messi run before Sergio Aguero put it on a plate for the Real Madrid striker. What Higuain did well was being in the right place at the right time, but all the work was done for him and any player would have scored those goals. That’s not saying he had a bad game, just that history will say that this was his day, but in reality, it was Messi, and, in the first half, Tevez and Rodriguez, who should take the plaudits for this win.

South Korea showed some signs of rallying in the first part of the second half, their lucky break provided by an awful Martin Demichelis error in the dying seconds of the first half, and if Yeom Ki-Hun had put away the great chance that opened up for him while the score was still 2-1, things might have been different. But in fairness they did not deserve a point from this game, never really looking like they could cope with the Argentinian forwards. They will be upbeat about their chances of progression, though, with Nigeria next up for them and Greece having to play Argentina.

Greece face a really tough test to make the second round having to play Messi et al in the final group game but they are at least in with a shout, which is not what I was expecting to say about half an hour into their match with Nigeria. Having conceded a rather hilarious goal in which Peter Odemwingie successfully duped the Greek goalkeeper Tsorvas into diving to meet the header but in fact left Kalu Uche’s cross alone to let it drift into the far corner of the net, Greece were just as awful in the first thirty minutes as they were against South Korea, with no drive or coherence at all and looking like one of the worst teams I’d ever seen at a World Cup. Then one moment of madness went their way – only Nigeria’s Sani Kaita will know why he aimed a kick at a Greek player on the touchline – and they were playing against ten men with an hour to play. Suddenly the Greeks decided they had a shot and pushed forward a bit. The equaliser was lucky, though, Dimitrios Salpingidis’ shot deflecting harshly off a defender, but after it went in you couldn’t really see Nigeria getting back into it.

The balance of results today though means that nobody is out of it yet in Group B. Even Nigeria can still scrape through if they beat South Korea by two or three goals and Greece get the spanking from Argentina that I think everyone expects them to on this form, but for my money I would still expect South Korea to qualify. They may not be able to cope with Messi in full flow but, frankly, who can? They still have more quality and composure about them than Nigeria and should do enough to make it through to the second round.

Who they’ll face depends on how Mexico and Uruguay fare in their final match against each other next Tuesday. That is now the game that decides everything in Group A after Mexico completed an easy win over hopeless France tonight in Polokwane. Mexico, feeling that they’d let themselves down only coming away with a point against South Africa in the opener, were stronger and more ruthless today, and would not have been flattered by a higher winning margin. Their goals came from their three substitutes as Javier Aguirre used his squad wisely – the first a run off the last defender timed to perfection by Javier Hernandez, leaving him one-on-one with Hugo Lloris miles away from the French back four, and he rounded the keeper and slotted in coolly to give Mexico their deserved lead. Pablo Barrera, on for Carlos Vela who looks to have damaged his hamstring and could be out for a while, brought about the second with a blistering run on about 76 minutes that left Patrice Evra for dead and drew a straightforward penalty from Eric Abidal (not the first time Abidal has been exposed like that at a major tournament). 37-year-old Cuauhtehmoc Blanco dispatched it with aplomb, out of Lloris’ reach.

It was no more than Mexico deserved and set up a mouthwatering clash with Uruguay to decide the group winner – a draw would qualify both and see Uruguay top the table on goal difference, but the incentive to avoid Argentina in the second round should give both teams reason to go for the win. It would still be difficult for France or South Africa to qualify even if the that match isn’t a draw because of goal difference, so an exciting game should be in store.

