World Cup Review Group B

In the run up to the year´s most eagerly awaited sporting event Graeme Clark looks forward to the tournament with his review of each of the eight groups of four. This week he casts his eye over Group B and gives his opinion on who will go through to the next round and who will be going home early.

This group has one outstanding player – Argentina and Barcelona playmaker Lionel Messi – and one stand out manager – Diego Maradona.

Maradona was undoubtedly one of the greatest footballers ever but he has failed to create that spark as national coach, and indeed has courted controversy in that role. In just 16 games under the former superstar, no less than 100 players have been used – compare that to just 37 in the same period for England under Fabio Capello. They are hardly a settled team and it doesn´t help that Maradona cannot seem to get the best out of the one player who should be his natural replacement on the pitch.

Lionel Messi is unquestionably the best player in the world at the moment, but this will be the first real chance for the 23 year old to show what he can do at a big tournament. But is the rest of the Argentinian team – which includes former Manchester United players Tevez, Heinze and Veron, as well as Liverpool´s Mascherano - good enough to go all the way? On the basis of their qualifying the simple answer is “No”, as they only just avoided the dreaded play-offs by finishing fourth in the South American group. Are they good enough to reach the next round? Let´s see.

Argentina´s first opponents are the Super Eagles of Nigeria, one of the most experienced African teams with players like Chelsea´s Jon Obi Mikel and former Newcastle striker Obefemi Martins, but they also appear disorganized, not least because they now have a new head coach in former Sweden manager Lars Lagerbach. The likes of Glenn Hoddle, Sven Goran Eriksson and Guus Hiddink were considered for the role following the African Cup of Nations where, admittedly, they did reach the semi-finals and the unlikely sacking of former boss …..

Their biggest problem on the pitch appears to be at the back, where they do lack experience, so I do not expect them to be too much of a problem for Maradona´s squad. That being said they did cause quite an upset in 1994 when they beat Argentina 2-0 in the USA, and it also has to be remembered that Nigeria are current Olympic Silver medalists from Beijing.

In addition to Martens up front they also have Yakubu. Both are highly experienced, having played in the English Premiership yet they have only played together once and that was when they won the final qualifier for this tournament in Nairobi.

Next up is South Korea who, although rated as the best team from Asia and having competed in the last seven tournaments, have only really set the finals on fire when they were at home in 2002 reaching the semi-finals. With only one name that is recognizable to most – Manchester United´s Park Ji-Sung who was the team´s leading scorer with five goals in the qualifiers – they will do well to get out of the group stage.

They do, however, have a lot of talented young players all hoping to put themselves on the world stage who will not be overawed by their opponents. There is Bolton´s Chung Yong Lee, Celtic´s recent signing Ki Sung Yong – dubbed the Korean Steven Gerrard – and Lee Dong Gook nicknamed the Lion King.

And their manager Huh Jung Moo is no stranger to the big occasion as he was on the scoresheet when South Korea played Italy in the 1986 finals.

The last team in the group is Greece who did well to qualify having to beat Ukraine away in the play off after finishing second – behind Switzerland – in their group games. Having surprised everyone, including themselves, by winning Euro 2004, they have failed to impress ever since and again will not trouble Argentina.

Indeed it is unlikely that they will trouble anyone as although well organized in defence – German coach Otto Rehhagel will see to that – especially with 30 year old Liverpool defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos at the heart of their team, in front of highly experience goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias. Their most recent captain, 33 year old Angelo Basimas, however barely gets a game at recently relegated, but surprising cup finalists Portsmouth.

Going forward they do not have a goal threat of note, although Angelos Chraristeas has a fine scoring record and at the age of 29 he should be at his peak.

Therefore, to me it seems a relatively easy group stage for the south Americans, as they have far too much flair, too much experience and too much quality in depth as a squad for them not to qualify. They should record three wins, albeit less than convincing wins.

But who will finish second in this group is a far more difficult question as this is a very open group and conceivably goal difference might be the key as I can see a number of draws between the three other teams, and I can see it coming down to the last game between Nigeria and South Korea in Durban on the evening of June 22nd. That will be a match of experience over youthful exhuberance and I will go with the latter, and will put South Korea through ahead of the Nigerians.

My Prediction – 1st Argentina, 2nd South Korea, 3rd Nigeria, 4th Greece.

Graeme Clark

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