Source: FOOTYMAD
Cloggy's World Cup Preview - Group A
Here is Cloggy's preview of Group A for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. It’s the time of the year I’ve been waiting for, for quite some time. This summer, 32 teams from all continents will be vying for glory in South Africa as the World Cup competition will kick off there on the 11th of June with the hosts South Africa taking on el gringos of Mexico. Despite the racial tensions and the possible threat of terroristic attacks by Al-Quaida, fans from all over the world will be going to the former Transvaal-republic to witness this extraordinary event. However, no such luck for your orange coloured columnist, who is stuck in the hot south of the Netherlands due to university exams. But, have no fear! I’ve been carefully looking at the squads of all the competing nations and will give my verdict on who will go through to the second round, who will go home on the next Ryanair plane and which sides will surprise or disappoint people. So, let’s get on with the show straight away folks, first up is group A; a group which contains the bafana bafana of South Africa, the sky blues of Uruguay, last world cup’s finalists France and the burrito making, sombrero wearing, jalapeno on a stick eating Mexicans (nothing meant by that mi amigos Mexicano) France *Nickname: Les Bleus (the blues) *FIFA Ranking: 9th *Manager: Raymond Domenech *One to look out for: Bordeaux midfielder Yoann Gourcuff. He is the creative spark in France’s midfield. Having been likened to Zinedine Zidane he is a great dead ball merchant as well. *Team’s pros: 1. An abundance of quality throughout the team. 2. Almost every player plies his trade at a top club as a regular. 3. They have one of the seasons most prolific strikers upfront (Nicholas Anelka) *Team’s cons: 1. Lack of leadership within the squad. 2. Soured relationship with the manager. 3. Have been dreadful since euro 2008 in both friendlies (0-1 loss to China yesterday for instance) and qualifying games (needed a handball asssist from Henry to qualify for the World Cup) *Cloggy’s verdict: I think the French won’t go through. They are not a team, but a collective of individuals and the omission of experienced ex-captain Patrick Viera, plus the dipping forms of Thierry Henry and Franck Ribery will have a very negative effect on the squad. Having someone like Nicholas Anelka upfront does help a lot, but the Chelsea striker is about the only striker who seems able to score goals for them. On top of that, Domenech doesn’t seem able to unify the squad, but yet further divide it. His exclusion of Samir Nasri and Viera was rumoured to have caused quite a stir within the squad, with several first team players being discontent about this. Uruguay: * Nickname: los Albicelestis (the skyeblues) *FIFA Ranking: 16th *Manager: Oscar Tabarez *One to look out for: Luis Suarez; the Ajax striker is seen as one of South America’s brightest young players and he is also one of their main threats (so far he has scored 13 goals in 28 games). The quick and skilled striker has been in red hot form for the Amsterdam outfit (scoring 74 goals in all competitions since his move from Groningen to Ajax in 2007) and has even been linked with Manchester United and Barcelona this season. Has a knack for diving though. *Team’s pros: 1. Defensively tough as nails. 2. Nice balance of experience and youth in the squad. 3. Strikers are all in good form. *Team’s cons: 1. Centre backs are vulnerable against pacey strikers. 2. The team depends a lot on Diego Forlan, not saying the other strikers are rubbish because they aren’t, but Forlan definitely leads the line for them. 3. Players get quickly heated or agitated which could cause unnecessary bookings or even sending offs. *Cloggy’s verdict: I see Uruguay as one of the dark horses of this tournament. Not saying they will win it, but they do have a few players who can win matches for them. As long as they aren’t confronted with real pace upfront their defense should be fine and going forward they have a lot of different options to choose from, so if things don’t go well they can always mix it up a bit. I reckon they’ll go through, possibly as group leaders. South Africa *Nickname: Bafana Bafana (the young ones) *FIFA Ranking: 83th *Manager: Alberto Parreira (Brazilian) *One to look out for: Katlego Mphela, the Mamelodi Sundowns striker. He scored in South Africa’s recent victory over Denmark and seems to be a real handful. The striker is gifted with a lot of pace and trickery, though he does need to sometimes keep his cool in front of goal. He has scored 15 goals in 31 matches for his country so far and will vie with FC Twente’s Benedict Parker for the number 9 spot in South Africa’s 4-5-1 system. He has been linked quite recently with Birmingham City. *Team’s pros: 1. They are the home side, so the crowd will be right behind them. 2. They have an experienced manager who has created a good team spirit within the squad. 3. They play with a lot of heart and desire, which has translated in a fantastic Confederations Cup for them and good results in recent friendly games. *Team’s cons: 1. Most of the players play in the South African league so the overall quality of the team is suspect. 2. Though blessed with pace down the wings, tactically still a very naive team, which could hurt them on the counter. 3. If Steven Pienaar isn’t able to pull the strings in midfield, they’ll have a cronical lack of creativity in midfield. *Cloggy’s verdict: I truly hope they will get through but I don’t think they will. They will play with passion and desire, but these ingredients are not soly enough to get you through to the second round. The team lacks a cutting edge upfront and if Steven Pienaar is not on form, they will strugle to break down the opponents defense. Also, the goalkeeper is more than a little below standards, so conceding goals might not be a problem for them. Mexico *Nickname: El Tri (the three colored ones) *FIFA Ranking: 17th *Manager: Javier Aguirre *One to look out for: Deportivo La Coruna energetic midfielder Andres Guardado. He usually plays as a left winger but due to Mexico not selecting many midfielders and opting for a more attacking 4-3-3 he will most likely play in the center of midfield. Not that this will hinder the curley haired left footer as he is equally comfortable playing there. Blessed with a lot of endurance, technique and passing ability, Guardado will be pivotal for Javier Aguirre’s men in this World Cup. *Team’s pros: 1. Lot of flair and passing ability in the side. 2. Manager Aguirre has guided them through to the second round before in 2002 (despite having a lesser team back then) 3. Lethal on the counter with the likes of Dos Santos, Vela, Medina and Guardado. *Team’s cons: 1. Lacking a classic number 9 of real quality. 2. Defensively vulnerable against pacey strikers and wingers. 3. Not great in defending set pieces. *Cloggy’s verdict: Their philosophy circles around the likes of Arsenal’s Carlos Vela, Spurs striker Giovani Dos Santos, Man United’s Javi Hernandez and UNAM midfielder Pablo Barrera. They are all slim, small and quick players. The problems for Mexico occur however when they are forced to opt for the long ball; as skilled and quick as the above mentioned players are, they are not tall. Mexico lack a quality centre forward who can bring the ball down and bring others into play. I mean quality as in world class quality. This is a concern for Mexico when they are up against the bigger nations (in let’s say the quarter finals) because Mexico aren’t guaranteed to have most of the possession in those games, and their style of play is largely based on having possession of the ball. Still, I think they will have more than enough to make it out of the group stages so I’m going for them getting second place in the group.
