World Cup Previews: Group G
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Group G
Brazil are Brazil. They will always be touted as favourites for any tournament they enter and, in this case, rightly so. This team is not as flashy as the classic Brazil sides but it is balanced and very hard to beat. They should have no bother coming out of this group. With three of Inter's treble-winning defence (Júlio César, Lúcio and Maicon), this team also boasts Kaká, Robinho and Luis Fabiano in attack. One player to look out for is Benfica's Ramires. A box-to-box midfielder, Ramires was one of Brazil's shining lights in their 2009 Confederations Cup success. First place should be a stroll for them.
Portugal, under coach Carlos Queiroz, have not been as solid as they were. The team were less impressive in qualifying than previous years and only got the ticket to South Africa with a 2-0 aggregate win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in the play-offs. Of course, they still have Cristiano Ronaldo to prop them up, along with the likes of Simao and Carvalho. Nani will miss out, while Pepe and Deco haven't played a lot of football this season. Portugal's main threat, aside from Ronaldo, will come from naturalised striker Liédson. The Sporting forward has scored 111 goals in 201 games for the Lisbon side and, so far, has three goals in ten games for his adopted country. Portugal may not be at full flow anymore but should still have too much quality for Cote d'Ivoire and Korea DPR.
Cote d'Ivoire were highly rated going into the 2006 World Cup where they were drawn in a Group of Death with Argentina, Netherlands and Serbia & Montenegro. Although they didn't make it out of that group, they will still be considered a threat in this one. Unfortunately, the possible loss of Didier Drogba spells big problems for them. With him gone, the onus will be on the likes of Didier Zokora, Kolo Touré and his brother Yaya to push the Elephants onwards. If Drogba is not fully fit, it will take the sting out of their attack and this is why Portugal will probably finish ahead of them.
Very little is known about the current Korea DPR team, or North Korea as they are more commonly referred to as. 20 of their 23 players play in the North Korean league, two in Japan (both are Japanese-born ethnic Koreans) and one in Russia. Most of what is known about the Koreans goes back to their appearance at the 1966 finals where they shocked Italy and made it to the quarter-finals. There, an Eusebio-inspired Portugal fought back from 3-0 down to win 5-3. They've achieved little since, only reaching two Asia Cups with no success. It is hard to gauge this team, as it would have been in '66. However, with the majority of players playing in a lesser Asian league, it's fair to imagine they can't be too strong. They'll likely finish bottom.
Prediction
Brazil
Portugal
Cote d'Ivoire
Korea DPR
Brazil are Brazil. They will always be touted as favourites for any tournament they enter and, in this case, rightly so. This team is not as flashy as the classic Brazil sides but it is balanced and very hard to beat. They should have no bother coming out of this group. With three of Inter's treble-winning defence (Júlio César, Lúcio and Maicon), this team also boasts Kaká, Robinho and Luis Fabiano in attack. One player to look out for is Benfica's Ramires. A box-to-box midfielder, Ramires was one of Brazil's shining lights in their 2009 Confederations Cup success. First place should be a stroll for them.
Portugal, under coach Carlos Queiroz, have not been as solid as they were. The team were less impressive in qualifying than previous years and only got the ticket to South Africa with a 2-0 aggregate win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in the play-offs. Of course, they still have Cristiano Ronaldo to prop them up, along with the likes of Simao and Carvalho. Nani will miss out, while Pepe and Deco haven't played a lot of football this season. Portugal's main threat, aside from Ronaldo, will come from naturalised striker Liédson. The Sporting forward has scored 111 goals in 201 games for the Lisbon side and, so far, has three goals in ten games for his adopted country. Portugal may not be at full flow anymore but should still have too much quality for Cote d'Ivoire and Korea DPR.
Cote d'Ivoire were highly rated going into the 2006 World Cup where they were drawn in a Group of Death with Argentina, Netherlands and Serbia & Montenegro. Although they didn't make it out of that group, they will still be considered a threat in this one. Unfortunately, the possible loss of Didier Drogba spells big problems for them. With him gone, the onus will be on the likes of Didier Zokora, Kolo Touré and his brother Yaya to push the Elephants onwards. If Drogba is not fully fit, it will take the sting out of their attack and this is why Portugal will probably finish ahead of them.
Very little is known about the current Korea DPR team, or North Korea as they are more commonly referred to as. 20 of their 23 players play in the North Korean league, two in Japan (both are Japanese-born ethnic Koreans) and one in Russia. Most of what is known about the Koreans goes back to their appearance at the 1966 finals where they shocked Italy and made it to the quarter-finals. There, an Eusebio-inspired Portugal fought back from 3-0 down to win 5-3. They've achieved little since, only reaching two Asia Cups with no success. It is hard to gauge this team, as it would have been in '66. However, with the majority of players playing in a lesser Asian league, it's fair to imagine they can't be too strong. They'll likely finish bottom.
Prediction
Brazil
Portugal
Cote d'Ivoire
Korea DPR
About Finbarr O'Sullivan
Currently working in Brazil, Finbarr will be giving his take on Brazilian football in his regular Extratime.ie column. Finbarr peviously studied in Spain and worked in the Czech Republic and had regular column pieces on … View Full Profile