France, though, were absolutely awful, and asking why you really cannot look further than Raymond Domenech. He once again showed tonight nothing short of complete managerial ineptitude. After a first half in which his team were lucky to come in on level pegging, their forward players having failed to combine or even really get any meaningful time on the ball, Domenech made a substitution, bringing on Gignac for Anelka, but it changed nothing at all because it was like-for-like and the same problems remained – Franck Ribery, France’s best hope of making anything happen, couldn’t make any impact in the centre but was left there to rot all through the game, Sidney Govou continued his awful World Cup isolated and ignored on the right, and Gignac was given no service at all. Florent Malouda at least seemed to be sort of trying but was having no luck and yet the tactical system, quite plainly not functioning in any way, was never changed. Where Aguirre showed talent for utilising his substitutions, Domenech couldn’t have used his worse – the first might as well not have been made as it changed nothing, the second saw Mathieu Valbuena replace Govou but he only had about three touches all game and also did not change the system at all anyway, and the third wasn’t even bothered with. Fifteen minutes to go, France were 2-0 down playing one striker up front who was crying out for more support, Domenech did nothing as Thierry Henry and Djibril Cisse simply stood behind the goals and watched as their team were sunk without so much as a whimper.

French fans will be utterly delighted when they are put out of their misery on Tuesday because it will mean the end of Domenech’s horrific reign over the national team, during which he has brought chaos, disharmony and confusion to a squad chock full of amazing players, demonstrating for literally years the complete inability to change a game if things aren’t going his way, which, funnily enough, they usually weren’t. I suspect that as soon as Laurent Blanc takes over at the start of the new season you will see France flourish again and people will say “how on earth did this team do so badly at the World Cup?”. I also suspect that Raymond Domenech will never work in football again. Who’d hire him now?

Man of the Day: Unquestionably Messi, who perhaps was still not yet at his frightening best but was comfortably the most effective player on the pitch against South Korea. Honourable mentions to Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama (not least because I forgot to give him this “award” on Day 2) and Javier Aguirre.

Tomorrow Germany, on a high, should see off Serbia unless they can recover from a highly disappointing first game, the USA should beat Slovenia, and England…well, who knows? It is only Algeria…

Day 6: Forlan of Hope and Glory

Honduras 0 – 1 Chile

Spain 0 – 1 Switzerland

South Africa 0 – 3 Uruguay

An intriguing day at the World Cup has ended on something of a sad note as the hosts’ hopes of making the second round took a body blow, but as always we’ll start with the first game, where we finally got a look at Chile, a side I’ve been waiting with some anticipation to see in action, and I was not disappointed. Given most of the posession by a Honduras side trying to play on the break, Chile took advantage although they failed to convert a number of chances, much like Argentina and Mexico already in this tournament. However they will be delighted with their performance, especially with super striker Humberto Suazo still to return from injury. When he is ready to play, Jorge Valdivia can drop back to his preferred playmaker role and Matias Fernandez can move to the left, and that should see them an even stronger side than we saw today. Alexis Sanchez was the main star for Chile, causing constant problems for the Honduran defenders although if anything he could have been a little less selfish – one a couple of occasions, Sanchez tried to dribble too long or shoot when it wasn’t really on. He also threw himself to the ground a few times looking for free kicks where none were deserved. Remind you of anyone? No wonder Real Madrid are sniffing around.

Honduras, though, don’t look like having any sort of impact on this group at all, even when they get their own Suazo striker, David, back. They didn’t show any spark at all and surely cannot hope to dig out the sort of result that Switzerland managed this afternoon, stunning everyone (certainly me) with a dogged, hard-fought 1-0 upset over favourites Spain. It’s hard to say they really deserved it: the goal came from their only serious attack of the whole game and was bundled over the line by Blaise N’Kufo only after the Spanish defence fell completely asleep, having been duped by the Swiss’ total lack of enterprise into forgetting they were actually playing football rather than watching it. They did defend much better, though, tucking in really narrow so that Spain were constantly forced to pass the ball out wide, which is not how they prefer to play. David Villa was totally isolated on his own up front and Fernando Torres too was successfully crowded out after his arrival. Andres Iniesta on the left seemed very reluctant to try and cross the ball, which was the only option he really had, but even if he had tried Villa in particular is not really an aerial threat. If I were Vicente del Bosque I would have been very tempted to put Fernando Llorente up front, the tall Athletic Bilbao striker who would have given them that option. Villa’s scoring record for Spain is unquestioned but he clearly was having no impact on the game at all and you feel that had Silva been on the left, Jesus Navas on the right, and Torres and Llorente through the middle, Spain would have stood a better chance of breaking down the Swiss rearguard.

