By Kenneth Tan/Red Sports
Day 1 has been done and dusted with hosts South Africa starting off with a 1-1 draw against Mexico and France being held to a stalemate by Uruguay.
Let’s move on to Day 2 where we welcome powerhouses Argentina and England. Also let’s not forget our fellow Asians, South Korea, who will be taking on 2004 European champions Greece.
How will their various matches pan out? Let our pundits Khairul Anwar and Alfred Ali give you previews of the clashes between South Korea vs Greece and between Argentina and Nigeria, while Khairul Azmi and Cheah Wen Bin look ahead to the England vs USA clash.
Khairul Anwar of VJC. (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Alfred Ali of VJC. (Photo 4 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
South Korea vs Greece
Khairul Says: 1-0 to South Korea
I predict South Korea will win narrowly, maybe by a lucky goal.
The 2004 Euro champs, Greece, who were known for their overly defensive “un-beautiful” game, have not looked good in the past two friendlies. But the same goes for South Korea. One positive note is that North Korea tied 2-2 against the Greek side in a friendly, and exposed major flaws in their defense with forward Jong Tae-Se having no problem penetrating the back line.
Greece will be hungry to bounce back from their early exit at Euro 2008, but South Korea will not make it easy. The Taegeuk Warriors are known very much for their physicality and the Greek defence is still quite shaky.
Alfred Ali Says: 1-1
Both teams will not want to repeat their nightmare of 2006. South Korea, after reaching the semi-finals in the 2002 World Cup, were knocked out early during the first round of the 2006 World Cup while Greece, the 2004 European Champions, didn’t even have the opportunity to be at Germany in 2006.
This match will be closely contested. Thus, I predict that both sides will cancel each other out in a 1-1 draw. Greece have world class finishers in the mould of Georgios Samaras and Angelos Charisteas and the nation will depend on these two to finish the game off.
However, South Korea are known for their tight defence as they held Spain for 85 minutes in a friendly match only to concede in the last five minutes. They will be sure to keep Greece’s attack under control.
Also, English Premier League players like Manchester’s Park Ji Sung and Bolton’s youngster Lee Chung Yong will be crucial to South Korea’s chances in the match.
South Korea like to play a mixture of long and short passing, and they will chase the opponents down till the last minute. Greece on the other hand, are more defensive, relying completely on their defence remaining resolute so they can nick narrow victories from set-pieces and counter attacks.
South Korea’s man to watch would be youngster Lee Chung Yong. The 21-year-old Bolton starlet is a skilful and creative player whose inventive play from midfield makes him a huge asset for South Korea. Greece’s man to watch will be centre-back Sotirios Kyrgiakos. This man is a classic no-nonsense defender and will play a crucial part in keeping Greece’s defense as tight as possible to keep South Korea’s attack at bay.
Previous Encounter: South Korea 1-0 Greece
Argentina vs Nigeria
Khairul Says: 3-0 to Argentina
Definitely an Argentine victory for me, no doubt.
Although there is still a chance that Nigeria could pull off an upset, realistically, I’d say Nigeria will be hoping for a draw so that they can go into their second and third matches with confidence.
Going into the match, the aim for the Eagles will no doubt be to frustrate as much as possible in midfield and counter the expected 3-4-3 formation of the Argentines, restricting service from the experienced midfield duo of Juan Sebastian Veron and Javier Mascherano and forcing Messi deeper into the Argentine midfield in search of the ball.
Two different playing styles will clash. The Argentines are likely play to their usual fluid game against a Nigerian team that’s very much the opposite. The Nigerians could impose their slower tempo on the game, alternating this with intermittent bursts of pace, frustrating the Argentineans.
However, playing this style is dangerous as the Eagles backline looks brittle and easily breached by the creative wizardry that Argentina possesses. Not only that, their defence is notoriously prone to unforced errors.
Player to look out for: Lionel Messi
The Argentine whizkid will be looking to perform in their opening game to ensure qualification to the round of 16. From his club performances, the only way for Nigeria to stop him would be to either put at least two men on him, or to injure him.
Alfred Says: 3-0 to Argentina
Argentina should be able to take this game with ease.The talent in the Argentina squad is so vast that Diego Maradona has left out two of Inter Milan’s Champions League-winning stars – Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti.
