Looking at the various groups, the host’s group looks to be the most competitive one if not the ‘group of death’. Although for some it can be considered a group no less tougher than the group of death. In any major soccer event over the past decades, the host nations have often ruled the roost; 1990 World Cup Italy, Italy comes third, 1994 USA, USA knocks out Valderama’s Colombia and gives Brazil a run for its money before bowing out, 1998 France; France emerge as World Champions, 2002 Korea and Japan; South Korea become fourth after beating the likes of Poland, Portugal, Italy and Spain on their way to the semis and 2006 Germany, Germany comes third. After looking at their performance in the Confederations cup earlier this year, everyone should be prepared to see South Africa spring up a few surprises, bearing also the fact that the country carries on its shoulders the tremendous pressure of making it past the qualifying round and into the knockout stages.
While it could be argued this time around that Germany is the weakest of the top seeded teams, especially with the injured Michael Ballack out of the World Cup, they are not to be underestimated. Teams like Spain, Brazil and Argentina might look like teams from another dimension when compared to Germany, but people said the very same about ‘The Panzers’ before each of the two World Cups, and also before the Euro 2008 where they played and eventually lost the finals to Spain.
On the other extreme there is Argentina whose group many of us would term ‘Easy’. But easy is a relative term. Although grammatically ‘easier’ should be the word. Considering their recent performances on their way to qualification, Argentina does have an easy group as compared to the others. Nothing might have come easy for Diego Maradona and his boys, but maybe in this case scenario, the word ‘easy’ can be used for Argentina because they have managed to avoid teams like France, Portugal, USA, Denmark and Ivory Coast. Argentina is a team that should not be concerned about qualification but they should be more concerned about reaching the semis and finals in World Cups. Sadly however, such is the state of the team that the draw for them will give Diego and company a sigh of relief. Yes, they are still favorites to go through to the next round but the likes of South Korea, Nigeria and Greece may come up with upsets and impede their progress. Even though Lionel Messi has been named the best player on the planet he remains a question mark for Argentina. There has always been a difference between Club football and International football. Often stars have literally struggled to cope up with the pressures of playing for their national teams and there have many a times been questions raised about their loyalties while questions have still been raised about money and professionalism being a part of the players’ success and failure for club and country respectively. The very fact that he won the FIFA Footballer of the year award only doubles the pressure and expectations. All the eyes around the footballing world (especially Argentina and its supporters) will now be glued to him with hopes that he will pull out the proverbial rabbit out of the hat and win the cup single-handedly.
If there is a group which many might claim easy, it would  be  England’s group. But as critics might have it, nothing is easy in this world. It needs to be noted here that a team which looks good on paper has rarely lived up to the expectations and won matches which really matters in the end. It is their performance on field at that very point that determines and proves a side’s strength and dominance. Other than Spain, England, no doubt, stands as the strongest team in the competition on paper. Though more balanced in terms of attack, midfield and defense, Spain has the strongest midfield and the clash would be worth noting as ‘The Clash of the Titans’ in the group stages, keeping in mind also the ever ongoing battle for the Champions League title between the clubs of the two countries. One might only argue that England has a slighter better chance of making it ahead because of their coach, considering his experience and track record with different clubs and nations for a long period of time. There has been nothing so far that Fabio Capello has touched which has not turned to gold definitely the Midas touch.
Well there are likes of Marcelo Bielsa, Chile’s beloved coach nicknamed ‘El loco’ (The Madman) who have a point or two to prove in South Africa. It may be recalled the Madman was in charge of Argentina’s ill fated bid at the coveted trophy in 2002. As such the madman may take some of the big players off guard seeing their road to qualification where they were just a point behind Brazil.
The African nations are playing with the home advantage. However it is too early to speculate on whether playing in front of home crowds will either lift the players or the whether the pressure will be too much for some. Teams of Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, Algeria and home team South Africa will be taking the African challenge to the rest of the world. Likes of Didier Drogba, Michal Essien, Salomon Kalou, Samuel Eto the big names of league football in Europe will lead the charge for the powerful footballing African Nations. As in the words of Nigerian Forward Chinedu Obasi, “We know that we will have a tough job at the World Cup. We are up against some top teams. It’s important for us to prove that we can play our own game against the best”.
Come 11th June with Africa (South Africa) taking on Central America (Mexico) and South America (Uruguay) colliding with Europe (France) all goals will be set towards the match of all matches at Johanesburg on the 11th of July the last stepping stone before getting the prized kiss at golden glory.

Larry C Rymbai