As it is they now face a battle to get out of their group. They must hope that Chile do not suffer the same fate against Switzerland, though tactically that side should face similar problems, and then to get a positive result against the South Americans in the final group game. It is a bonus that Spain’s next match is against Honduras, where a morale-boosting thumping could well be on the cards. In many ways this is the real test for Spain – the mental barrier of the World Cup apparently still remains but the Honduras game represents an opportunity to get over that barrier right in front of our eyes and send out a message that they are still the best side in the world. I’m still optimistic for Spain’s chances but they will need to build up momentum to get out of this group, and score plenty of goals while doing it if they want to finish top and avoid a meeting with Brazil in the second round.

With the first round of group games over, the second set of matches started in more promising fashion in terms of style and intent, as Uruguay were clearly more determined to get a win having avoided defeat in their first game. The gap in class between them and South Africa was clear as day, Diego Forlan in particular turning in an assured, confident performance pulling the strings in a slightly unfamiliar role behind the two main strikers. Far from being intimidated by the atmosphere in Pretoria, where the noise particularly during the South African national anthem as the entire stadium bellowed out at incredible volume, Uruguay seemed to shine under pressure. Several players upped their game from the underwhelming France stalemate, Luis Suarez in particular showing up with more threat and purpose than he had against Les Bleus despite not getting in the goals. The sending off of goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune was a heartbreaking moment but the referee, Massimo Busacca, got the decision spot on, Suarez having been onside as the ball was played through and the keeper unable to avoid bringing him down. Forlan again showed incredible calm and mental strength to hit such a brilliant penalty having had to wait for many minutes as Bafana Bafana scrambled to bring their substitute keeper onto the pitch.

This result means South Africa face an uphill struggle to qualify for the second round. They were always going to be up against it but after the opening match there was a feeling that they could run it closer than people expected. They’re not down and out just yet, though, as to bet against Raymond Domenech’s France making a hash of things would be a brave bet indeed. I hope the local fans stick by their team, as it was such a sad sight seeing so many of them trudge out of the stadium after the second goal went in.

Man of the Day: Diego Forlan. He completely ran the show against South Africa and showed his talent and adaptability by taking to the role behind the main strikers like a duck to water.

Tomorrow, Argentina meet South Korea in what could be a really fascinating game – I’m going to go for a draw there, Greece will probably grind out a 0-1 defeat to Nigeria, and France face Mexico in a decisive Group A game where I would expect Mexico to emerge on top.

Day 5: Ki-we didn’t see that coming…

New Zealand 1 – 1 Slovakia

Ivory Coast 0 – 0 Portugal

Brazil 2 – 1 North Korea

Due to outside circumstances I wasn’t able to devote my complete attention to all the games today but luckily there were only a handful of important moments rather than entire games of tension and excitement. New Zealand versus Slovakia encompassed this completely. The first half wasn’t much of a spectacle but that played right into the Kiwis’ hands. They started solidly and determinedly, not giving much away to the Slovakians who enjoyed the majority of posession. Slovakia seemed a little low on ideas. Captain Marek Hamsik tried his hardest and Vittek took his chance well to open the scoring but they would have been flattered by a 1-0 win and so justice was done in dramatic fashion as, in the 93rd minute, right-back and former Danish under-21 international Winston Reid ran up to the opposition box to head home and secure the Kiwis’ first ever World Cup point. That was a great moment to watch as the New Zealand players went nuts.

