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

Fightin' Phils / Dodging Lads NLCS Preview

Posted by Iroquois Plisken

First, a confession. After summarily dismissing West Coast teams from the playoffs, they made like the GEICO gecko and said, "'ay! This random, Intahnet bloggah ain't givin' us enough credit for our outstandin' seasons. This makes us angry; let's all win our series and go give him whatfor!" Mea culpa, Left Coast. Serenade the streets of L.A. and all that.

The pressure is on Philly to win back to back World Series since Joe Torre's Yankees did it from 1998-2000. (Where does Joe Torre sound so familiar again? Right, the Dodgers manager.) To be fair, they do stand a great chance of repeating a visit to the World Series. After all, Philly did take down the Dodgers in 5 last year and return virtually the same team, including the venerable Jamie Moyer, upset earlier in the season when he told Pedro Martinez to manicure his lawn or to get off. That probably isn't what he said, but he was upset and old, nonetheless.

That being said, there are some differences in the series from the prior year. The Dodgers have the homefield advantage this time around and their team is much improved. Matt Kemp has exploded onto the scene this year, replacing Manny Ramirez's production, who went on maternity leave. Russell Martin was conspicuously absent this year and is perhaps the only true liability in the lineup. The Dodgers pitching is notably strong, though with Vicente Padilla being a bit erratic in replacing Hiroki Kuroda, it may be somewhat less so.

These teams are about as even as can be. The Phillies scored, on average, 0.3 more runs and the Dodgers allow about 0.75 runs less than the Phils. Both have tremendous power in their lineups and pitching staffs who have been somewhat troubled by injury in the postseason (Kuroda, the Philly pen in general, J.A. Happ), though I may argue that the Phillies' overall power is better on the basis of their demigod status from the left side of the plate. The Dodgers bench is deep, though, and we could see a resurgence of postseason Manny anytime. This ought to be a pretty intense series.

On the basis of personal feelings, the desire to see a LAD/NYY series (with the spectre of Torre and the actuality of Torre being omnipresent on the series), and Ned Coletti's public service mustache,

DODGERS IN SIX.