Category: World Cup (Page 16 of 17)

Italy, Czech Republic, United States, Ghana

Many people in the US actually consider this the Group of Death. Well, it will be for the Americans. If you just look at the ludicrous world rankings, you could delude yourself into thinking that this is a tough group. With the US a ridiculously lofty 5th, the Italians undervalued at 12, and the Czech Republic in a probably deserved 2nd, on paper it looks like a spectacular group. I’m afraid it won’t look that way on the pitch.

Italy has always played a defensive minded game, trying to eke out victories even though they were loaded with enough talent that would have decimated most competition. That playing not to lose mentality has caused one disappointing tournament after another for them. Hopefully coach Lippi just turns loose Alberto Gilardino, and Luca Toni this time. If they do that, they could outscore everyone, and look spectacular doing it. The crazy man, Francisco Totti, is still around, and hopefully at least 4 years more mature this time around. If he manages to keep his head, they should do very well. In fact, that’s Italy. Stay calm, relax, and play to their enormous capabilities and they‘ll go a long way.

The Czech Republic has made the move from being merely very good to great. They’re arguably the best team in Europe right now. They probably should have won Euro 2004. Pavel Nedved is still the name everyone knows and he’s still playing solidly in what will be his last World Cup, but the man who is going to carry this team on his huge shoulders is the mountain, Jan Koller. Big and sublimely talented, he can just dominate a match.

Other than perhaps England, the US has to be the most overrated team in the tournament. They still don’t get much respect from the rest of the world, mainly because they never play anyone. They beat the riff-raff and easily qualify for the World Cup. That said, they are better than they’ve ever been. Kasey Keller is as good as most in goal, and with Beasley and Donovan setting up Brian McBride, the offense is usually adequate. The defense is shaky, though, and they’re in a group that can exploit that. If anyone actually harbors the silly notion that the US team is anywhere close to 5th in the world, this Cup is going to be a very rude awakening.

While making their first World Cup appearance, Ghana has been one of the better African teams for quite awhile. Led by yet another Chelsea player, Michael Essien, they could be another of those debut Africans that can end up surprising a few people.

This group isn’t really that tough. It’ll be a big two-way battle to win the group, since whoever finishes second will be doomed to drawing Brazil in the next round. No one is going to look past the US team, which means they won’t manage to slip by this time. Ghana is probably about as talented as the US, but much less heralded, so if anyone sneaks through after another Italian implosion, it’ll probably be them. The Czechs will advance, and if they finish top of the group, could well win the Cup. I already can’t wait for that Brazil/Italy match in the second round.

Portugal, Mexico, Angola, Iran

This is a group that’ll probably generate more stories on politics than what happens out on the pitch. It looks like a fairly easy group to call, and every bookie will tell you it is just that. Both Angola and Iran are given short shrift. I can’t understand how Mexico garners so much respect, though. And Portugal, while filling up the pitch with stars, has usually been average at best.

I guess it’s their mediocre play that keeps people from talking much about Portugal winning this World Cup. They shouldn’t be fooled by that. Scolari cleverly has had them generally play like rubbish to keep expectations low. This is the team that made the finals of Euro 2004, after all. He is a great coach, England has just unsuccessfully tried to lure him to replace Ericksson. Portugal is also a great team. Figo is in his last Cup, but is still useful. Pauleta is verging on greatness. The very annoying Christiano Ronaldo, is a bit too cute at times, but there’s loads of talent underneath all that silliness–as much as I hate to admit it. They are, by far, the class of this group and should win it in a walk.

That doesn’t mean this is an uninteresting group. Mexico is given far too much credit. They have racked up a couple impressive victories lately over both Argentina and Brazil, no less, but I’m still not sold. They pin their ears back and attack from the opening whistle on. They will score a lot with strikers Jaime Lozano, Francisco Fonseca, and Jared Borgetti. But I still think they’re closer to the other two teams in the group than they are to a Portugal. Any team the US regularly handles with ease can’t be considered too frightening, but they’ll likely just get through.

