World Cup 2010 - South Africa, Here It Comes

You can go to Queensway and get all your soccer needs, shin guards, boots, balls. jerseys and kits of all the big clubs and and international sides.

We are in World Cup month, South Africa World Cup 2010. Those who are going there must have already made plans. The majority staying put should have already signed up with cable TV or made arrangements to watch it at a friend or family member's house, at a pub, somewhere else and stocked up on coffee and beer. Exactly one week to the dot, the world will be at it. As life goes on, certain things like birth rate will be threatened. 


Many players gave the thumbs down to this adidas new ball touted to be the roundest of all time. Players complained of difficulties in controlling it and keepers were unhappy with its unpredictable flight. Brazilian Robinho said that whoever made this obviously never played soccer. You have no choice but to get on with it. It is the same when you put new golf equipment into play - distance, control, flight trajectory all need adjustments.

It is Spain's World Cup to loose as they have the most balanced team with their pivot from Barcelona and a great midfield led by Iniesta and Xavi with a fearsome strike force of Torres and Villa. Germany has a history of producing results even with their poorest teams. Defending Champions Italy has a team of old men banking on experience to take them through and their friendly 1-2 loss to Mexico clearly showed. 


France has good players but a poor coach and a team that does not look too motivated. Netherlands has a good record going through but can they really deliver? How about the Africans? Ivory Coast and Ghana seem to be their best bets and host South African is peaking nicely and I hope they will at least get through to the next round. Argentina and England have been installed as 7:1 favourites to land the trophy by bookmakers. Here you will find the odds roughly:

Spain - 4 Brazil - 6 England -7 Argentina -7 Holland - 13 Italy - 15 Germany -16 France - 18 Portugal - 30 Ivory Coast - 30 Serbia - 70 Chile - 70 USA - 80 Paraguay - 80 Ghana - 80 Cameroon - 125 Denmark - 125 Uruguay - 130 Australia - 150 Nigeria - 150 South Africa - 150 Greece - 200 Switzerland - 200 South Korea - 300 Slovenia - 400 Slovakia - 400 Algeria - 400 Japan - 400 Honduras - 1000 North Korea - 2000 New Zealand - 3000.

From here you can see that North Korea is unlikely to bring back memories of beating Italy but they are world champions in sinking warships with their submarines. There will be some upsets and shocks along the way. The top 8 teams were lined up according from Spain to France. If any of these teams can win the World Cup, this will be their best opportunity because the gaps are closer these days. No longer do smaller teams lose out on a big margins all the time as I remembered how the former Yugoslavia disemboweled Zaire 9-0 like how your mum would dissect a fish from the market.

Spain has the backbone of Barcelona in the engine room and contrary to popular belief Torres is not their best striker who should be David Villa. This leads me to think that Steven Gerrard had he joined Chelsea and had been playing alongside Frank Lampard week in and out would have given England the impetus and prove once and for all that both can play together as they have similar traits of attacking from deep. That was what Mourinho attempted to do during his time there but alas Gerrard backed down at the last minute. 

Brazil under Dunga is more workmanlike even though they retained the individual flair accustomed to Brazil. I would also like to warn that you must not be surprise if Argentina or Holland win the World Cup. Except for Maradona being a poor coach, they have one of the most potent and awesome attacks. Their defence is so so and have an over reliance on Javier Mascherano and an aging and bald Juan Sebastian Veron but their strike force consist of Lionel Messi, Deigo Milito, Carlos Tevez, Serio Aguero, Gonzalez Higuain. They could tango and be the team to watch. A couple of these given to the other teams including England would have been a big difference. The Dutch are a very good team and together with Argentina cold be the dark horses other than firm favourites Brazil and Spain.

England's Fabio Capello has dropped Theo Walcott, Darren Bent, Tom Huddlestone, Michael Dawson, Adam Johnson, Leighton Baines and Scott Parker. Joe Hart gave a good account of himself showing the same form and nerves throughout the season but I think Capello may stick with Robert Green in goal but Capello is capable of surprise just as in how he decided to drop Walcott who had a great qualifying campaign especially that virtuoso performance and hattrick against Croatia but largely he has to improve on his first touch, decision making when to hold or release the ball, taking his chances and not be that wasteful with the ball. The first team defence reads out loud itself - Glen Johnson at right back, Ashley Cole at left back with centre-halves Rio Ferdinand and John Terry. 

Adam Johnson was dropped but I thought that despite his lack of pace, he presents a greater threat than Shaun Wright Philips. In fact at Manchester City, Robert Mancini outs Johnson ahead of SWP. Gareth Barry when he fully recovers from injury will play the holding role with Gerard and Lampard and possibly James Milner to form midfield. Joe Cole can play an important role later as he didn't have a full season. Lennon can come in to turn dead dogs tired anytime when the situation arise.

In attack, the inclusion of Heskey means he is viewed as a strategic player who can hold the ball and bring others into play which to me is somewhat wasteful as a striker could do more. Defoe gives speed while Crouch provides another option. The key is left to Rooney and most probably Gerrard to be England's torch bearer. Many players have played and competed at the highest level in UEFA and now it is really up to them to bring their club form to the international stage, have belief and play as a team.

To gauge the teams, you can look at some recent pre-World Cup friendlies to judge the standards though we shouldn't read too much into them (World Cup team in bold).

Australia 2 New Zealand 1

Japan 0 South Korea 2

Portugal 0 Cape Verde 0

South Africa 1 Bulgaria 1

England 3 Mexico 1

Argentina 5 Canada 0

Georgia 0 Cameroon 0

Greece 2 North Korea 2

Ireland 2 Paraguay 1

Nigeria 0 Saudi Arabia 0

USA 2 Czech 4

Netherlands 2 Mexico 1

France 2 Costa Rica 1

Chile 3 Zambia 0

Uruguay 4 Israel 1

Belarus 2 Honduras 2

Denmark 2 Senegal 0

South Africa 2 Colombia 1

Ireland 3 Algeria 0

Slovakia 1 Cameroon 1

New Zealand 1 Serbia 0

Spain 3 Saudi Arabia 2

Hungary 0 Germany 3

USA 2 Turkey 1

England 2 Japan 1

South Korea 0 Belarus 1

Mexico 5 Gambia 1

Paraguay 2 Ivory Coast 2

Nigeria 1 Colombia 1

Tunisia 1 France 1

Chile 1 N. Ireland 0

Chile 3 Isreal 0

South Africa 5 Guatemala 0

Australia 1 Denmark 0

Switzerland 0 Costa Rica 1

Netherlands 4 Ghana 1

Portugal 3 Cameroon 1

Zimbabwe 0 Brazil 3

Greece 0 Paraguay 2

Spain 1 South Korea 0

Italy 1 Mexico 2

Germany 3 Bosnia 1

Serbia 0 Poland 0

Let the whistle blows! Steady "poon pee pee"!

Are you ready??!!