Source: FOOTYMAD
Cloggy's World Cup Preview - Group G
In group G we find the sexy sambaing Brazilians, their Portuguese speaking cousins Portugal, World Cup outsiders Ivory Coast and the mysterious communists of North-Korea. Brazil *Nickname: La Selecao (The selection) *FIFA Ranking: 1st *Manager: Carlos Dunga *One to look out for: Striker Grafite of VFL Wolfsburg. Grafite is a typical fox in the box striker who, despite his 31 years of age, is something of a late developer. A bit of a journeyman until he settled at Wolfsburg in 2008 (he had played in France, South-Korea, Brazil before) but when he did, he bagged in a lot of goals to help the Volkswagen club to their first Bundesliga title ever. Isn't expected to start in Brazil's 4-2-3-1 system but will be used as a sub to enforce something if things don't go Brazil's way. He is physically and technically a very strong striker. *Team's pros: Yet again, a selection full of quality players. Defensively very solid. From defense to attack; Brazil are masters at it under Dunga. *Team's cons: Dunga and the media; they are at war with each other. Very negative kind of football for such a glamorous team with such a rich history of exciting football. If there's any problem area for them in the team than it's the left back spot. *Cloggy's verdict: Do not be mistaken Brazil won't come to this World Cup to entertain us. Ever since Dunga took over in 2006 he revolutionized the team's play. Brazil, up to that point, where always associated for their sexy football; fullbacks bombing forward, strikers doing step-overs and leaving defenders on their arses, great number 10's etc. Forget about that! Brazil, as they showed in the Confederations Cup, are a team who really on their solid defense and 2 controlling central midfield players. The attacking part of the team consists of Kaka with usually Robinho on the left and Elano on the right hand side with Sevilla striker Luis Fabiano playing upfront on his own. Despite the potency and fantastic quality of these players Brazil will only use them on the counter. And they are rather good at counter attacking, especially with their right back Maicon bombing forward. If there is one huge flaw about their team it's that at left back the options aren't as luxurious as in the other positions. Lyon's Bastos has been given the chance to play there recently, but he's more of a left winger than a left back so his defensive abilities are shaky. Off the field, Dunga has come under increasing scrutiny for his team selections, especially from the Brazilian media. They didn't like Dunga's style anyway, but now he's also forbade them to have interviews with his players or watch them train. What's even more; the media were all over him for the fact he didn't select certain players such as Ronaldinho, wonder kids Neymar, Alexandre Pato and Gancho and did include Grafite, Ramires and left back Gilberto. However, with their exceptional quality players and their sturdy defense, it's hard to say Brazil won't go through and I'm certainly not going to do that. Portugal *Nickname: Os Navegadores (the navigators) *FIFA Ranking: 3d *Manager: Carlos Queiroz *One to look out for: Left back Fábio Coentrão from Benfica. The 22 year old is the youngest member of the team and could well feature in Portugal's starting line up. Known for his marauding runs down the left hand side, the 5 ft 10 defender will provide width to Portugal's game. Only broke into Benfica's team this season and was awarded with a call up into the squad for the decisive matches against Bosnia Herzegovina in November 2009. *Team's pros: Ronaldo is in their side; a match winner. Experience a plenty in this squad. Finally have a recognized number 9 in Liedson upfront. *Team's cons: Been far from impressive in qualifying games. Important players such as Ferreira, Carvalho and Deco are over the hill. The loss of Nani is a big blow to them. *Cloggy's verdict: They are third in the world ranking and god only knows why that is. They were outwitted by the Danes in the qualifying games and didn't look as impressive as you'd expect them to be in friendly matches. Queiroz has also had to deal with the fact that Luis Nani is not available for selection due to a shoulder injury. The Portuguese defense has also come under heavy criticism for the fact it isn't as strong as it used to be. They have suffered badly because of the fact that the likes of Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Pepe and Miguel haven't played a lot for the last two seasons. As far as the positives are concerned, the midfield still looks well balanced and with Ronaldo they have a world class attacker who can decide matches. The other forward options aren't bad either; Simao for instance is a potent replacement for Nani. I think their first game against Ivory Coast will be the decisive one for them and I fancy them to nick it. Drogba won't be playing and they have a good center forward in Liedson. 1-0 to Portugal and they will go through behind Brazil as much as I hate to say that. Ivory Coast *Nickname: Les Elephants (The Elephants) *FIFA Ranking: 26th *Manager: Sven Goran Eriksson (Swedish) * One to look out for: Striker Gervinho from Lille ASC. The 22 year old was brought in last summer from Le Mans and the fact he moved to Lille was a bit of a surprise to people as he was linked with Marseille, Paris st Germain and Arsenal. But it hasn't done him any harm as he scored 11 goals in 22 games this season for the North-French outfit. Slim, technically gifted and flexible to play both as a winger and a striker, Gervinho (real name Gervais Yao Kouassi) is one for the future of the Ivory Coast team. *Team's pros: Golden generation, so to speak, of Ivory Coast are in their prime. One of the world's best strikers in Didier Drogba. Like most African teams, very eager and determined to do well in this World Cup. *Team's cons: Drogba is out of their most important fixture. Seem to buckle when they get behind. Goalkeeper problem. *Cloggy's verdict: Their most important game is today and yet their best player is out missing. Doesn't bode well does it? Sure Ivory Coast boast a lot of good players upfront with Kalou, Dindane, Gervinho and Keita but Drogba is of different class and is the captain most importantly of all. With the added problem of having a seriously iffy goalkeeper, I cannot see them winning or drawing this game against the Portuguese so therefore I predict them to lose. Against the well organized Brazilians I fear they will come unstuck and as such will end up as third in this group. Hope I'm wrong though, it wouldn't be the first time. North-Korea *Nickname: Chollima (thousand mile horse, referring to a mythical horse with wings) *FIFA Ranking: 105th *Manager: Kim Jong Hun *One to look out for: Their weapons of mass destru.. oh wait, that's politically incorrect right? Well let's go for goalkeeper Ri Myong-Guk. The 23 year old was nominated last season for the Asian player of the year and kept several clean sheets in North-Korea's qualifying games. He will be kept busy this tournament, that's for sure. He's also about the only North-Korean player I know anything of, hence why I selected him. *Team's pros: Nobody knows anything about them, which might lead to them surprising the other teams with their style of play. They are one solid collective in every way. No stars, no egos. As disciplined as an army unit. * Team's cons: Think in structures, there's no place for creativity it seems. Do they even know their opponents? The team has been training like monks without getting a chance to see the outside world. Seeing as most players play in the cash strapped North-Korean league, it tells you enough about the quality of the team. *Cloggy's verdict: How do you say 'you will finish rock bottom' in North-Korean? Because that's exactly where they will finish. I assume they will play like 11 robots against the other teams who are far superior to them quality, tactically, physically and mentally wise. Let's hope they'll give it a good go and go home with their heads held high. This is, after all, a learning curve for them.
