2010 World Cup – South Africa
For the first time in soccer’s history, its biggest event, the quadrennial World Cup, will be hosted by an African nation as South Africa will be the site of the 32-nation tournament.
The19th edition of the month-long extravaganza runs from June 11 to July 11 and kicks off with South Africa playing Mexico in Johannesburg at the 94.700-seat Soccer City Stadium which will also host the title match.
Though Germany has produced a record 11 top-four finishes and defending champion Italy has four titles with Brazil owning five, the leading contender this time is Spain.
Many factors come into play: the number of injured players in each of the teams, the number of players with world Cup experience, level of determination and motivation of each national team, the weather (the Southern Hemisphere location provides a rare winter world cup thus inclement expectations), the abilities of the coach of each national team and the level of possible support from fans during the tournament, yet only two teams advance from each group to the Round of 16, which is a single-elimination phase.
Here’s a quick look at the competition.
Group A France, Mexico, South Africa, Uruguay
Though no host team has ever failed to make it out of group play since World Cup began in 1930, despite good performances against the powers of Brazil and Spain, South Africa will need all the local support and some great contributions by midfielder Steven Pienaar to move deeper into the event. Uruguay has a strong attack game led by Luis Sanchez and Diego Forlan, but look for their neighbors to the north, Mexico, to advance along with the 1998 champions, France, who have a well-balanced team despite rebuilding and a controversial qualifying for this event.
Group B Argentina, Greece, Nigeria, South Korea
Though Maradonna is no tactician as the team’s coach, he enjoys a wealth of talent. A fierce attack includes: Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, Carlos Tevez, and Diego Milito. In the middle it is Javier Mascherano and 35 year-old Juan Sebastian Veron. Add to that Angel Di Maria and Jonas Gutierrez who plays both ends of the field, Argentina certainly has the talent to bring a third World Cup title home. Though they were the only team in the 2006 World Cup to score four points in their group and not advance, South Korea were a surprise semi-finalist as co-hosts in 2002. Look for their best player, Manchester United’s Park Ji-Sung, to lead them past Nigeria (too young and lacking a potent offense) into the next round. The play of Park Chu-Young in the midfield and young striker Lee Chung-Yong (21) will help.
Group C Algeria, England, Slovenia, United States
The loss of Charlie Davis is not good for the American squad, but their upset of European champions Spain and a close loss to Brazil in the Confederations Cup final prove that with Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan on the pitch, they are a force to be reckoned with. The Americans advance with England, who, despite the absence of David Beckham, have a deep roster and led by striker Wayne Rooney and playmaker Frank Lampard should get past Algeria and Slovenia. But Slovenia, under the brilliant coach Guus Hiddink (who took South Korea to the semis in 2002) will have something to say about who moves on.
Group D Australia, Germany, Ghana, Serbia
Despite the loss of their veteran only recently Michael Ballack, to injury, the Germans are deep enough to advance. They will get through with the talents of Philipp Lahm, Miroslva Klose and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Plus Joachim Low is one of the sport’s best coaches. Serbia is led by some brilliant defenders that play in the English Premier League, Bratislav Ivanovic from Chelsea and Man U’s Nemanja Vidic. But a feisty Australia advancing would be no surprise.
Zakumi- the official mascot of World Cup 2010
Group E Cameroon, Denmark, Japan, Netherlands
So goes the brilliant striker Eto’o, so goes Cameroon. If he’s on, they have a solid chance of extending their stay. The Netherlands have been playing really well for a long time and with Arjen Robben and Wesley Schneider leading the attack, opponents will need to match their offensive prowess, a tough thing to do.
Group F Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia
The Italians, defending champions and coached by one of the game’s best in Marcello Lippi, have a comparatively easy draw despite being an older squad. The other spot should go to Slovakia who played strong throughout Europe, but Paraguay has fought through a tough qualifying route and could be pretty mean.
Group G Brazil, Ivory Coast, North Korea, Portugal
Africa has no doubt produced some world class players, but producing high finishing teams in the World Cup has been another matter. The Ivory Coast is in a tough draw to help change that, but they are certainly capable. Cristiano Ronaldo should lead a deep Portuguese roster to the next round along with five-time champion and 2014 World Cup host Brazil.
Group H Chile, Honduras, Spain, Switzerland
The mighty Spaniards should have a walkthrough here. But the pre-tournament favorites also have a relatively poor history at the World Cup given the fine talent level they have come in with through the years. Dark horses Chile and Honduras have the talent that could surprise and one may very well beat out Switzerland for the second spot.
Who wins the 2010 World Cup?
-The Netherlands!
The tournament is being held at ten venues in nine cities.
For a complete event schedule, venue details, match analysis and broadcast information, check out these links:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/index.html
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/?cc=5901&ver=us