But crikey, Ivory Coast – Portugal. That was dull as dishwater. We probably should have seen it coming – of course neither team wanted to lose that game and were always going to play cautiously, but I suppose I assumed that both sides’ being loaded with attack-minded players would override that. Bloody Ronaldo’s early long range shot that rattled the crossbar was probably the best chance of the match although by my reckoning the Ivorian forwards were more impressive, giving some hope if they have to start without Drogba again in the big game next up against Brazil. He didn’t seem to have much more to offer when he did eventually make it on, either. A just result all told, neither team deserved to get more than a point out of that, and seeing as both sides clearly would have taken 0-0 before the game, it leaves you wondering exactly why they bothered playing it at all.

Speaking of Brazil, we all expected them to beat North Korea in the final game tonight but it certainly wasn’t supposed to be quite so close. The Koreans went into half time at 0-0 having admirably kept the samba stars at bay, their five-man defensive line standing firm against admittedly a Brazil team somewhat lacking in inspiration, and once or twice nearly got star striker Jong Tae-se through on goal. When Maicon put Dunga’s team into the lead 10 minutes into the second half with a tight-angled strike that swerved in enough to raise questions over whether he really meant it, you did feel that it was inevitable, and there were understandable worries that it would cause a landslide as the Koreans’ work came to naught, but to their credit they kept going and even after they conceded a second (Elano’s fabulous one-touch finish one of the best goals so far this tournament)  you couldn’t help but smile when they grabbed a late consolation. The delight on Ji Yun-Nam’s face was a joy to see, doing justice to the one North Korean fan’s poster saying “forget politics for 90 minutes”. I certainly did.

Man of the Day: Robinho’s second half against North Korea saw him express himself very well and he threaded through a pinpoint pass of real class for Elano’s second goal. Probably the standout performance for me today.

Tomorrow, Honduras should lose to Chile, my picks Spain should get a good result against an average Switzerland, and then the hosts South Africa face Uruguay in what might be a tight game. My feeling is another draw.

Day 1: Tshaba-ooh-la-la

South Africa 1 – 1 Mexico

Uruguay 0 – 0 France

So, the greatest show on Earth finally got started and the first match was full of excitement if not fulfilled potential. At half-time South Africa were lucky not to be one or two behind, as Giovani Dos Santos ran the show for Mexico, showing strength that I didn’t know he had to ride though tackles and generally make life really difficult for the hosts’ defence, who I thought put in a really determined, heroic performance. Bongani Khumalo was one who really stood out for me, with a couple of incredible last-ditch precision tackles in perilous situations.

By the hour mark the game South Africa did need a goal, though, to stave off the sense of inevitability surrounding Mexico’s protracted but somewhat toothless swarming of their goalmouth. They got one too, an absolute beauty by left winger Siphiwe Tshabalala, having been played in by a delightful first-touch pass by Kagisho Dikgacoi, put away with power and venom. The cheers from the local fans in Soccer City grew so loud that they were actually audible over the howling of the vuvuzelas, which did annoy me but I suspect I will become so used to them that by the time this tournament is over I will not be able to watch football again without them.

Mexico were frustrating, with Guillermo Franco making for an underwhelming centre-forward, but there was definitely a sense that they were underachieving and South Africa were at their proud, fighting best. If I were Javier Aguirre I’d probably look to start Cuauhtemoc Blanco in the next match against France, who may need to be substituted after an hour or so but showed more evidence of being able to take advantage of defenders than Franco.

Speaking of France, they really missed a trick by not putting away a Uruguay side who didn’t really meet my expectations. Blundering Raymond Domenech showed exactly why he’s on his way out, simply allowing the game to drift out of his hands as he refused to bring in Florent Malouda, a player who ironically Domenech has been including for years despite consistent poor performances for club and country, but who in the last 12 months has come into the form of his life and whose attacking impetus France sorely lacked. When changes were made they were the wrong ones – Thierry Henry’s impact these days can no longer be as a lone striker so much as a withdrawn support player, so replacing Nicolas Anelka for him was an awful call, and the ineffective Sidney Govou was left on the pitch for far too long as he failed to change anything. Govou was responsible for missing the game’s golden chance just six minutes in, trying to sidefoot an incisive Ribery cross and making minimal contact, letting it drift harmlessly wide.

