In previous blogs I went out on a limb and made some predictions.  Now, after all teams have played one game its time to review those predictions.

Group A

France, Mexico, Uruguay and hosts South Africa make up this group.  I originally predicted Mexico and Uruguay would qualify from this group.  All the teams in this group have 1 point after the first game as both games were ties, but I am still sticking with my original prediction.

Group B

Argentina, Greece, Nigeria and South Korea make up this group.  I predicted that Argentina would likely win this group and Nigeria  would qualify as runners-up.  In their first games Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0 and South Korea beat Greece 2-0.  Argentina should win all three games so the important game in this group will be the South Korea v Nigeria game.

Group C

Algeria, England, Slovenia, and USA make up this group.  I predicted that England and the USA would qualify from this group in that order.  England and the USA tied their first game 1-1, while Slovenia beat Algeria 1-0.

Group D

Australia, Germany, Ghana and Serbia make up this group.  I stuck my neck out and predicted that Ghana and Serbia will qualify from the group.  Well Ghana made a good start beating Serbia 1-0 in the opener, but Germany demolished Australia 4-0, so I have suspicion that my prediction will not come true.

Group E

Cameroon, Denmark, Netherlands and Japan make up this group.  I predicted that the Netherlands and Cameroon would advance.  The Netherlands opened with a 2-0 win against Denmark and Japan beat Cameroon 1-0, so I don’t think my prediction will come true, with Japan in the driver’s seat for the second place.

Group F

Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay and Slovakia make up this group.  I predicted Italy and Paraguay would qualify. Italy and Paraguay opened with a 1-1 tie, as did Slovakia and New Zealand.

Group G

Brazil, Ivory Coast, North Korea and Portugal make up this group.  I predicted Brazil should win the group but the runner-up is a crap-shoot between Portugal and the Ivory Coast.  In their first game Brazil beat North Korea 2-1 and Portugal and the Ivory Coast was a 0-0 tie, which leaves this group poised for some interesting games.

Group H

Chile, Honduras, Spain and Switzerland make up this group.  I predicted that Spain would win this Group but that the runner-up was a crap-shoot. Well, Spain lost their opening game 1-0 to Switzerland, while Chile beat Honduras by the same score, which leaves Switzerland in a strong position, but means Spain has to win both their remaining games to guarantee advancing.

The biggest surprise of this round of games was Spain’s loss to Switzerland.  Before Euro 2008 Spain were a perennial underachiever, but their win in Euro 2008 followed by winning all 10 of their qualifying games lulled everybody into thinking that they had beaten that jinx.  Losing to Switzerland indicates that maybe they have not completely solved that problem – the next round of games will be critical in their campaign.

None of the other “favorites” lost although England, Italy and France all had disappointing draws, while Argentina, Brazil and Germany all won fairly comfortably.

There was a disappointing lack of goals, but hopefully now everyone has their first game under their belts the competition will pick up.

Its now 5 days until the World Cup starts in South Africa.  As promised in my previous blog, I will continue my thoughts about past World Cups and make some predictions about World Cup 2010.

I remember the 1990 World Cup in Italy as the one that got away for England.  England seemed to be riding their luck when the won their second round and quarter final games in extra time, but they cam up short in the semi-finals losing to West Germany, who went on to win the final, on penalties.

England then failed to qualify in 1994 in the United States and as a result I cannot remember much about that tournament at all.

I remember the final of the 1998 World Cup held in France as the French crushed Brazil, which in itself was quite a surprise.  Not that France didn’t deserve to win, but to beat Brazil 3-0 was quite a shock, and England yet again went out on penalties – this time to Argentina in the 2nd round.

The 2002 World Cup was memorable as 1998 champions France didn’t even manage to advance from their Group – England were in a group of Death with Argentina, Nigeria and Sweden, but they were able to advance by virtue of a 1-0 defeat of Argentina.  England were defeated by eventual champions Brazil in the Quarter-Finals, with the surprise of the tournament being the South Korean co-hosts who advanced to the semi-final (losing 1-0 to Germany).

The 2006 World Cup yet again saw England go out in a penalty shoot-out – this time to Portugal, but the memorable moment for me was in the final when Zinedine Zidane lost his cool and was sent off – Italy going on to win in a penalty shoot out.

And so we come to 2010.  In my previous blog I previewed Groups A-D, so I will continue with the final 4 groups.

