Nearly every World Cup has a “Group of Death”, in ‘02 it was England, Argentina, Sweden & Nigeria, and this time again Argentina fall into it, along with the Ivory Coast, Serbia & Montenegro and the Netherlands. Here are my predictions for the group of death.
Argentina
After a disastrous last world cup, Argentina will be looking to reach the knockout stages in Germany, and with many bookies placing them among the favourites to win, the pressure is on them again. Yet again they have a star studded squad, with 18 year old Barcelona front man Lionel Messi the main attraction, along with Juan Roman Riquelme the Villareal star. Man United’s Gabriel Heinze, back from injury, will be looking to start in a high quality defence containing Sorin and Ayala. My Prediction: Group Winners.
Ivory Coast
The Elephants, as the Ivory Coast are affectionately known, are competing in their first ever world cup, and with a squad containing a large amount of European based players, they could produce a few shocks. Their main player is Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, who has an impressive international scoring record, scoring 21 goals in 31 games, with Lens forward Dindane providing support and the Arsenal defensive pairing of Emmanuel Eboué and Kolo Touré providing strong defensive cover. Although I can’t see them reaching the knockout stages, like Senegal and Cameroon in the past, they are an unknown quantity. My Prediction: 4th Place.
Serbia & Montenegro
Although this is officially Serbia & Montenegro’s first official appearance at the world cup, their former parent country, Yugoslavia, appeared at the 1990 world cup, and several before then, and former players include Sinisa Mihailovic and Dejan Savicevic. They are another unknown quantity, but with former Chelsea striker Mateja Kezman, and former Aston Villa striker Savo Milosevic upfront, both of whom have impressive international scoring records (the same cannot be said about their premiership records), they could score a few goals, especially after pipping Spain to the automatic spot in qualifying. My Prediction: 3rd Place.
Netherlands
The Netherlands had a very impressive time in qualifying, in a tough group containing the Czech Republic and Romania, they won 10 games, and drew the other 2, scoring 27 and conceding only 3 goals. Although Ruud Van Nistelrooy has been struggling of late club wise, his international record speaks for itself, scoring 26 goals in 50 games, and with Dirk Kuyt, one of Europe’s hottest properties of late, and Arsenals ever improving Robin van Persie they have a quality strike force. Defensively they are relatively in-experienced however, with aside from Van Bronkhorst and Van der Sar, none of the defense having over 20 caps, and 4 players in single figures. They will be hoping that their midfield, containing Cocu, Van Bommel and Robben will keep the pressure off the defence. My Prediction: Group Runners Up.