World Cup 2010 - Group A

South Africa

Uruguay

Mexico

France


Group Strength
A tricky section, no doubt, and one which will have the hosts crying into their vuvuzelas. By no means a dream draw for Bafana Bafana with some prized talent set to line up against them at every turn. France, facing South Africa as they did in 1998 and Uruguay as they did in 2002, could have done a lot worse though and with some menacing firepower, albeit without Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema, will be expecting to reel off some hefty tallies.
Critically though they need to function as a unit. The inability of Benzema, Patrick Viera and Samir Nasri to make the squad should be an indication of the teams strength, but in actual fact shows the incompetancy of the coach. Something else France are going to have to deal with if they are to havea successful World Cup. Mexico could only trail USA in the CONCACAF hexagon but boast a much better pedigree at this level. El Tri will be looking to continue their impressive record of qualifying from the group stage for the fifth consecutive tournament. The Uruguayan side showed a dramatic fluctuation in form throughout the South American qualifiers but on their day, possess a starting XI to rival some of the very best. Much like France, however, they must play together as a unit to have any hope of qualifying from the group.

Group Favourites
Having qualified for the finals with the aid of UEFA rule changing and the hand of Thierry Henry, Raymond Domenech's side had the temerity to complain about being handed a non-seeded berth. How reticent might Les Bleus be now that they've avoided some of the major guns. Alongside this opposition, the French will justifiably been seen as top dogs in the section but will have to shake off their underperforming status to record the maximum points haul. Anything less than a win against Uruguay could have French nerves jangling ahead of the Mexico clash. They should easily account for South Africa, regardless of the group situation by that time. Karim Benzema's failure to make the initial squad for the world cup may come as a surprise to many but his lack of game time for Real Madrid, and France for that matter, over the last 12 months has worked against him. Even without Benzema they can still call on Franck Ribery, Florent Malouda, and Nicolas Anleka to shoot them to top spot.

Race for Second
Wide open. Typically the host nation have the 12th man in the majority of the crowd and no doubt they will be using their vuvezelas to good effect against Mexico on match-day one. Should three points go the way of Bafana Bafana then they remain in with a modicum of a shout ahead of the Uruguayan showdown on match-day two. That said, Mexico usually find a way out of their pool and will be aiming as much for the top spot as for the runners-up berth. Oscar Tabarez's Uruguay was the last team to qualify but in Luis Suarez, Diego Forlan and the precocious Nicolas Lodeiro, la Celeste have the weaponry to score in abundance. Mexico against Uruguay on the final match-day could prove to be the most important game of this group and no doubt the Mexico coach, Javier Aguirre, will be hoping that his former signing, Diego Forlan, will produce a performance reminiscent of his Manchester United days and not his Spanish League career.

The Outsiders
For fear of 1,000 parties being cancelled, I have to say that South Africa are likely to finish up with the wooden spoon. Joel Santana failed to turn his eye-pleasing unit into a scoring unit during the past year and has been jettisoned in favour of his predecessor, Carlos Alberto Parreira. Scoring remains the main problem for Bafana Bafana; the likes of McCarthy, Erasmus and Parker are not garnering enough, or even any in McCarthy's case, game time at club level to be considered golden-boot winners in waiting. To go through, goals will be needed and that is one key element lacking in the hosts.

Going Forward
Argentina are favourites to finish top of Group B and that makes finishing second in Group A almost like a World Cup death sentence in the round of 16. Uruguay would no doubt relish vengeance after being downed in Montevideo with an automatic berth up for grabs. France may go on to meet Nigeria, who defeated Les Bleus in a friendly last summer. But any one of South Korea, the Super Eagles and Greece could provide France’s opponents in the round of 16.

Fixtures
South Africa – Mexico, June 11th, (15.00)
Uruguay – France, June 11th, (19.30)
South Africa – Uruguay, June 16th, (19.30)
France – Mexico, June 17th, (19.30)
Mexico – Uruguay, June 22nd, (15.00)
South Africa – France, June 22nd, (15.00)

Prediction
1st – France
2nd – Uruguay
3rd – Mexico
4th – South Africa

Another season over...

Chelsea, Newcastle, Norwich and Notts County will all be celebrating this morning as the 2009-2010 league season draws to a close. Three of those four league winners will have been predicted by some before the season began last August, while the other will feel it should have been included as people’s tip last august.



Premier League
Let’s begin, as we should, with the Premier League. Chelsea were crowned champions after an almost farcical 8-0 victory at Stamford Bridge over 10 man Wigan. A dominant display from the champions was never in doubt as many had expected them to destroy a Wigan side that had one of the worst away records in English football. Having beaten Liverpool in their previous match the title was virtually Chelsea’s even before kick off.

