World Cup 2010 – The Greatest Show on Earth III

Now this is what we have been waiting for. Week 3 of the World Cup 2010 and we will be looking at teams in Group C.

The Group will consist of 2 from Europe, 1 from North America and 1 from Africa.

Will this be the year that the heartache finally ends for England or will it be tears before bedtime once again?

Group C

England   -   The Three Lions, FIFA ranked 8, price to win group 1.4

USA   -   The Yanks, FIFA ranked 18, price to win group 5.9

Algeria   -   Desert Foxes, FIFA ranked 31, price to win group 22.0

Slovenia   -   No nickname, FIFA ranked 27, price to win group 13.0

 

England

The obituaries/triumphs/disasters have already been written. This is the best chance that England have had, well since 2006 that is. So, what sort of chance do we have? To be able to answer that we need to look at how many world class players we have. Starting from back to front -

We don’t have a goalkeeper and our best defender has been demoted and is now demoralised and disfunctional. The new (captain) is a perennial visitor to the sick ward, so can he be relied upon to complete the tournament—no, would I take him to South Africa—-no. The left back lives in cloud cuckoo-land, spends more time on the front pages than the back, oh and he is injured as well, so won’t be going anyway, will he?. Right back, well we might have to go right back to Mr Neville, please don’t. That is the defence sorted, we don’t have one.

Surely in midfield we will be alright though. We have Stevie G, mmmm.  A giant in red but anonymous in white. Even in red he has been poor this season. But what about Lamps, well he has spent the season wishing he had gone to Inter, (until this weekend at least–4 goals, incredible). I know this is sacrilege but the Italian gentleman should dump SG. He and FL  (can’t play together anyway), play Carrick (far better passer and creator than SG anyway) with Lamps and let FL bomb forward at every opportunity, that is what he is best at. What about the wide players, well who is left. Becks out, Lennon out, Walcott is out even when he’s in, Downing-no no no please, SWP-the once a season man, Milner-ooh is he crocked now as well and then there’s young Ashley, sorry Ashley Young. A bigger set of mis-fits, has-beens and never-will-be’s that I have ever seen.

Aah but now we come to the forwards, this must be our strength. Pardon. You have got to be kidding, you cannot be serious–sorry slipped into Mac mode there for a second. Yes, we have Mr Heskey, has he scored this season? Ooh sorry, achilles injury. We have the 8 foot 12 beanpole who is only 5′-7″ when he jumps for the ball and we have the 5 foot 2 scouser who is 9′-4″ when he jumps for the ball. What is going on there? Who are our back-ups? Who are our back-ups? Bent, Cole and Defoe–oh no, please just put the beanpole with the scouser.

So there we have it. Do we have any world class players? Well just the one little scouser up front but he has carried United and England all season. He has had so much weight on his shoulders that by the time he gets to Rustenberg on 12 June he will only be 3′-2″ tall. He will still be taller than Maradona though. Can England win? Of course they can, a finer, fitter set of men I have never seen, just don’t ask any of them to take a penalty.

Seriously though, England have the ability and have the right man in charge to do very well in this competition, whether they have the mental capacity when it comes to the really big games later on in the knock-out phase is questionable. England’s problem is between the ears not down at their feet. They will get through the group, possibly with a little hiccup. Their only group game played at altitude is the first one, against USA and I think both teams may be happy to take a point from that game. I am sure England will have a strong tournament but we will have to keep our fingers crossed that no more injuries come their way between now and June. Roll on Mr Sven, let’s hope we get the Elephants (Ivory Coast) in the semis.

USA

The good old Yanks are there to give us a bashing and a thrashing, they won’t but they may take a point off us in the first game. They did actually beat England 1-0 in the World Cup of 1950, the biggest upset ever in the World Cup. They then disappeared off the international scene for decades before coming back to prominence about 20 years ago, when their Major Soccer League was set up.