Iran is certainly frightening enough, but not because of their soccer talent. They’ve only ever won one match in the World Cup (a 2-1 victory over the US), and if they win any this time around none of their women will witness it. As a country, they don’t play against very strong competition, but they have a decent young team. An intangible is the fact that 4 of their players play their club football in Germany, including their star Ali Karimi, so that‘s probably more like playing in the comforts of home than playing in Iran would be.

Angola plays their former colonizers, Portugal, in the first match. Needless to say Angola hates them, and matches between the two tend to be brutal–though Portugal always ends up trouncing them. Their best player, Pedro Mantorras, plays for Benfica in Portugal. They’re a nice story, their war ravaged country making its first World Cup appearance, but they aren’t quite World Class.

As long as Portugal shake out of their doldrums and play as they’re capable, they’ll win this group very easily, and with a little luck could go the distance. Mexico is the other likely choice to go through, but look for them to struggle more than they should once again. Any win by either of the other teams will be considered a huge accomplishment, but either could steal one from Mexico and another from the other.

Will somebody please step in and put an end to the nightmare? The world does not need another Real Madrid. We didn’t even need the one. Can’t Putin step in here in a humanitarian gesture for the good of all mankind? At least that large portion of mankind that enjoys soccer? Please throw Abramovich in the Gulag before things get any uglier.

At first I didn’t have much problem with Chelsea. I even felt a little bad for all their posh fans who toiled in mid-table obscurity for years and years. Abramovich started out nice enough. He kept the very likable Claudio Ranieri coaching the team despite his never quite getting them over the hump for an extra year or two. He came in and dropped cash right from the start, but it was generally on players with more potential than experience, and didn’t massively over-pay for them.

But he got bored with all that, and now all hell has broken loose.

The Galacticos North buy whatever catches Roman’s eye now. Jose Mourinho, the best coach in the world–at least in his own mind–was the tipping point. But, even he seemed content to bring in his former players and a few younger stars, that although very talented, were more or less unknowns. That shot them to the top of the Premiership table and they’ve stayed there ever since. No sign of budging. The Premier League is now played for the European spots (2 through 7, or whatever)–the winner is evident before the season kicks off.

That wasn’t enough for Tsar Roman. He won’t be happy until his plaything dominates the world. They’ve yet to win the Champions League. They tried it Jose’s way, now it looks like it’s Roman’s way.

The signings this year aren’t the type Mourinho would have went after. They also aren’t to plug any particular hole that Chelsea might have had. They are aging megastars that are vastly overpriced, filling positions that are already well-stocked. Ballack, Shevchenko, Roberto Carlos. The one Mourinho-type signing was the youngster Mikel, who was stolen, literally it seems, from ManUnited.

This sort of thing didn’t work at Madrid. They have a collection of all-stars, but they can’t even manage to win their league. Chelsea hasn’t learned the lesson and is headed down the same road, but are bringing the rest of the league down with them. This could be why Mourinho had made noises about wanting to coach Portugal’s national team instead. You get the sense he’s not exactly thrilled about the way things are going now either.

Nor am I. Soccer is better off without this sort of idiocy. Does a salary cap need to be instituted? I tend to be a traditionalist and am generally against stuff like that, but something must be done. Chelsea must be stopped.

Argentina, Holland, Ivory Coast, Serbia Montenegro

Every World Cup has a so-called Group of Death, and this is generally considered to be the one this time around. The one group that is packed with all good teams and it’s unlucky for the two that don’t manage to advance. This is a strong group, no question about that, but I don’t know if it’s quite that strong to deserve the billing. But, every match in this group should be a good one. The Argentina/Holland match-up might be the highlight of the entire group stage.

Argentina is as fabulous as ever, 20 years down the road since Maradona played. There’s always been the ‘next Maradona’ in every one of their teams since, although no one has ever come close to living up to that. Lionel Messi may be the one that does. He’s 18 and seems destined to have a break-out World Cup. He’s already an amazing player. But we’ve heard all that before. Crespo, Ayala, and Aimer are all still around and still good, but are mostly working to make up for their previous lackluster displays. Riquelme is there as well, and has nothing to make up for. He’ll be as solid as ever. When they feel like playing, there aren’t many teams better, but they seem to get bored at times. Never boring, though.