But Manchester United did not see it that way and went out against Stoke with the aim of beating them and hoping their neighbours could hold Chelsea to at least a draw. It is not too often that a 4-0 victory at home is greeted with as much disappointment as was felt in Old Trafford.

Overall, I believe the 2009-2010 Premier League was one of the best in recent times. Sure the top 4 lost more games combined than any other season. Sure the bottom seven teams couldn’t reach the ‘magic’ 40 point mark and could have been relegated. Sure Chelsea were capable of putting at least six goals past a number of teams, and Manchester United & Arsenal also handed out some serious beatings.

But I look on these as positives. It shows that the Premier League is becoming more competitive. The leadership of the league changed hands over 20 times over the course of the season and until three weeks ago there was three teams with a realistic chance of winning the league. Would people prefer to see a scenario like that in La Liga or the SPL and have the big teams winning virtually every game?

The race for fourth place was even more enthralling than the race for the title and the last time we were able to say that was back in 2005 when Everton pipped Liverpool to the post. Spurs won out in the end but Man City and Aston Villa will feel they could have taken fourth place. Even Liverpool, with their disastrous season, will feel they could have taken it had just a few results gone their way. In the end it was 70 points which guaranteed a Champions League playoff for next season and in the recent past that number would almost have won you the league. How is that not competitive?

As for the relegation battle. Most pundits correctly predicted the three teams that would go down before the season began. Portsmouth was always doomed due to their financial situation. Hull and Burnley were also doomed because they did not have the players or the management. Once Owen Coyle left for Bolton Burnley were a doomed side, while Hull were always doomed as long as Phil Brown stayed in charge. The only reason any real battle commenced was because the teams immediately above them, West Ham, Wolves, Wigan and Bolton were equally as abysmal. But unfortunately only three could go down, not seven.

Team of the year:
Joe Hart, Branislav Invanovic, Richard Dunne, Gareth Bale, Frank Lampard, Cesc Fabregas, James Milner, Florent Malouda, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Didier Drogba

Player of the year:
Carlos Tevez

Match of the year:
Manchester United 4-3 Manchester City (Old Trafford, Sept 20th 2009)



Championship
The Championship stuck exactly to the script which was written last August. Newcastle and West Brom walked their way through the league and never looked in trouble of losing the automatic promotion positions.

The big surprises in this division came in the guise of Leicester City reaching the playoff’s on the back of League One promotion, Blackpool reaching the playoffs having been tipped for relegation, and Middlesbrough being nowhere near promotion.

In Boro’s case their sacking of Gareth Southgate came about when they were in second place and only one point off Newcastle at the top. Replacing Southgate with Gordon Strachan and virtually the entire Celtic squad proved to be the biggest mistake Steve Gibson has made in his time as Boro owner. Once Strachan took over their league position began to plummet as results went against them at every turn. It was also further proof that Celtic and Rangers would not make it in English football.

Roy Keane’s first full season as Ipswich manager also brought about some talking points throughout the season as the used the position more as a pulpit to tell the world his thoughts about the FAI, Trappatoni, Alex Ferguson and many, many other subjects. Keane would have been better off worrying about his team’s league position and results as they finished in the bottom half of the table and flirted with the relegation places for most of the season. By the looks of it the Roy Keane managerial train could be leaving the station that is Portman Road in the very near future.

At the bottom of the table there were some surprises. Peterborough were an expected casualty but Plymouth, once a competitive team under the leadership of Ian Holloway were surprisingly relegated with three games left and Sheffield Wednesday also joined them through the trap door. Wednesday can consider themselves lucky not to have been relegated at the same time as Plymouth but for the points deduction which was given to playoff chasing Crystal Palace, thrusting them into the relegation battle which came down to the last day. Many people may think Man City-Spurs was a work of genius by the fixtures computer but the Sheffield Wednesday-Crystal Palace game on the final day proved to be the greatest fixture planning of the season. A winner takes all clash at Hillsborough which saw the home side drop back to League One while Crystal Palace may have saved their entire existence in this one game.

Team of the year:
Lee Camp, Chris Guntner, Fabricio Colloccini, Ashley Williams, Jose Enrique, Graham Dorrans, Peter Whittingham, Kevin Nolan, Charlie Adam, Andy Carroll, Michael Chopra

Player of the year:
Kevin Nolan

Match of the year:
Bristol City 2-2 Newcastle United (Ashton gate, March 20th, 2010)




League One
The 2009-2010 season finally saw Leeds United climb out of the third tier of English football. Having spent much of the season leading the way, they had an 11 point lead with a game in hand at one stage shortly after Christmas, Leeds almost threw it all away with very poor form from January through to the end of the season. Eight wins and nine losses contributed to a close escape as a final day victory over Bristol Rovers in front of a full Elland Road saw them finish second.

