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Focus on (Group A) |
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Group A consists of South Africa, France, Mexico and Uruguay. South Africa is the host nation so they received an automatic berth into the 2010 FIFA World Cup. They also received a top seed position which means they could not be grouped with the other 7 top seeded countries: Spain, Brazil, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina and England. However, after their group rivals were revealed, Bafafa Bafana supporters are justifiably nervous.
It is reasonable to say that South Africa would not have made the World Cup if it was being held in another country. South Africa is currently ranked 86th in the world. Of the 5 other African nations that qualified, only Ghana is ranked outside the top 30 at position 37.
South Africa is a fairly weak team and it will struggle to get out of the first round. France and Mexico are likely to advance. France has not been playing at their best and had to go to a playoff with Ireland to qualify in controversial fashion.
Mexico came on strong in their last 3 qualifying games. Uruguay's dynamic duo of Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez scored 12 goals in the qualifiers. They could make it to the second rould and give Mexico and France a real "fight."
Group A is a dificult group and any 2 teams could make it to the next stage. The local supporters are praying that their team advances or else it would be the first time that the host nation of a World Cup Tournament fail to move to the next round.
Players to watch from Group A
Some of the outstanding players to watch in this group are:
FRANCE: Thierry Henry, Franck Ribery, Lassana Diarra, Karim Benzema, Andre-Pierre Gignac, William Gallas
MEXICO: Guillermo Ochoa, Giovani dos Santos, Efrain Juarez, Andres Guardado, Cuauhtemoc Blanco
URUGUAY: Diego Forlan, Luis Suarez, Diego Lugano
SOUTH AFRICA: Steven Pienaar, Tsepho Masilela |
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Spain (1) |
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Brazil (2) |
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Netherlands (3) |
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Italy (4) |
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Portugal (5) |
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Germany (6) |
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France (7) |
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Argentina (8) |
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England (9) |
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Cameroon (11) |
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Greece (12) |
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USA (14) |
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Mexico (15) |
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Côte d'Ivoire (16) |
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Chile (17) |
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Switzerland (18) |
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Uruguay (19) |
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Serbia (20) |
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Australia (21) |
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Nigeria (22) |
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Denmark (26) |
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Algeria (28) |
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Paraguay (30) |
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Slovenia (33) |
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Slovakia (34) |
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Ghana (37) |
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Honduras (38) |
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Japan (43) |
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South Korea (52) |
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New Zealand (77) |
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North Korea (84) |
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South Africa (86) |
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