World Cup Wildes

Latin American people are hilarious. Never in my life have I met a bunch of people who bring a smile to my face like these folks. They make my life seem so much more meaningful. If I have a bad day (which is pretty much everyday) I just have to sit outside my home in Corona and just watch these people do their thing. Their loud, they play music that sounds like a cat being raped by a moose, they cook food laden with spice that make your ears bleed when you eat. Their kids run around like if they are mentally unstable and despite all of this I am intrigued by their ways. When they speak I can't understand what they are saying and to be honest I have given up. You see it may sound bad but I tend to look down on people, sometimes I think I'm better than everyone else. I'm better than North and South Americans, Europeans, Africans and Asians. I love myself to much it would seem. With that comes a sense of entitlement. I always think that I deserve more than others because I really have achieved a lot. My Hispanics neighbors here in America are really industrious, they work the worse jobs possible and get little reward. In this World Cup they are a lot of teams that think they have the right to the cup, they are entitled to it you may even say, sort of like me but they are some who know hard work and endeavor will get them where they want to go. The teams in Group D can make the claim that they are entitled to glory this summer but they should know that hard work is the only to get ahead.

Group D
Australia
Germany
Ghana
Serbia

Australia


Before the Socceroos moved from the Oceania confederation to the Asian one they could have made the claim they had the right to be called the kings of Oceania keeping their Tasman neighbors New Zealand at bay. They often had to face the last team in a final qualifying spot from some far flung corner of the earth in order to advance to the finals, an issue that has hampered the Aussies for some time now. This will be Australia's third World Cup and if I might say rightfully deserved. It would be a bit of a culture shock to any nation who moves to another zone but the Australians handled it with pure class. They didn't just walk through Asian qualification they rather waltzed through it,too easy in my opinion. Australia has a fairly experience team with the likes of Lucas Neill, Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and Mark Bresciano all in her ranks(that might be a dirty joke). I actually love the team but my only concern is that they don't have a prolific striker. Joshua Kennedy has now become their leading goal getter now that Mark Viduka removed himself from the national fold. That is a bit worrying, so that automatically heaps pressure upon the "Kenster" as I like to call him (Kennedy) and the Aussie midfield to produce the goals they need to progress. Seeing how they will come up against some resolute defending throughout the group they will definitely need some help. All in all if they can clamp down in defense and the midfield can support Kennedy they could be one to watch. Tough group though .

Key Man- Tim Cahill: He is a scrapper and embodies Australian self believe and spirit.

Germany


Deutschland! Do I need to say more. The discipline. The rigidness. The efficiency. The Germans. Fussbal as it is call in Germany is the national sport and you don't have to be an expert see why. They qualified to this date for the World Cup a record 17 times and won the prestigious tourney thrice first in 1954 then 74 and then 90. Chinks in the armor of Germany? There opponents wished. Just a sample of their might was found in their qualification for South Africa. The Germans dispatched teams like Russia and Wales to top their group. They are well coached with Joachim Low directing the Mannschaft as they are called. They have solid keepers in Manuel Neuer and Tim Wiese. Strong defenders with Phillip Lahm and Per Mertesacker heading up the back line. Young midfielders like Mesut Ozil and Toni Kroos supporting veterans like Bastian Schweinsteiger and now they have founder a wonder striker like Stefan KieBling (his name has that special northern europe b). They have lost Michael Ballack a blow I think that can hinder them from going all the way but Germany to look solid not to cause a serious threat.

Key Man- Bastian Schweinsteiger: With Ballack out he has to be the loudest voice in the dress room and a lot of the burden will be placed upon him.

Ghana


The other day I made mention of how I have met people from all over the globe. I met a Ghanaian, well actually his parents are Ghanaian he's an American. He loves basketball and has a thing for Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose (he is a beast). This kid's name is Ishmael MarkAddy he's from the Bronx. As American you can get. He told me his dad loves Ghana's national team, he on the other hand knows little to nothing about them. One day we were talking and he said his favorite player was "Ekien."I was, like who? then it clicked....ohhhhhhhhhhhh. You mean Essien. He said. "That is what I said." I was like, close enough and close enough is how I feel about Ghana right now. In this group it will be tough and I know they have talent in their ranks to make me say they got a shot. Which is good. What is bad is that Ekien according to my friend Ishmael may not make it to the finals he is struggling with a serious injury and Ghana can ill afford to be without their star man. Now they don't have to panic because I still think they can be competitive without him but can they win games without him is the question and indicators state that they could, they had to be without him the majority of qualification. That's qualification though this the real thing. This being their second World Cup its no longer a time for starry eyed moments they need to perform.

Key Man- Sulleyman Ali Muntari: Even if Essien gets the all clear to compete he won't be at 100% thus Muntari needs to pick up the slack. I think he was great at Portsmouth and I do believe Inter Milan should give him a chance. If Ghana has a chance of advancing he has to have something to do with it.

Serbia

Forgive me for being very ignorant and blind. About two years ago I didn't know much about a then Serbia & Montenegro side. I knew they were apart of the mighty Yugoslavia but other than that I didn't care to pay much attention to them. I knew they played attractive football but for some reason I ignored them . Now Serbia has split with Montenegro and are for the first time entering as a solely sovereign nation into the World Cup. As apart of Yugoslavia they went to numerous World Cups even appearing in a final or here and there abouts. Looking back on it I think that was very impressive but one must keep in mind that Yugoslavia emcompassed what is today Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo. So they weren't exactly starved of population to develop footballers. What is impressive now is this Serbian side. To reach South Africa they topped a group that contained France, Romania and Austria teams that aren't considered light weights. So that is an accomplishment all on its own. Me being a neophyte was proclaiming that Nemanja Vidic was all the Serbs had. Then I started to look down the list at the players they had and it read. Dejan Stankovic, Nemanja Vidic, Marko Panetlic, Zoran Tosic, Aleksandar Kolarov and Milan Jovanovic and I said to myself. "Holy shit I know these guys." So I ask myself where was this team hiding. I was wrong about Serbia and I think they will go very far.

Key Man- Nemanja Vidic: He is a starting defender for Manchester United enough said.

Predictions- Before I start let me just say to this date this is the hardest group I have ever had to run the rule over but after some deep Aristotle like thinking I came up with this logical decision. Here I go. Germany 1st, Serbia 2nd, Australia 3rd, Ghana 4th. Germany is a given I don't have to explain why but looking at those names for Serbia I was forced to have them go through. Australia I said I liked but they don't have that striker and Ghana without Essien is like ice cream with out a cone, taste great in the begining but melts without the right support.