They hosted the 1994 World Cup, got through the group stages but were then knocked out by Brazil in the last 16. Their best World Cup performance was in 2002 in South Korea, when they got to the Quarter Finals only to lose 1-0 to Germany.

In qualification for 2010, they finished top of the CONCACAF group, ahead of Mexico. Since qualifying though, they have had a poor set of results, losing to, Slovakia, Denmark, Honduras and Holland. They do have 3 more friendlies before they face England on June 12.

Bocanegra from Rennes is the captain and they do have a number of English based players in their current squad set-up, including, Guzan (Villa), Howard (Everton), DeMerit (Watford), Spector (West Ham), Holden (Bolton), Altidore (Hull), Donavan (Everton), Dempsey (Fulham), Cooper (Plymouth). They are a very combative side but it is probably fair to say they are not the best crop of players they have ever had, that was probably the team of 2002.

They will relish opportunity of playing England in the first game and if they were able to get something out of that game, then they have a good chance of progressing out of the group. They are a hard working team but struggle at the top level to make creative plays and quite often get caught out defensively.

Algeria

This is the 3rd World Cup for Algeria but they have failed to get out of the group stages as yet and somehow I don’t think they will do it this time either. They got to the World Cup with an historic play-off victory over their fiercest rivals Egypt and to be honest, I think that has gone to their head. They were poor in the recent Africa Cup of Nations, they did finish 4th but were incredibly lucky to get out of the group stages. They did have a magical win over Ivory Coast in the quaters but then were demolished 4-0 in the semis byof all people, Egypt.

They are technically inept, can’t defend, can’t score, their energy levels are poor, they do occasionally produce a good performance but cannot do it on a consistent basis and I’m afraid that is the basic requirement if you want to progress in the World Cup. Their most recent friendly was at home to Serbia and they were totally embarrassed, losing 3-0.

The captain is the Lorient midfielder Mansouri and they do have a few English based players. Belhadj and Yebda (Portsmouth), Ghilas (Hull) and Bouazza (Blackpool). The unfortunate proble for Algeria is that they just don’t have the calibre of player that is required at this level. You can only do so much with organisation and teamwork but more than that, you need a degree of skill and ability to perform the jobs you need to do on the football field and Algeria just do not have that. They will really struggle against the other 3 teams in the group and I cannot see them going past the group stages.

Slovenia

Slovenia are a good solid side who got to the finals through a play-off win against Russia, it ended 2-2 but Slovenia went through on away goals, that was a very creditable performance against a Russian team that everyone expected to go through to the finals.

There are certainly no star names in the Slovenian side but they have a great work ethic and vitally, are able to put together a number of strong performances consecutively. Their captain is the West Brom midfielder Robert Koren, with the only other English based player being the Barnsley defender Filekovic.

This is their 2nd World Cup, the previous one was in 2002, when they failed to get beyond the group stage. They didn’t qualify for the 2006 tournament but they do have the distinction of being the only side to beat Italy, in the qualifying stages and of course Italy went on to win the Cup in 2006.

I expect a strong performance from Slovenia, whether or not they go through will to a large extent depend on how they do against USA in their 2nd game. I think they will be too strong for Algeria but will find it tougher against England and USA.

Group C

Obviously there are no easy groups but England have come out well in the draw and they should be able to come through this group. Whether they win it or not will be decided in the games against USA and Slovenia. They play USA first and I feel that they will be happy with a point. They play Algeria next and should have no problem defeating them. By that stage the group dynamics will be set and I would expect England to go on and beat Slovenia in their final game. Algeria I’m afraid will finish bottom, I don’t think they are strong enough to win any of their games, they may pick up a point but that will not be good enough. The runner-up will come from USA or Slovenia and I just feel that the way the group has been set up it will mean that USA will get second place. I think USA may get a draw from England but Slovenia will lose to England, so the USA can afford to draw with Slovenia and still go through.

Final Placings

1     England

2     USA

3     Slovenia

4     Algeria

Next week we shall be looking at Group D and those lovely Germans, in what is one of the 2 Groups of Death.