Ahead of them were the seasons surprise champions, Norwich City. Many people would have expected Norwich to compete for promotion but following a 7-1 defeat at the hands of Colchester United on the opening day of the season it looked like a long year ahead. However, the hiring of the manager who handed them that defeat, Paul Lambert, saw Norwich turn their season around and end up champions by a margin of nine points.

Elsewhere Millwall, Charlton, Swindon and Huddersfield will compete in the playoffs for the opportunity to join Leeds and Norwich in the Championship next season. Any one of these teams could have stolen second place from Leeds on the final day, Millwall almost did, and will see a chance to further their development at a higher level next season.

At the other end of the table Stockport County finished in the relegation zone once again. It seems to be becoming a recurring theme for Stockport to gain promotion and then follow it with a dismal season, finishing last by a whopping 25 points. Southend, Wycombe and Gillingham all joined Stockport. Gillingham could possibly count themselves unlucky as Tranmere, Exeter and Hartlepool all gained better results on the final day to send the Gills down following a single season back in League One.

It was not a vintage year for League One, but it certainly was an exciting one with any one of five teams in with a chance of promotion on the final day and any one of four teams fighting relegation on the final day. It was probably the most exciting of all the leagues in England.


Team of the year:
Kelvin Davis, Frazer Richardson, Paddy Kisnorbo, Ian Harte, Wes Hoolahan, Robert Snodgrass, Jason Puncheon, Nicky Bailey, Jermaine Beckford, Ricky Lambert, Grant Holt

Player of the year:
Paddy Kisnorbo

Match of the year:
Leeds United 2-2 Huddersfield (Elland Road, December 5th, 2009)



League Two
The League Two form table stuck to what was expected as Notts County walked their way to the title. The Sven Goran Eriksson project may not have been a complete success but it did bring the team up a level to League One for the first time since 2004. The money which came with the Middle-East consortium done enough to help Notts County achieve promotion. They may have lost Sol Campbell back to the Premier League after just one game but they kept hold of Kasper Schmeichel and Lee Hughes. These players’ wages may have epitomised all that was bad about the new Notts County, but their on-field performances showed everyone all that was good.

Bournemouth and Rochdale joined Notts County in heading up the leagues while Morecambe, Rotherham United, Dagenham & Redbridge, and Aldershot Town, will battle it out in the playoffs for the right to join them.

At the bottom of the table Darlington were virtually relegated by the time they turned to Steve Staunton after only nine games, seven of which they lost. I say they were virtually relegated because hiring Staunton could only mean that the club had given up and were marking the season as a write off. However, even at that they still got rid of Staunton after twenty-three games, of which he only won four. Darlington eventually went down, 18 points behind safety.

Grimsby Town will join them in non-league football next season as they went down on the last day of the season. Grimsby looked doomed with five games left but a run of three wins and a draw gave them a glimmer of hope which was diminished on the last day as they lost 3-0 to Burton Albion. What should have been a good season following their exploits against Leeds United in the FA Cup has ended with them dropping out of the football league for the first time in 99 years.

Team of the year:
Kasper Schmeichel, John Brayford, Craig Dawson, Ian Sharps, Tom Kennedy, Ben Davies, Stephen Dawson, Gary Jones, Nicky Law, Lee Hughes, Adam Le Fondre

Player of the year:
Kasper Schmeichel

Match of the year:
Bury 3-3 Notts County (Gigg Lane, November 14th, 2009)

Crouch finds golden ticket for Spurs, breaks City hearts

Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City met in the City of Manchester stadium on Wednesday night for what was effectively a cup final. If City won they would move ahead of Spurs in 4th place with one game left but if Spurs emerged victorious they would clinch the final Champions League place for next season. Forget about the title race which has petered out in the final few weeks or the relegation battle which could have been predicted at the beginning of the season, Spurs vs. Man City was the biggest game of the season.

The night began almost comically with Joe Corrigan(Man City ’67-83) and Glenn Hoddle (Spurs ’75-87) in the Sky Sports studio, each talking about the likelihood of the other tea, falling apart and throwing away fourth place tonight. You were almost expecting it to turn into a schoolyard type ‘My team is better than yours’ fight.

Spurs knew before kick-off that a draw would probably be enough with their final game of the season being away against already relegated Burnley but both sides were set up to attack the game and go for the win. Both managers abandoning the plan they used for their recent respective games against Manchester United where they both went out defensive on the back of great winning runs, and lost.

Tevez, Bellamy, Adebayor and Adam Johnson were the men Roberto Mancini placed his faith in to bring his team to victory, while Harry Redknapp was able to call on the likes of Defoe, Crouch, Lennon and Bale. It was easy to see from the start that Man City had the better attacking options but with Ledley King and Michael Dawson in the centre of defence Spurs knew they had the better defence.

