If Group G is considered the Group of Death, Group D is a relatively close second in that category. Germany anchors the group along with African power Ghana, “Asian” strongmen (in a geographic mystery to be solved later in this breakdown) Australia and an improving Serbia. Germany looks to be the leader in the clubhouse, but second place will be a dogfight between three very good teams.
Australia:
Australia cruised through Asian qualifying surrendering only 4 goals in 12 games. If you are wondering why Australia, generally considered to be its own continent, didn’t play in its qualifying and instead plays in Asia, the answer is simple. Fed up with having to play playoff after playoff and just barely getting edged by a CONCACAF or CONMEBOL team, Australia decided to move to a more powerful Federation where doing well meant qualification. (Note to all other teams in Oceania: Do the same. Our secret dream of a Tahiti – Vanuatu Cup Final in 2034 could come to fruition…) 2006 was the Socceroos first foray into the World Cup in more than 30 years and they did quite well. Australia beat Japan handily, lost to Brazil and tied Croatia. They went on to the Round of 16 and lost to Italy in a very very controversial 1-0 Italian win wherein the Italian player, Fabio Grosso, clearly took a dive inside the Australian penalty box. The ensuing penalty kick was converted and Italy moved on (Ed. Note: It was seriously a complete joke. American sport fans can relate this to Don Denkinger blowing the call in the ’85 World Series. If you need more a reason to hate the Italians, that is one of many). Australia has a few world class players including Tim Cahill, Brett Emerton and goalie Mark Schwarzer is one of the finest backstops in the world. Australia will need a great deal of skill and luck to get out of this group, making the match against Serbia to close the group extremely important.
Germany:
Germany obliterated all in their path to the World Cup this time around, save for 2 games against Finland. Those two games were ties, and were relative puzzling, seeing as how Germany crushed the rest of the group with style and ease. Along the way, they even defeated Russia on Russian turf to give them their first loss on home soil in Cup qualifying ever. The Germans bring in several big time players to the table. Superstars Michael Ballack and Miroslav Klose bring the firepower at the front end, while Philip Lahm will man the defense. The only question mark hanging over the Germans is how they will deal with this group. There is no easy game in this group, unlike in 2002 or 2006. 2002 gave Die Mannschaft a group of Ireland, Cameroon and Saudi Arabia; all of whom they dealt with easily. 2006 saw them play against lower end teams such as Costa Rica and Ecuador, and they were at home. 2010, as mentioned before does not yield a cake-like substance of a group. Winning the group is the most likely scenario, but Australia and Ghana are not to be trifled and Serbia won their group over France in qualifying, which is no small feat. Germany will not be able to take a minute off in this group, and if they don’t, winning the group will be the prize.
Ghana:
If there is an up-and-coming team in the World, it is Ghana. This is only their second trip to the tournament, but they have been soaring in other parts of the game. They won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2009 and have numerous players abroad playing, and starting, for some of the biggest clubs in Europe. Despite two awkward losses to Gabon and Libya earlier in qualifying, the Black Stars qualified easily in African qualifying. Michael Essien anchors the star studded lineup at midfield while Matthew Amoah and Junior Agogo (awesome name) light up the nets on the attack with regularity. Goalie Richard Kingson looks to be the man who will either clinch or kill Ghana’s chances to get out of this group as he will be busy fighting off the impressive attacks of the rest of the group. Experience is something that Ghana has in spades. In Germany 2006, Ghana was the youngest team (avg. age: 24). Many of those players return. This experience will be a necessary commodity in this group. For Ghana to qualify, they must come out swinging. They don’t play Germany until the last day of group play. An already qualified German team could help a Ghanaian team who will need to win at least one game against Australia or Serbia, and then tie the other team.
Serbia:
Yugoslavia, as the maps show, does not exist anymore. In its wake, two teams qualified for the 2010 World Cup: Slovenia and Serbia (Bosnia and Herzegovina lost 2-0 agg. to Portugal in the UEFA playoffs). To bring this statement home, Serbia did not have a team of its own until late 2006. It took no time at all to get back to the success that Yugoslavia had for decades. The Beli Orlovi bumped Group 7 favorite France without even beating them (0-1-1) by playing stellar defense and winning five straight games in the qualifying stage. Considering the short amount of time Serbia had for this, it was a wonderful victory for the country as France was forced into the playoff against Ireland while their home team got to sit at home and watch the French cheat their way slip past the Irish. Fueling the great defense is Man U’s Nemanja Vidic, who was the 2008-09 English Premier League’s player of the season. Success is certainly not guaranteed, however. Winning their group was impressive, but Ghana cruised their group, Australia didn’t break a sweat and Germany could have played on one foot and still qualified thus getting out of this group will be a great challenge. Likely, a loss is going to be delivered by Germany, but the game against Ghana and Australia is going to be their tournament. A win over Australia could happen, but a rapidly improving Ghana may be a tough matchup.
Predicted Tables:
Germany 2-0-1
Ghana 1-0-2
Australia 0-1-2
Serbia 0-2-1
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