It could have been worse for Greece which was drawn into group B along with Argentina, Nigeria, and South Korea. The ‘Group of Death’ is G with Brazil (FIFA #1), Ivory Coast (FIFA #16), and Portugal (FIFA #5), along with North Korea. The softest group is F with Italy and Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia (all 3 ranked 30 or lower; Italy should have a very pleasant group stage.) The US should go through along with England from group C.
The groups are:
| Group A France (7) Mexico (15) Uruguay (19) South Africa (86) | Group B Argentina (8) Greece (12) Nigeria (22) South Korea (52) |
| Group C England (9) United States (14) Algeria (28) Slovenia (33) | Group D Germany (6) Serbia (20) Australia (21) Ghana (37) |
| Group E Netherlands (3) Cameroon (11) Denmark (26) Japan (43) | Group F Italy (4) Paraguay (30) Slovakia (34) New Zealand (77) |
| Group G Brazil (2) Portugal (5) Ivory Coast (16) North Korea (84) | Group H Spain (1) Chile (17) Switzerland (18) Honduras (38) |
Greece will play against:
- South Korea on June 12;
- Nigeria on June 17;
- Argentina on June 22.
History says that a win and a draw will likely get you through the group stage. Therefore, a win over South Korea (they cannot defend set pieces effectively) and a draw with Nigeria (suspect defense) should be sufficient for Greece to advance to the round of 16. All Greece needs to do is play good suffocating defense and score on quick counter attacks and set pieces. And if Maradona cannot keep his nose clean he might screw Argentina up and give us an advantage (though it would be difficult to mess up Lionel Messi and Co.)
If we advance then we will likely advance as a second seed and thus play against the first seed of group A; most likely that would be France.
GOOD LUCK GREECE!
BTW, actress Charlize Theron is magnificent!
Related articles:
GOAL.com: World Cup 2010: Group B Analysis - Argentina, South Korea, Nigeria, Greece
ESPN.com: Team analysis of the draw
FIFA.com: Group B stirs ghosts of '94
No comments:
Post a Comment