So, only four days to go until South Africa play the opening game against Mexico, in the first World Cup finals to be held in the continent of Africa, I’m getting really excited and can’t wait.
With pre-tournament African dreams hanging on the likes of Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana key injuries look like they are going to hit African nations more than others. Injuries to John Obi Michel (Nigeria), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Michael Essien (Ghana), Michael Ballack (Germany), Rio Ferdinand (England), David Beckham (England) and possibly Arjen Robben (Holland) hopefully won’t going to detract too much from what promises to be a colourful and exciting World Cup finals.
Current European Champions Spain and Brazil are the favourites to win the 2010 South Africa World Cup but I personally think it is going to be a very open World Cup finals, with the likes of Holland and Argentina also in the running.
Although Fabio Capello done a great job in qualifying for the World Cup finals, I never thought they would be serious contenders to the likes of Argentina, Brazil, Italy and Spain. In fact, I believe when Sven Goran Eriksson took England to the quarter-finals it proved that is where we are in world football, in the top 8 but nothing more.
In South Africa I believe England will once again get to the quarter-finals after an initial hiccup against the United States where I predict a 1-1 draw. I’m not being pessimistic, just a realist. England fans and media should be careful not to go overboard in stating how well England performed in qualifying.
The teams they played, including an aging Croatia side, were not that good. The real test will come, as it has in the past, when England fall behind against top quality opposition. With no real width and no David Beckham to cross the ball with pinpoint precision, I don’t see England being able to switch into Plan B or C mode as easy as other teams who play a more versatile game.
So here are my predictions for who I believe will qualify from each group.
Group A: Mexico to win, South Africa – runners-up
Group B: Argentina to win, Nigeria – runners-up
Group C: England to win, USA – runners-up
Group D: Germany to win, Serbia – runners-up
Group E: Holland to win, Denmark – runners-up
Group F: Italy to win, Paraguay – runners-up
Group G: Brazil to win, Ivory Coast – runners- up
Group H: Spain to win, Chile – runners-up
Anyone disagree?
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1 South Africa 2010 World Cup Round-up | Buzzin Football // Jun 16, 2010 at 4:17 pm
[...] a pre-World Cup Finals article I suggested the following nations would qualify from each [...]