They have a talented forward line capable of terrorising any defense in the world with FIFA Player of the year Lionel Messi along with youngsters Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain. In the middle for Argentina, they have their captain Javier Mascherano, whose crunching tackles would be vital in stopping Nigeria’s attacks. Their superiority in talent over Nigeria’s should allow Argentina to cruise past this first match.
Nigeria are also missing one of their main man John Obi Mikel through injury. And since new coach Lars Lagerback has only had a few months with his team, it would be difficult for him to find the right replacement for Mikel.
Argentina would be playing their usual fast-flowing fluid football stringing short passes and frequently spraying long passes. Their fast-pace football is different from Nigeria’s defensive style of play, preferring to stick to counter attacks.
Player to Watch (Argentina) – He will be none other than FIFA player of the year Lionel Messi whose clever play and quick-feet makes him a priceless asset to his country. He will be looking to replicate his club form for his country on the biggest stage of international football to ensure qualification into the round of 16.
Player to Watch (Nigeria) – He will be young striker Obafemi Martins who has the best goals-to-games ratio for the Super Eagles with 17 goals in 31 appearances. The Wolfsburg man scored the goal that took Nigeria to the tournament. His pace would be one of the ways to exploit Argentina’s defense.
Previous Encounter: Argentina 1-0 Nigeria
| GROUP B | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ARGENTINA  | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 9 |
SOUTH KOREA  | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 4 |
GREECE  | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 3 |
NIGERIA  | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 1 |
Khairul Azmi of MJC. (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports archive)
England vs USA
Khairul Says: 2-1 to England
Despite England winning all three of their warm-up games prior to the World Cup, they have looked far from impressive. Their goalkeeping dilemma, coupled with injuries to key players, Gareth Barry and Rio Ferdinand, have added to the woes of coach Fabio Capello.
The USA on the other hand boast an impressive record of two wins and one loss in their three warm-up games. It should be noted however that the Americans rested several key players in their only loss against the Czech Republic.
England are a star-studded team full of match winners. Apart from Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Ledley King would be other players to watch out for.
It would be interesting to see how Steven Gerrard copes with the pressure of being the new England captain. Playing in midfield, he will also need to get forward to help support his team’s attack.
Ledley King, who should get the nod ahead of club teammate Micheal Dawson, gets the chance only due to the injury of Rio Ferdinand. King will be eager to show the world he deserves his place in the starting line up.
The players to watch out for from the USA are goalkeeper Tim Howard and wide players Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan. Having playing experience in the English Premier League, these players will be familiar to most the English players.
Constantly switching flanks, both Dempsey and Donovan like to cut in from their wings to help with the attack in the middle. Expect Dempsey and Donovan to be involved in most of the positive movements for the USA.
Although a victory for the USA would not be the biggest upset in the world, firm favourites England should be able to get the job done against the USA. My prediction would be a 2-1 victory for England.
Cheah Wen Bin (with armband) of SRJC. (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports archive)
Wen Bin Says: 2-1 to England
England has got to be the favourites for the game against USA. With Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard ready to fire on all cylinders, USA will find it hard to break through England’s defence.
England tend to rely on Gerrard and Lampard to link up with Rooney to bang in the goals. Any penalties will no doubt be taken by Lampard who will be determined to prove his critics wrong that he can still take them after missing his last two for England.
USA however will have to work extremely hard as a team and rely on their forwards Jozy Altidore and Landon Donovan to come up with the goals.
It will be an interesting game as England’s style of possession and dynamic football will come up against USA’s direct and hardworking style of play. England’s aggressive defensive pairing of Ledley King and John Terry will make it hard for USA to settle into their game.
Rooney will be able to hold his own against the USA defence and and it will be interesting to see if Rooney scores the first goal for England today.
Watch out for Rooney and Lampard from England and Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley from the USA. It will be a draw at half time with England prevailing 2-1 at full time.
Previous Encounter: England 2-0 USA
| GROUP C | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
USA  | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 5 |
ENGLAND  | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 5 |
SLOVENIA  | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
ALGERIA  | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 1 |
For the World Cup fixtures list with Singapore broadcast timings as well as group tables and the list of CCs with free screenings, go to: http://redsports.sg/2010-world-cup-fixtures-groups/
France was held by Uruguay. Mexico drew with RSA.
Hi Patrick, thanks for pointing out the very obvious mistake. That’s what happened when you’re working on it in the wee hours of the morning, alertness and concentration totally goes down!