Uruguay largely disappointed me. Diego Forlan was the standout man for them, dropping deeper than he would normally do to try and make things happen, and at half-time I felt that it was just a matter of time until he put it on a plate for Luis Suarez, but the latter was too busy being constantly offside to link up properly. There were signs that that pairing can click in this tournament but it didn’t quite work tonight, and Uruguay need them to pull an otherwise decent but unspectacular side up to greater heights.

Man of the Day: No question. Tshabalala has saved South Africa from real embarrassment by ensuring that they don’t finish with nul points and his goal, which will go down as one of the great World Cup openers, was brilliantly taken.

Tomorrow, South Korea should draw with Greece, Argentina will beat Nigeria, and England will likely labour to a victory over the USA.

World Cup Guide: Group H Preview

GROUP H

SPAIN

FIFA World Ranking: 2

Team Colours: Red shirts with yellow trim, blue shorts with yellow trim, red socks. Away kit is dark blue shirts with red and yellow trim, dark blue shorts with red and yellow trim, dark blue socks.

Manager: Vicente del Bosque came out of semi-retirement, having not coached since leaving Besiktas in 2005, to take charge of Spain following their Euro 2008 triumph and has carried on in much the same way that his predecessor, Luis Aragones, left off, relying on one-touch passing through midfield, and has had plenty of success. Del Bosque is best known for his four year stint at the helm of Real Madrid between 1999 and 2003, during which he won the Intercontinental Cup and twice won La Liga and the Champions League.

Form: Scary. Spain have won all but one game under del Bosque (the one loss being to the USA in the Confederations Cup semi last summer), including a 100% record in a qualifying group which included tricky sides like Turkey and Bosnia & Herzegovina. In the last few months they have comfortably beaten Argentina and France in friendlies, and more recently they’ve swept their warmup matches, beating Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and most impressively, Poland by six goals to no reply. At the moment Spain are something of a machine.

Captain: Goalkeeper Iker Casillas is right up there with Buffon and Julio Cesar squabbling over who gets to be called the best keeper in the world, and the 29-year-old, who has made nearly 400 appearances for Real Madrid, is an inspirational figure between the sticks, regularly pulling off saves that he has no right to make. Will forever be idolised in Spain for being the captain that broke their 44-year duck to lead La Seleccion to triumph at Euro 2008.

Key Man: It seems frankly rude to pick just one out of the Spanish line-up, but even in such mighty company, David Villa strikes out. The Barcelona-bound striker is simply the most impressive forward in the world game right now, terrorising defences all over the world with his searing pace, clinical finishing and, for Spain, his perfect understanding with Fernando Torres, who, you may have heard, is also a bit talented. He can drop deep to aid in the build-up play from around the midfield or drift wide only to cut back inside to devastating effect.

Man to Watch: The only reason why Sevilla winger Jesus Navas only has six caps to his name is a serious anxiety problem that forced him to retire from international football before making a single appearance soon after he emerged in the Spanish game, but last year he resolved to overcome his condition and force his way into the squad for South Africa. Spanish fans will be delighted – Navas has enjoyed his best season yet for the Andalucian side, maturing into a more effective, destructive player than ever before. His pace with and without the ball really has to be seen to be believed. Expect to see Navas come off the bench to run at tired left-backs down the right flank and cause havoc in the opposition box.

Prediction: There are a couple of injury worries over two-parts-of-the-same-player midfield passing robots Xavi and Andres Iniesta but they should be fit to play, but the Spanish need not worry all that much anyway – they have by far the deepest squad in the tournament, particularly in midfield, where world-class talents Cesc Fabregas, Juan Manuel Mata, Jesus Navas and Sergio Busquets will probably all be on the bench. The only barrier to Spain bulldozing their way to what could be the most beautiful World Cup win ever is the mental hurdle of the World Cup – obviously they got the monkey off their back by winning the Euros, but the biggest tournament of all is another kettle of fish,if you pardon my mixing of zoological metaphors. That said, I can’t look past Spain to win this year. Their probable final clash with Brazil should be a belter, as well.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Iker Casillas, captain (Real Madrid)