Group E

Cameroon, Denmark, Netherlands and Japan make up this group.  The Dutch are one of my favourite teams to watch, with their brand of “total football”.  They qualified quite easily and if they manage to keep together as a team should win the group, with probably Cameroon advancing as runner-up.

Group F

Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay and Slovakia make up this group.  Italy are notorious slow starters in tournaments.  I remember being in Italy during the 2008 European Championship, where they just made it through the group stage, going on to be runners up to eventual winners Spain.  They should qualify from this quite weak group with Paraguay, but I am not going to predict what order they will be in.

Group G

Brazil, Ivory Coast, North Korea and Portugal make up this group.  This is the “Group of Death” of the tournament, especially if Ivory Coast play as a team.  Brazil should win the group but the runner-up is a crap-shoot between Portugal and the Ivory Coast.

Group H

Chile, Honduras, Spain and Switzerland make up this group, which is Spain’s to lose.  Spain are the class of this group, although they do have a reputation of choking in the big tournaments – which in my opinion has only been partially lifted by winning Euro 2008.  The remaining three teams are fairly evenly matched and whoever is “good on the night” will go through with Spain.

So there it is – my predictions for the group stages.  In a couple of weeks when we know who actually does make it through, and how the teams are performing, I will try and predict who the final winner will be.

As an ex-pat Englishman I love my football (soccer to my American friends). 

One of my earliest memories of watching football on TV was when the World Cup was held in England in 1966 – I was 10.  I remember the England – Argentina Quarter-Final game when Sir Alf Ramsey, England manager called the Argentine players  “animals” after a very vicious game which England won 1-0, and I remember the final, especially, when in extra time Geoff Hurst’s goal (England’s third) caused such controversy, as many people didn’t think that it crossed the line.

Four years later I remember some amazing moments from the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, especially the classic game that England and Brazil (the two previous World Champions) played during the group phase – I can still see the amazing save that Geoff Banks made to deny the great Pele, although Brazil went on to win 1-0.  England went through as runners-up and then played West Germany in a replay of the 1966 final.  Leading 2-0 early in the second half it looked like they would go through, but the Germans came back to win 3-2 in extra time avenging their loss in the 1966 final.

England failed to qualify in 1974 and 1978 (although Scotland did qualify in both years).  I remember the 1978 tournament for some wonderful goals and the 6-0 thrashing Argentina gave Peru to qualify for the final.

In 1982, Eileen and I had just started dating and she had to put up with me always wanting to watch the World Cup on TV – rather than go out – our relationship survived that month, but I honestly don’t remember much about that tournament.

In 1986, my wife Eileen was pregnant with our son Andrew, and he was due to be born on the day of the World Cup final.  Luckily Andrew was late – so I didn’t miss it – grin.  The memorable moment of that tournament for me was Maradonna’s “Hand of God” goal which put England out.

Well its another World Cup year – the competition is due to start in 6 days – on our wedding anniversary !! I am looking forward to a great month of football, and hopefully a successful competition for England.

So I thought it would be interesting to preview the competition and give some predictions.

Group A

France, Mexico, Uruguay and hosts South Africa make up this group.  This is a tough group to call.  France have a habit of choking in the big game, although they did make the final in 2006, and South Africa could be the first host not to make it through the group stages.  I predict Mexico and Uruguay will qualify from this group.

Group B

Argentina, Greece, Nigeria and South Korea make up this group.  Argentina struggled through the qualifiers and Maradonna has proven to be an unpredictable coach, but they should win this group, with Nigeria likely to be runners-up.

Group C

Algeria, England, Slovenia, and USA make up this group.  England got lucky with the draw.  Algeria are one of the weaker African teams and Slovenia, one of the weaker European teams.  Even considering my patriotic bias, England and the USA should qualify from this group in that order.

Group D

Australia, Germany, Ghana and Serbia make up this group.  This group is tough to call.  Australia had a much easier qualification process this time as they played in the Asia qualifiers and are definitely the underdogs.  Germany should win on paper, but they have had a spate of injuries to key players.  Ghana are one of the better African teams and Serbia are a dark-horse.  I am going to stick my neck out and predict that Ghana and Serbia will qualify from the group.

In Part 2, I will look back at World Cups from 1990-2006, preview the remaining four groups, and predict the final winners – more fool me!!