Now for something completely different!

Penguins playing footy...nuff said. Thanks to my girl Erin for the linking this to me!

Click here for a link to the video. After watching this I may have to revist my South Korea advancing pick!

Cheers,
Mike

Group F Preview

Group F should be a straight forward group, as the overwhelming favorites are the defending champions Italy and South American powers Paraguay. Both teams are gifted at all parts of the games and should over power group members New Zealand and Slovakia.

Italy:
The reigning champions enter the tournament with the difficult job of trying to defend their trophy in a stacked field for this year's tournament. Manager Marcello Lippi brings a very strong side with him to South Africa with will emphasize the strength of Italian football, solid defence with a blazing counter attack. It should be noted that the only country to ever repeat as champions of the world are the Italians back in the 1930's.

Lippi has had his team selections criticized in the past, it's been said that he sticks to his favorites who tend to be on the older side. However looking over the squad for 2010 he cannot be faulted for this. From the back 4 to the strikers, Lippi has an embarrassment of riches from which to choose his starting 11. Even if you take into account the fact that Italy will be fielding one of the oldest teams on average for this world cup, the players selected are all still world class and are capable of reaching the final for a second consecutive year.

It helps Italy's chances when who field arguably the world's best goalkeeper in Gianluigi Buffon. Coming into his fourth and more than likely final world cup Buffon can win any match on his own, and if Italy get ahead by one goal it normally is game over for the opposition. Fabio Cannavaro leads the back line for the Azzurri and at age 36 this will also be his last world cup. The 2006 world player of the year and world cup man of the tournament will have to pull out one more incredible tournament if Italy hope to win a 5th world cup and tie Brazil.

As said earlier this should be a fairly easy group stage for Italy, however the test for them will lie in the knock out stage as this veteran team will have to show how truly fit they are in order to make a deep run.

Paraguay:
Consistently in the top three in terms of ranking in South America, Paraguay will be expecting to move to the round of 16 for the 4th time in it's world cup history. The team is strong in all aspects pf the game, although its greatest strength is in the midfield build up and service to the forwards. They will also be playing with extra motivation as they will want to honour compatriot forward Salvador Cabañas who will miss the world cup after being shot in Mexico back in January of this year.

Leading the way for Paraguay will be forward Roque Santa Cruz who has been a leading scorer since his international debut as a 19 year old. He along with strike partner Óscar Cardozo will have to put away their chances in order for Paraguay to advance. Aside form Italy the other two teams in the group should pose little challenge to them. If Paraguay have a weakness it is in their defencive organization, the midfielders must be aware of a potential counterattack should their build up breakdown. If they can do that they should take the 2nd spot in the group pretty comfortably.

New Zealand:
The All Whites are entering their second ever world cup as massive underdogs to advance to the second round, in fact more experts have the All Whites going winless during the group stage. The fact of the matter is New Zealand qualified for the world cup in probably the weakest qualifying zone in the world. The team lacks any real creativity in their attack, plus they also lack a true striker that will make defences respect them. This usually equals a three and done team in the world cup.

The traditional rugby powerhouse will be out to show well against the world's leading football nations. The All Whites have a great fighting spirit which could serve them well in their group games. They also have a bit of momentum coming into the tournament after beating Serbia in their final warm up match. If New Zealand are to have any chances of progressing to the round of 16, they will have to continue to play the way they did against Serbia. The All Whites played an organized style with one striker upfront to hold up play until the midfield could join the attack. However as I have mentioned in earlier posts, this can only work if your striker is an excellent hold up player and you midfield is quick enough to transition form defence to offence.

Shane Smeltz will have to be the key for the All Whites. If they hope to generate any offence Smeltz must find space to get open a score when he gets service. This might be difficult as he'll in all likely hood be up front on his own. Which could become a lonely thankless job if the midfield cannot grab a foothold in the game.

Slovakia:
For the first time since Independence Slovakia will be appearing in the world cup and bring with them a decent squad with some good young players that will develop through this tournament. The Slovaks are coming off a good qualifying campaign in which they showed some flashes of being potentially a team that could make a surprise run in the tournament.

Slovakia's keys to success will be to play solid defence by playing the high offside trap they like to play, also they will need to be an effective counter attacking team similar to the Italians. Marek Hamšík and Vladimír Weiss will be the players who will carry the brunt of the counter attacking play. Hamšík especially will be the catalyst for any forward play for Slovakia. Once they can get the ball to the forwards Róbert Vittek and Stanislav Šesták will have to be strong in front of goal as they have the ability to break a game open at anytime.