12. Victor Valdes (Barcelona)

23. Pepe Reina (Liverpool)

Defenders

2. Raul Albiol (Real Madrid)

3. Gerard Pique (Barcelona)

4. Carlos Marchena (Valencia)

5. Carles Puyol (Barcelona)

11. Joan Capdevila (Villarreal)

15. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)

17. Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid)

Midfielders

6. Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

8. Xavi (Barcelona)

10. Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)

13. Juan Manuel Mata (Valencia)

14. Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid)

16. Sergio Busquets (Barcelona)

20. Javi Martinez (Athletic Bilbao)

21. David Silva (Valencia)

22. Jesus Navas (Sevilla)

Forwards

7. David Villa (Barcelona)

9. Fernando Torres (Liverpool)

18. Pedro Rodriguez (Barcelona)

19. Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao)

SWITZERLAND

FIFA World Ranking: 24

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

Manager: Ottmar Hitzfeld’s CV commands respect – one of only three men to win the Champions League with two different clubs (Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich), he’s won the Bundesliga seven times and the Intercontinental Cup twice. He’s more than familiar with Swiss football having played there for nine years and managed three Swiss clubs before going on to achieve so much in Germany, where he was named the greatest Bundesliga coach of all time as well as Bayern Munich’s best ever coach. Not bad.

Form: Switzerland started qualifying very slowly – a 1-1 draw with Israel was followed by an embarrassing loss to Luxembourg – but picked themselves up to finish top of their group ahead of Greece, including a five-game winning streak. Their warmup games haven’t been much good, though – they lost against Uruguay and a distinctly average Costa Rica side, but picked up enough to draw 1-1 with Italy on Saturday.

Captain: FC Basel striker Alexander Frei is his country’s all-time leading goalscorer and certainly one of the most capable players in the Swiss squad. He scores hatfuls of goals wherever he goes – including 48 in 100 games for Rennes, 31 in 69 for Borussia Dortmund and now 15 in 19 for his hometown club which he returned to last summer. With 40 in 73 internationals, Frei is very much the focal point of the Swiss attack and will want to make up for Euro 2008, where he was taken off injured during the first match and never featured again in the tournament.

Key Man: Udinese defensive midfielder Gokhan Inler has long been linked with a move a big Premier League club, and if Switzerland do well you can be sure those rumours will resurface. Sitting in the centre of the Swiss engine room, Inler’s tough, dominating approach governs his team’s play, and if he can be shut out of the game, opponents will find a much less cohesive unit in their way.

Man to Watch: Known amusingly as “Forrest Gump” for the way he’s constantly running, Lazio right-back Stephan Lichtsteiner should be an energetic presence for Switzerland. After ignoring interesting from Paris Saint-Germain and Everton following his performances at Euro 2008, Lichtsteiner has formed a potent partnership with Serbian man to watch Aleksandar Kolarov at Lazio and can be deployed further forward at right midfield if required.

Prediction: Switzerland are plenty willing but, Frei aside, lack attacking potency. If anything happens to their captain I can’t see where the goals are going to come from and they should be too rigid to trouble the likes of Spain and Chile in this group. An early exit for Hitzfeld’s boys beckons.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg)

12. Marco Wolfli (Young Boys)

21. Johnny Leoni (FC Zurich)

Midfielders

2. Stephan Lichtsteiner (Lazio)

3. Ludovic Magnin (FC Zurich)

4. Philippe Senderos (Fulham)

5. Steve von Bergen (Hertha Berlin)

13. Stephane Grichting (Auxerre)

17. Reto Ziegler (Sampdoria)

22. Mario Eggimann (Hannover 96)

Midfielders

6. Benjamin Huggel (FC Basel)

7. Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen)

