2010 World Cup Finals Draw

After taking a week to let the world cup draw soak and reviewing all the groups I’m going to disagree with the bulk of the analyst that are saying Group G is the “Group of Death”.   Although North Korea is a huge unknown in group G, I really think the group of death is Group D.  In my opinion Germany is a top 3 European team, with Spain and The Netherlands as the 2 others.  Ghana is probably the best African team.  Ivory Coast has one of the best finishers in the world in Didier Drogba, but I think Ghana is a complete team with a fantastic midfield led by Michael Essien.  Serbia is a mid-tier European team on the rise with maybe the best defender in the world in Nemanja Vidić.  And the Aussies, well what can you say about them.  In the last world cup they had the great Guus Hiddink on the sidelines leading out of their group stage, and I expect more of the same with highly competitive, 90 intense minutes in all their matches.  There will not be an easy 3 points to be had in any of their matches.

Now for the US National Team side; being a realist of the USMNT and a huge fan; I really do believe that we can expect the US to get out of the group stages.  Unfortunatly, I can also see them only scrambling to get only 1 or 2 points out of the group.  They’re so unpredictable, but when they are taking the game to their opponent they are at their absolute best.  Will they have a full healthy squad this year?  Only time will tell, but I’m not counting out Gooch and Davies return.

As for my prediction on their group matches results:

England is a team that we all should know well.  They entire team plays every weekend in the top leagues and on teams in the top of the tables year in year out.  Captained by John Terry, a draw would be the best result for the US versus England.  While notorious for finding ways to lose winnable matches in past World Cups, England usually always find a way out of the Group stages.  I also think Fabio Capello as their boss really will be their wildcard as they make a deep run this final.  So I think 1-1 or 0-0 is a great result and one that can be had versus a final 4 team in England. My prediction is a little more bleak for the US.  I think the US gets out to an early lead, but alas I think the US falls short losing 1-2.   Something tells me a controversial Penalty may play out as the game winner.

Slovenia is a very dangerous squad as well.   Most of their squad play in the lower tiers of European football, but they have a few stand outs at forward and a young good midfield that really stepped up against a very good Russian team in their final round of qualifying.  I expect at the very least 1 point, but I think US can put this game away late winning 2-1.

Finally Algeria, they needed a play-in game versus Egypt to qualify for the finals. The same Egypt team that the US handled easily in the confederations cup this past summer 3-0.  I know the Algerians will put up a fight early, but I expect our counter attack to play a huge role and getting the US through 2-0, but if Algeria gets a early goal the US maybe in trouble to get out of the group.

Group C Final points:

England 7pts

US 6pts

Slovenia 4pts

Algeria 0pts

As for the final round of 16, I don’t see the US getting past Germany, Serbia, or Ghana.  If the US somehow meets Australia I think they have a good fighting chance.

As we get closer I’ll probably try and predict all the groups for fun.  A few side notes:

-if you are going to South Africa you may want to consider staying here with the England fans on the cheap.

-All Games are going to be on ESPN360, so for everyone that works and wants to watch the games live it may be a viable option for you so see if you have access through your isp, or cable provider.