Both City and Spurs had chances early in the game, as the anticipated end to end action came to fruition, when Carlos Tevez went on a mazy run through the Tottenham defence only to be denied by good goalkeeping from Gomes. While Spurs could have taken the lead in both of their first meaningful attacks when Peter Crouch hit the post and Ledley King rightly had a goal disallowed for impeding the defender.

In the 26th minute Adam Johnson hit City’s best effort of the game to that point with a long range shot which Gomes managed to push away for a corner. Even more impressive was the fact that Gomes saw the ball late and still managed to save it.

Three times in the space of a minute City almost took the lead. A cross swung into the box by Bridge missed most but the stretching boot of Carlos Tevez who almost poked it into the corner but for a good save once again from Gomes. The rebound was hit goal ward by Pablo Zabeleta but a deflection brought it inches over the bar. Kolo Toure then had acres of space and a free header from the resulting corner but somehow managed to put it wide when hitting the target would have been easier.

The end to end action continued five minutes later when Gareth Bale should have put Spurs ahead. A brilliant passing move across the 18 yard box saw Crouch knock the ball down for the on-running Bale who released a thunderbolt shot which went barely inches wide.

That was the last clear cut chance of the first half as Man City dominated the game for the remainder of the half without a clear goal chance. Players from both sides were doing there all for the cause, and this was no better seen than when Jermaine Defoe was seen following Kolo Toure into the Spurs box and defending with all his might. Probably the first time Defoe has ever seen his own team’s box during a game.

Half time did bring about one thing that nobody expected to see, Hoddle and Corrigan agreeing that Ledley King’s goal should have been given. Considering the way these two were so against each other prior to the game it was shocking to see them agree. Maybe they were told off at during the first half about their schoolyard antics prior to kick off.

The second half began at the same frantic pace as the first with Man City going on the attack with a deep cross to Craig Bellamy being turned back towards the six yard box but no City player was there in time and Spurs managed to clear the ball.

However, Spurs began to gain a foothold on the second half and Jermaine Defoe should have given them the lead but for a fantastic save from Martin Fulop. Defoe sprung the offside trap and tried to bend the ball around the on-loan keeper but the outstretched arm of Fulop tipped the ball around the post and the resultant corner was easily cleared.

On the 60th minute Spurs were lucky not to hand the initiative to Man City when Tom Huddlestone attempted a wild stamp on Nigel DeJong. A yellow card followed but Spurs should have been down to ten men. When you consider players can receive a red card (second yellow) if they take off their jersey during a celebration, then the referee should have had no hesitation in sending off the Spurs player.

The Spurs fans could see themselves travelling to Barcelona, Milan and Munich in the 70th minute when a brilliant run down the left wing by Aaron Lennon saw the ball whipped into the penalty area where Jermaine Defoe, Kolo Toure and Martin Fulop managed to miss it. An empty goal then stared Peter Crouch in the face but he also conspired to miss the ball when any touch would have seen Spurs go ahead.

With 15 minutes to go Mancini threw on Shaun Wright-Phillips with the hope of causing some trouble in the Spurs defence. It almost immediately worked as he received the ball in space on the right wing but the only boot at the end of his low cross was that of Ledley King to put it out for a corner.

Martin Fulop has proved his worth to Man City in this game as he kept them in it with a brilliant point blank save in the 77th minute. Peter Crouch had to stoop low to head it towards goal and Fulop kept the ball out at the last second with his legs.

Just as Peter Crouch will have been wondering what he had to do to score he finally puts the ball in the City net in the 81st minute. It was as much a reward for their positive approach, when a draw would suffice, as for their fine play. That approach was exemplified here by Younas Kaboul, who raided down the right and fired in a cross that Fulop pushed out ... but only as far as Crouch, who headed into the empty net! Cue ecstasy amid the Spurs players and fans!

Roberto Mancini threw on Santa Cruz for Bellamy in a desperate last ditch attempt to save the match, and probably his City career. Probably not the best decision he has made during his six months in Manchester

Harry Redknapp, however, will never have to worry about losing his Tottenham job. Having taken over the team 18 months ago when they were in the relegation zone he has now led them to the promised land of the champions league. Arguably his greatest ever achievement, even topping the FA Cup victory with Portsmouth.

The final few minutes were played out in the corner as Tottenham attempted keep ball and kept putting the ball out for a throw off the legs of the City defence. Not a tactic I am personally fond of but understandable for the Spurs players to do.

For the first time since Everton in 2005 a new name has been added to the top 4 teams in the Premier League and that name is Tottenham Hotspur. They were knocking on the door a few years ago but they have now kicked that door in at the home of their nearest rivals for 4th place. No doubt it will be another summer of spending for Man City and I expect them to come back next season and challenge for the title, especially if Mourinho takes charge, but tonight was Spurs’ night and nothing can take that away from them.