8. Gokhan Inler (Udinese)

11. Valon Behrami (West Ham United)

14. Marco Padalino (Sampdoria)

15. Hakan Yakin (Luzern)

16. Gelson Fernandes (Saint Etienne)

20. Pirmin Schwegler (Eintracht Frankfurt)

23. Xherdan Shaqiri (FC Basel)

Forwards

9. Alexander Frei, captain (FC Basel)

10. Blaise Nkufo (Seattle Sounders)

18. Albert Bunjaku (Nurnberg)

19. Eren Derdiyok (Bayer Leverkusen)

HONDURAS

FIFA World Ranking: 38

Team Colours: White shirts with blue trim and a short horizontal stripe across the chest in various shades of  blue, white shorts, white socks. Away kit is blue shirts with both lighter and darker blue trim and the same stripe, blue shorts, blue socks.

Manager: Colombian Reinaldo Rueda’s first management job saw him lead the Colombian Under-20s to third place in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship, and soon after he was promoted to the main job for qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, where he picked up a team in disarray and steered them to a mid-table finish in South America. Since taking the reins at Honduras in early 2007 he has won great popularity by returning Honduras to the tournament they last participated in in 1982.

Form: Honduras surprisingly came top of their third round qualifying group ahead of Mexico, as well as Jamaica and Canada, before edging out Costa Rica on goal difference to reach South Africa automatically, and condemning Costa Rica to a playoff with Uruguay that they went on to lose. They never really set the world alight, though, and would have missed out on the trip to South Africa if the USA had not come from behind to snatch a draw with the Costa Ricans. Their warmups could have gone a lot better – losses to Venezuela and Romania and draws with Belarus and Azerbaijan aren’t good enough to signal that this team will be competitive this summer.

Captain: Attacking midfielder Amado Guevara is Honduras’ most capped player of all time, having won 135 caps over 16 years in the international side. He spent a few years in the MLS with the New York Red Bulls and Toronto FC but now plies his trade in the Honduran league with Motagua. The crowning moment of his career so far was being named MVP in the Copa America in 2001, a tournament which Honduras only entered a day before it started when Argentina pulled out, and he led them to a shock semifinal finish that year – I doubt he’s dreaming that far ahead in South Africa though.

Key Man: Look no further than evergreen striker Carlos Pavon, according to a poll, the most popular footballer in the world. The 36-year-old journeyman, who’s played for 14 different teams, some of them two or three times, has nabbed 57 goals in exactly 100 international games and remains Honduras’ main man up front. Currently still banging them in for Real Espana in Honduras, his first club whom he has played for in five separate spells, Pavon will be keen to take this last chance on the world stage.

Man to Watch: Keep an eye out for Pavon’s understudy, the magnificently named Georgie Welcome, another Motagua player who scored an incredible goal for Honduras in a friendly against Latvia in November.

Prediction: Despite a couple of very good players – Tottenham’s Wilson Palacios is another, more well-known face who can cause problems for any team – Honduras look pretty limited and results recently have been far from encouraging. A lack of high-level know-how throughout the team will be a stumbling block when it comes to overcoming canny sides like Switzerland and Chile, and though they have the potential to manage it, it would be an upset if Honduras won a game here.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Ricardo Canales (Motagua)

