2010 World Cup Group A Breakdown

By Slate Quicksilver

Group A will fire the opening salvoes in this World’s largest tournament with the first two games. Host South Africa will open the festivities against the seasoned veterans of Mexico and immediately after that, long absent Uruguay will take on powerhouse France later in the evening. It’s not exactly the Group of Death, but it will offer some great games. Here’s a quick breakdown of each team:

South Africa:

For South Africa, their tickets were punched when they won the nomination to host the tournament so we can’t really get a true feel for how they will perform on the world’s biggest stage. They didn’t have to fight their way through the Confederation of African Football qualifying, which has become the third toughest Federation behind Europe and South America. However, if we go by play in previous Cups, there isn’t much to go behind. They have one win in 6 games. Even worse, their best striker, Benni McCarthy isn’t on the roster. If there was any hope for the hosts, it would be that the host countries are almost always boosted by the home crowd cheering them on. To name a few, England, Argentina and France have won in front of their home crowds. In 2002, South Korea (co hosting) came from nowhere and finished 4^th in the whole tournament. Could South Africa follow in their footsteps? Yours truly says an emphatic “No.”

France:

In Germany, during the last Cup, France was a headbutt away from potentially winning the whole thing. OK, maybe not. Barring Zidane’s headbutt, there is still no guarantee Les Bleus would have ripped the net during the remaining overtime or if he were in the shootout, he would have tipped the scales in their favor. But that shows just how close the French were from storming into their mortal enemy’s (Germany) turf and lifting the most coveted prize in sports. Let’s ignore the fact they required the referees to assume temporary blindness to rob the Irish out of a slot in the tournament because a team this talented just needs to be there to be in the running (and remember they had issues qualifying in 2006). The 2010 version of France features a few upgrades from the 2006 team. Thierry Henry has assumed the captain’s armband and the midfield has Jeremy Toulalan and Lassana Diarra making it as solid as any team’s. France is likely to slip by Uruguay and Mexico, but will probably blast South Africa out of the tournament in the final match for the group.

Mexico:

Mexico certainly had to pull a rabbit out of its hat to qualify for the tournament. They only slipped by Jamaica in the 2^nd qualifying round on goal differential and then in the final round of qualifying El Tri needed to shake off a 1-2-0 start of the final round to qualify. Many agree that firing Sven Goran Eriksson in favor of their old coach, Javier Aguirre was the catalyst. Aguirre coached the Mexicans to the 2002 World Cup in similar circumstances: Mexico struggled, Aguirre came in, the ship got straightened and Mexico qualified. Efrain Juarez, Andres Guardado and Giovani dos Santos are the young players to keep an eye on, but Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who has been playing for the last 3 centuries or so, is back with the squad and promises to steady ship manned mostly very young (and skilled) Mexican players. Mexico’s tournament, more than likely, will be a fight with Uruguay. The winner probably will go to the round of 16. But they are playing South Africa in the opening game of the tournament. A South African team hopped up on emotions could be a trap game that could kill Mexico’s chances early.

Uruguay:

In 2001, Uruguay finished 5^th in the CONMEBOL qualifying. This meant they had to have to win a playoff to get in to the tournament, and they didn’t get the job done. In 2005, Uruguay finished 5^th in CONMEBOL qualifying. This meant they had to have to win a playoff to get in to the tournament, and they didn’t get the job done. In 2009, Uruguay finished 5^th in CONMEBOL qualifying. This meant they had to have to win a playoff to get in to the tournament, but this time they got the job done. They knocked Costa Rica with a 1-0 win on the road and then played a safe draw at home to punch their ticket. Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan make up one of the best 1-2 combos at striker and they will the key to how Uruguay performs. Those two scored 12 of Uruguay’s 28 goals in qualifying. Defense, however, is a question mark. La Celeste’s back line gave up 20 goals in qualifying including an embarrassing 4-0 loss at the hands of Brazil at home. As mentioned before, the second slot in this group will probably be decided by the Uruguay-Mexico match. That will be an exciting game and I see Uruguay slipping away in a high scoring game.

Predicted Table:

France 3-0-0

Uruguay 2-1-0

Mexico 1-2-0

South Africa 0-3-0