In terms of group match ups the Slovaks must win their game against Paraguay in order to stand a chance of advancing to the round of 16. This will be the game of the group as the same will apply to Paraguay.

Predictions:
I see Italy winning this group though it might be a bit closer than they would like, and I think Paraguay will be just a bit better than Slovakia to progress into the round of 16.

Two more groups to go! Group G next.

Cheers,
Mike

The dark side of the World Cup

With the start of the World Cup a week away most of the talk will center around the teams, match ups and parties surrounding the world's biggest tournament. Even I am starting to fill out brackets and planning my nights out watching matches. However what sometimes gets lost in the hype are the people that end up being effected by the world cup. Stadiums have to be built, concessions sold, space made for all the revelers traveling to support their teams or just take in a world cup. In order for these spaces to be made people need to be moved, in the case of South Africa the poorest of the poor have been swept aside to make way for the advertising Juggernaut that is a FIFA event.

Not unlike what happened during the build up to the Beijing summer games 2 years ago, South Africa has displaced many of the homeless or working poor of its major cities in order to uphold an image of a host city. Whole rows of houses have been torn down in order for new stadiums to be built in Cape Town and Johannesburg. As said in the article I'm attaching to this post, the local governments are claiming that most of the residences destroyed were places not suitable for human occupation. They go on to add that the infrastructure that will be left behind will create job opportunities for the whole community for years on end, even those who were "temporarily" displaced.

The difficult thing to understand when looking at this from the outside, is that with all the proposed money that's coming in to build the stadiums, the anticipated revenue coming in through t.v rights, concession sales, tourism etc, there is no official plan to help re-house the displaced after July 11th. This is the greatest fear from poverty activist, what will happen when the circus leaves town? how does the government of South Africa plan to tackle the issue of affordable housing? (If you live in Toronto this sounds familiar to you too) It seems odd that a government would waste money paying temp works to hand the poor bars of soap, toothpaste/brushes and other toiletries, but won't use a part of that same money and create permanent housing to help solve the issue.

Many South Africans who were jumping for joy in 2004 when they were awarded the tournament are now starting to question who's really going to benefit? The country or the companies who will be advertising, and who have exclusive rights on their products around world cup venues. The plight of independent concession kart owners against the temporary exclusive branded ones is another story for another post.

Mohammed Allie wrote an excellent report on the above issues, click on his name to check it out.

Cheers,
Mike

This match report is why Cameroon will not advance!

So I've had a bit of flack online already about omitting Cameroon from the round of 16. Two things in response 1) I know Samuel Eto'o is still on the national team, however it is clear he is not in the right frame of mind. As past experience has shown with him, if his head is not screwed on right he struggles. 2) As I said in the group E preview, they lack ideas in attack. The below match report against Portugal is an example.

Click here for Cameroon v Portugal match report.

I'll be happy if Cameroon becomes another African team that advances...however I just don't see it.

Cheers,
Mike

Group E Preview

Group E will will shake down one of two ways: 1)The Netherlands will crush the group, and the battle will be for second place. 2) The Netherlands choke...not for the first time and the group is wide open to the team that plays the best football. This group contains four solid teams in the above mentioned Dutch, Cameroon, Denmark and Japan. All four teams are World Cup veterans who will not be intimidated by the scale tournament. In fact this group could provide the most entertaining matches as each team has the ability to go forward and score.

Cameroon:
The Indomitable Lions are entering their sixth world cup, which makes them the African leader in this regard. Cameroon has always been known to have an imposing attack and strong midfield. After a slow start in African qualifying and the hiring of former Paris St-Germain boss Paul Le Guen, the Lions have looked very strong winning their last 5 matches in a row shutting out their opponents 3 times in the process.

There is very little secret in the attack for Cameroon, it runs through world class striker and captain Samuel Eto'o. The Inter Milan striker has 43 international goals and is a constant threat in and around the 18 yard box. However he has recently been critized by former Lions great Roger Millia in which he claims that Eto'o plays harder for his club team then her does for Cameroon. This has prompted Eto'o to respond by threatening to leave the national set up and not go to the world cup. Although I believe Eto'o will back down from his threat, this is a bit concerning for the team as they get ready for the tournament.