18. Noel Valladares (Olimpia)

22. Donis Escober (Olimpia)

Defenders

2. Osman Chavez (Platense)

3. Maynor Figueroa (Wigan)

4. Johnny Palacios (Olimpia)

5. Victor Bernardez (Anderlecht)

14. Oscar Boniek Garcia (Olimpia)

16. Mauricio Sabillon (Hangzhou Nabel Greentown)

21. Emilio Izaguirre (Motagua)

23. Sergio Mendoza (Motagua)

Midfielders

6. Hendry Thomas (Wigan)

7. Ramon Nunez (Olimpia)

8. Wilson Palacios (Tottenham)

10. Julio Cesar de Leon (Torino)

13. Roger Espinosa (Kansas City Wizards)

17. Edgar Alvarez (Bari)

19. Danilo Turcios (Olimpia)

20. Amada Guevara, captain (Motagua)

Forwards

9. Carlos Pavon (Real Espana)

11. David Suazo (Inter)

12. Georgie Welcome (Motagua)

15. Walter Martinez (Marathon)

CHILE

FIFA World Ranking: 18

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

Manager: Marcelo Bielsa’s last appearance at the World Cup, as coach of Argentina in 2002, did not go so well, with his native side being knocked out of the Group of Death, but he was surprisingly allowed to continue until he resigned in 2004. He didn’t take another job until Chile came calling in 2007 and has been busy turning them into a seriously good side since then. Fans are currently campaigning for him to renew his contract, which ends after the World Cup, so he must be doing something right.

Form: The youngest South American side at the finals romped to second in the South American qualifying group, clinching their plane tickets with a game to spare thanks to an entertaining 4-2 defeat of Colombia. They scored more than half of their points away from home and were the second highest scorers in the group, playing a strange 3-3-1-3 formation and winning with style and resolve. A 1-0 loss to Mexico aside, their friendlies have gone well, with wins over Trinidad & Tobago, Zambia, Northern Ireland and Israel, the latter two being played on the same day by two separate Chilean XIs, as Bielsa tested out every one of his 23-man squad plus a few extra players to make up the numbers. There’s strength in depth in this side.

Captain: Claudio Bravo, who plays in goal for Spanish second divison side Real Sociedad, has recently returned from an injury that ended his league season in February, shortly after he scored his first career goal with a free kick. He has captained the side ever since legendary striker Marcelo Salas retired from internationals in 2007. Chile will be hoping he has no lingering fitness worries as they don’t really have an adequate backup in his position.

Key Man: Definitely Monterrey striker Humberto Suazo, a brilliant forward man who topped the South American goal charts in qualifying with ten goals, and has spent the past few months on loan at Real Zaragoza. A prolific scorer in the Chilean leagues with a strike rate in the region of two in three, it’s a wonder the 29-year-old hasn’t been snapped up by a European side yet, but he may well get his chance with a good showing in South Africa.

Man to Watch: Sitting in behind Suazo and the strikers will be Sporting CP’s Matias Fernandez. The former Villarreal man is brilliantly creative with a magical dribble and is a serious dangerman for Chile, whose three forwards will either feed off him to get in a scoring position or draw the defenders away from him and allow him to pop up at the last minute to tuck the ball away. Only 24 years old, Fernandez could become a big star as a result of the exposure here.

Prediction: Chile were excellent in qualifying and look ready to impress people in South Africa. They’ll score plenty of goals and their unusual formation should create problems for the European sides who only really play 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 these days. I don’t think they’ll have any trouble coming second in this group and might even give Spain a scare, and if anyone can beat Brazil in the second round, it’s them.

Squad List:

Goalkeepers

1. Claudio Bravo, captain (Real Sociedad)

12. Miguel Pinto (Universidad de Chile)

23. Luis Marin (Union Espanola)

Defenders

2. Ismael Fuentes (Universidad Catolica)

3. Waldo Ponce (Universidad Catolica)

4. Mauricio Isla (Udinese)

5. Pablo Contreras (PAOK)

17. Gary Medel (Boca Juniors)

18. Gonzalo Jara (West Brom)

Midfielders

6. Carlos Carmona (Lazio)

8. Arturo Vidal (Bayer Leverkusen)

10. Jorge Valdivia (Al-Ain)

13. Marco Estrada (Montpellier)

14. Matias Fernandez (Sporting CP)

19. Gonzalo Fierro (Flamengo)

20. Rodrigo Millar (Colo-Colo)

21. Rodrigo Tello (Besiktas)

Forwards

7. Alexis Sanchez (Udinese)

9. Humberto Suazo (Monterrey)

11. Mark Gonzalez (CSKA Moscow)

15. Jean Beausejour (America)

16. Fabian Orellana (Xerez)

22. Esteban Paredes (Colo-Colo)

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)