World Cup Post #2

Before reading on, look below or at this link to read World Cup Post #1 (Groups A & B)

Group C: Argentina, Ivory Coast, Netherlands, Serbia & Montenegro
Although they have two names, Serbia is not the favorite in this group. The one player to watch for from the Serbs is Kezman, who saw short time for Chelsea in their 04/05 title run. I see Group C as the toughest group after E (which I will get to tomorrow). Argentina comes in as my pick to win the World Cup. They are so talented and have to make up for dropping out at the group stage in 2002. There are several names that stick out as already established stars like Hernan Crespo and Juan Riquelme. However, when you watch Argentina, I think you should look at two players up top: Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Carlos Tevez (Corinthians). I don't think a lot of people know about Tevez outside of South America, but this guy is an incredible player. He's everything you need to be a great player: magical with his feet, great striker of the ball, and uglier than sin. Watch for this guy to make quite a name for himself. Ivory Coast brings a very talented squad as well, and I have seen several people pick them to go far in the tournament. Toure and Oboue are strong defenders in the back and have the advantage of also playing together in England with Arsenal. Their most famous player is Chelsea's Didier Drogba, who is a real scorer, but is also one of the biggest divers I have ever seen. I think they could surprise somebody in this group, but only if Drogba stays on his feet and puts the ball in the net. The Dutch also bring a great team mixed with young and old. They are tough in the net with Manchester United's Edwin Van Der Sar. Liverpool's Jan Kromkamp looks to start in the back, but is also a threat to push up into the attack. I think old-man Philip Cocu will anchor the back and they are strong in the midfield, led by Mark Van Bommel. They lost Van Der Vaart to injury, which is a huge loss and they will need help to fill his shoes. Up top they are absolutely stacked with talent: Ruud Van Nistelrooij (ManU), Arjen Robben (Chelsea), and Robin Van Persie (Arsenal) are all big-time scorers. Babel is a big target as well. However, this is a relatively inexperienced team, mostly because they did not qualify for WC2002. Their coach, Marco Van Basten is a national soccer hero and took advantage of his success in qualifying by leaving out many of the older generation of Dutch footballers. This is the best team to never have won a World Cup title (they were runner-up twice in the 70s).

1. Argentina 3 wins 9 points
2. Netherlands 1 win 1 draw, 4 points (through on goals)
3. Ivory Coast 1 win 1 draw 4 points
4. Serbia 0 wins, 0 points

Group D: Mexico, Iran, Angola, Portugal
As a U.S. fan, I have to hate the Mexican side. However, they are good and will move on in this group. Two players to watch for the TriColores are Rafa Marquez in the back and Jared Borgetti up top. Borgetti is great in the air and scores all of the time with his head. I think Rafa is a complete asshole, but is a great defender and has showed that class with Barcelona since signing with them after WC2002. Portugal was dropped from WC2002 in the group stage after being upset by both the U.S. and South Korea. However, they bring a lot of talent to Germany and I think they will win this group. I think their weak point is their midfield, but not by much. One-time world player of the year Luis Figo will likely play a good bit, but the most talented (and most annoyingly one-dimensional) player is ManU's Christiano Ronaldo. He is incredible on the ball, but often relies to much on the same "two step-overs and go right" move. They are my favorite to win this group. Iran is Iran. There is talent on this team, but also incredible pressure from their government to do well. I have personally never heard of any of their players, but that is mostly because I really don't follow the German Bundesliga and, for some reason, that is where many Iranians end up. Angola is another one of those countries, like Ivory Coast, that could use a little unity right now. Don't expect much from them though. Angola does bring two exciting gifts to the World Cup table. First, their players have great names like "Love" and "Loco". Second, they used to be a colony - controlled by Portugal. So it will be a colonizer vs. colonized matchup in this group. That is one of the great things about the World Cup. Like the U.S. vs. Iran in '98 (which I'm not going to talk about - fucking Steve Sampson) and the several matchups between England and Argentina.

1. Portugal 2 wins 1 draw 7 points (1st by goal differential)
2. Mexico 2 wins, 1 draw 7 points
3. Iran 1 win 3 points
4. Angola 0 wins, 0 points

Tomorrow I'll get to Group E (U.S.) and Group F (Brazil).