It was a major shock last time that the Netherlands didn’t even qualify for the World Cup. They made sure of things this time by playing extremely well throughout the qualifiers. Their days of fighting amongst themselves and underperforming may be over. Coach Marco Van Basten has left off some of the big named stars and their egos, but still had plenty of talent to choose from. They should get loads of offense from Ruud van Nistleroy and Arjen Robben. But it might be the likes of Rafael Vander Vaart and Robin van Persie that get them over the edge. As long as they don’t implode yet again, they’re one of the strongest teams in the field.

The Ivory Coast is the strongest African team and will be right on the heels of the two previously mentioned favorites. Led by Robben’s over-valued teammate at Chelsea, Didier Drogba, they should be in every match. It’s their first World Cup and they’re looking to continue the tradition of first-time African participants exceeding expectations. Although they are talented enough to warrant some rather lofty expectations anyway.

Serbia Montenegro, in what will surely be their last World Cup since it looks like the countries will split by the next one, are not very pretty but they find ways to grind out a win. Yet another Chelsea player, Meteja Kezman, leads this gritty bunch who will give even the best teams some problems. In just about any other group, this is a team you might give an outside shot to slip through the group stage, but there’s probably just too much group for even them to slip through here.

The Group of Death? More like the Group of Chelsea–every team has a player or two with a tie to the London squad. It is certainly a great group though. Argentina can be dazzling, and a tough group may be just what they needed to keep them interested. Holland can be as good as anyone if they come together as a team, as they finally seem to have done. One slip-up by either and the Ivory Coast will be there to go through, and Serbia Montenegro will give everyone it plays a headache. Absolutely anything could happen in this group, and any of the teams could end up advancing. It may not be the Group of Death, but it will be the group to watch.

England, Sweden, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago

Group B is automatically my favorite group since my favorite team is in it. Unfortunately, my favorite team isn’t all they’re cracked up to be–as usual. England is arguably a whisker better than they were 4 years ago, but they remain delicate and are already being hampered with injuries. Sweden always gives England fits, and it should be those two teams fighting it out to win the group, with Paraguay (who are not Uruguay), and Trinidad and Tobago rounding things out.

England would have had to be one of those teams you’d consider just good enough to be able to beat anyone on their day–with a healthy Wayne Rooney. Rooney’s broken foot has taken care of those kinds of thoughts. He’s now expected to be able to play, but it’s much easier to have visions of him hobbling around ineffectually, than being the difference in a match. The ever optimistic Steven Gerrard will have to pick things up in Rooney’s absence. He has said England would have no chance at all if Rooney was out. Frank Lampard, runner-up FIFA player of the year–who votes for these things?–should solidify the midfield. He’s useful enough, but c’mon. England has also taken a couple of long-shots on unproven kids Aaron Lennon and 17-year-old Theo Walcott. That almost smacks of desperation.

The always tough to beat Sweden is one of the countries that England just can’t seem to handle. They even took a Swede as coach and it hasn’t helped. The main reason is, of course, that Sweden is a pretty decent team. Henrik Larsson is getting up there, but he’s still playing very well at 34, and Zlatan Ibrahimovich should do plenty of scoring as well if he can put the season he just had at Juventus behind him. This team could go a long way or they could have an early exit. The key might be on how well pretty-boy Freddie Ljundberg does. I know if I was a Sweden supporter I wouldn’t want my hopes resting on his shoulders–even if they are capable ones at times.

Paraguay are no longer the defensive minded stalwarts you may remember. Roque Santa Cruz should head a fairly potent offense, but they’re likely to leak more goals than they put in. They’re not a bad young team, and any major slips from the top two teams will see them into the second round.

Trinidad and Tobago are just happy to be there. They will be loose and laughing and having a good time. With an old Dwight Yorke and Stern John in the squad, their main objective for the tournament will be to beat England. If they manage that they’ll consider it a huge success, but they’re going home happy regardless. They’re the smallest country to ever qualify for the World Cup.

If England and Sweden don’t advance, it’ll be considered a huge upset. But those are the things that happen in the World Cup and this is one group where it looks imminent. The England/Sweden match is the last to be played. I can see the loser of that one heading home and Paraguay slipping through to the next round. This could be one of those groups that are fun to watch and could supply a surprise or two.