South Africa 2010 Spotlight on Group C

January 4, 2010

Prior to the draw England were already among the favourites, on the back of a solid qualifying campaign. A seemingly favourable draw has served to strengthen that belief and most bookies have them as third favourites at around 11/2.

Under Fabio Capello England have become an efficient unit and he appears to have solved many of the conundrums that dogged previous coaches; not least the Lampard-Gerrard axis of frustration. There are still concerns that will not be resolved before the summer – namely the first choice goalkeeper and maintaining the fitness of Wayne Rooney – but given a fully fit squad, and that bit of luck so necessary to win a major championship, there is no reason why England can’t go all the way for the first time since 1966.

England’s qualifying form was exemplary but their friendly form gives little clue to how they will fare in South Africa. Credit to Capello who has insisted on playing the world’s top countries for a true barometer of where his team stands.

Defeats to Brazil and Spain are hardly surprising but there looked to be a gulf in class, and England has some ground to make up if they are to face either in the finals. A win in Germany and creditable draw in Holland were more solid results, countered by a defeat to France and draw with Czech Republic . Wins over Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland ,and main group rivals USA perhaps show us where England sit in the world pecking order – easily inside the top 10 but a little behind the top three or four. They have a real chance of making great inroads but may come unstuck against one of the top nations.

66/1 shots, USA, will be seen as England’s biggest danger to qualification from Group C. Veterans of nine world cup finals and semi finalists in 1930, they will be playing their sixth consecutive finals in South Africa. A recent victory over Spain proves that they are team not to be taken lightly. Their style of play may suit England but the reverse is also true.

Qualifying was straight forward for USA – a 9-0 aggregate win over Barbados put them into a third round group that they qualified from with five wins out of six. They then topped the final group with 20 points from a possible 30, qualifying ahead of Mexico and Honduras.

2009 also saw USA contest the Confederations Cup and CONCACAF Gold Cup where they reached the final of both, losing to Brazil and Mexico respectively. These runs brought wins over Honduras, Egypt & Spain but the Mexico defeat ended USA’s 58 match unbeaten home run against CONCACAF opponents. In friendly’s USA have been less consistent – beating Switzerland, South Africa, Sweden & Poland, drawing with Mexico & Argentina, and losing to England, Spain, Slovakia & Denmark. Make of that what you will but they should have enough to get out of the group with England.

Slovenia have already succumbed to England in a 2-1 friendly defeat at Wembley in September 2009; a game in which England were generally comfortable. Slovenia’s qualifying campaign saw them finish second, behind Slovakia, and come through a tight play off against Russia on away goals. Other recent friendly’s have seen them lose to Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Sweden & Denmark, with a solitary victory over Bulgaria their only success. This patchy form would indicate a struggle to qualify from Group C and their odds of 175/1 reflect this.

The fourth country in Group C is Algeria, making their first finals appearance since Mexico ’86. It will be their third time in the finals and they have yet to get past the group stage. Their qualification was built on solid home form which took them into a two-legged play-off with Egypt after the two finished on identical points and goals. A third one off game was required after they could not be separated and Algeria sneaked through with a 1-0 win.

In friendly’s Algeria are unbeaten since August 2007 when Brazil were the victors. Since then they have beaten Uruguay, Mali, Benin & UAE and drawn with Mali & Congo DR. Their away form is much less impressive than their home form and it will be interesting to see which half turns up in South Africa. The bookies odds of 500/1 would indicate that unless it’s their ‘home’ alter-ego, they will be on an early plane home.

BruiseLee

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