Aside from Eto'o the team boasts a steely midfield anchored by Alexandre Song and Jean Makoun. Though both do not provide the most thrilling or "sexy" play, they have a very high work rate that will cause most teams problems in their build up play. The issue for the squad maybe the back four, the ageless Rigobert Song and Geremi Njitap have over four times the international playing experience then the other two backs that will be lining up with them, and with the types of teams in this group they could get exposed if they cannot gel.

Its hard to say is Cameroon will get though to the next round, if Eto'o holds true to the possibility of quiting the national team then no. However if he's in the right frame of mind and the back four gels quickly then this could be a strong round of 16 team.

Netherlands:
On paper this is clearly the best team in the group, the 1988 European champions come into this tournament white hot. The Clockwork Orange posted a 100% record in European qualifying going 8 for 8, and have won 13 straight overall, currently they are ranked 4th in the world by FIFA. Although the team is long removed from playing the famous "Total Football" (Click on total football if you want a explanation) style of the Johan Cruyff era, this team still packs an incredible offence punch which could take them far in this tournament. However in its history the Dutch, aside from the back to back finals appearances in 74' and 78', have underachieved at this level. The long standing word is that the only team that ever beats the Dutch, are the Dutch.

The keys to this team are not one or two players per say, though you should look out for strikers Robin van Persie and Dirk Kuyt. It is in the way the midfield and the strikers can interchange positions and create confusion among the defenders. This is a hybrid of total football, true total football allowed defenders to come forward as freely as midfielders. Everyone on this squad has the skill to score goals and the attack comes form every flank. This normally overwhelms a defence and help the Oranje score a ton of goals. However the downfall to this style is that sometimes they can forget to defend properly. This is something they cannot forget to do in this group.

The 2010 Oranje are a very experienced side which should qualify for the round of 16, but they must guard against taking their opponents lightly or they could find themselves in a dogfight to make the top two spots.

Japan:
For the 4th time the Japanese will be playing at the highest international level. Aside from 2002 when they co-hosted the tournament and made the round of 16, they have struggled to make it out of the first round. 2002 can be put down to the home crowd advantage, but they have struggled outside of Asia. However in 2010 things could change, the domestic league in Japan is improving and is starting to provide quality players to the national team. Plus the stars that play outside of Japan are getting quality minutes which is also benefiting the JFA. The Samurai Blue qualified easily for the tournament, however had a hard time with Asian leaders South Korea in head to head match ups.

The key for Japan will be in the organization in the squad formation. Unlike the Dutch, Japan stays in formation and very rarely deviates from this. Normally I would have a problem with this, as it shows a inability to adapt to what the opposition throws at you; Plus Japan isn't as good as Brazil. However in this group it might be important to stay tight in the midfield as every team in the group can score and in regards to a match up in fire power Japan would rank last in the group. The key man for Japan is midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura. He will have to control the midfield and find ways to either score or set up lone striker Keiji Tamada. If he cannot do this Japan will be in trouble in this group.

Japan's back four will see alot of work in the first round, and it is very hard to see a birth in the round of 16 for them.

Denmark:
Martin Olsen's gang enter the world cup on a similar role as the Netherlands, they topped their European qualifying group which included Portugal and Sweden. There is very little secret to the Danish style of play, for this world cup they will play a straight forward style of European football, strong build up play through the midfield crossing balls into the box for the strikers. The Danes also have a solid defence that could hold the key to them making the second round.

Leading this defence are Simon Kjaer and Daniel Agger as the two center backs. As previously stated, this group can score. Therefore having a strong defensive duo like Kjaer and Agger is extremely important to have leading the way. Both are "no nonsense" type of defenders, they stop attackers in their tracks with excellent positioning and awareness. They also can provide a little offence as well, both players are excellent in the air on set pieces and Agger has a cannon for a left footed shot.

The other ex-factor for the Danes is their manager Martin Olsen. He is loved in Denmark and the players are loyal to him and play extremely hard for him. This cannot be over emphasised, as having a good manager who gains the respect and trust of his players during a world cup tend to go along way. If you don't believe this check the history of the last three world cup winners and see how well respected their managers were. He is also very smart tactically. Olsen knows what his players can and cannot do and puts them in the best positions to succeed for the team.

Predictions:
I see this being a tighter group them most experts have it down as, I have the Netherlands going through based on solid offensive play. As my second place team, I'm picking Denmark to go through. It'll be close between The Danes and Cameroon, but I believe the Danes will just have a bit more than the Lions to get through.

Next up, group F!

Cheers,
Mike