World Cup Wildes

As you may know I watch a lot of football and I think I had mentioned that I was on summer vacation from college. This combination of reckless watching and the certainty of doing nothing when the day comes breeds a more avid interest in football. On what has to be said my favorite channel of all time the Fox Soccer Channel I have rekindled an interesting anecdote I have. FSC have began to air a program called Football Rivalries a series I had enjoyed watching before I moved to the States. In this wonderful piece of art you are taken on a journey that highlights, well the rivalries between to clubs/countries and I find the stories behind them very interesting. For example the beef between Ajax Amsterdam and Feyenoord Rotterdam. Now for the novice of the sport I shall explain, these two teams are from Holland and I do say the best in that nation. Ajax is found in the Netherlands cultural capital Amsterdam while Feyenoord is found in Holland's second city Rotterdam an industrial haven filled with blue collar workers. As in found in all nations people who live in the capital think they are better and more worldly than their rural or industrial countrymen a feeling Ajax holds towards Feyenoord. Thus a rivalry was born. I won't go into detail because I will probably write about it in the future. I mentioned the whole Dutch thing because my favorite team is in Group E is that being bias? Yes it is so lets proceed.

Group E
Cameroon
Denmark
Japan
Netherlands

Cameroon


I started out with a bias tone and I will look to continue it. I have to be honest I have never liked Cameroon, in fact I am not a fan of most sub Saharan African teams. I never liked Nigeria, Senegal or teams like Ivory Coast. I prefer the north Africans like Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. Don't get me wrong I do like Ghana and South Africa a lot, but they are like 2 out of 30. Does this mean deep down inside I dislike myself and my race. It is a possibility that I think Sigmund Freud could only answer but the fact remains I don't like African teams in general. As I just said I don't like Cameroon. Cameroon topped their group to book their ticket to South Africa, in fact to make me look even dumber, all African teams apart from the host topped their groups to make it to the World Cup. Cameroon are blessed with a luxury, something that is rare in African squads and that is a top class goalkeeper. Carlos Kameni who plays for Espanyol is very, very,very good. It is without a doubt he is the best goalkeeper on the continent. Cameroon also has a world class striker in Samuel Eto'o. He has won everything except a World Cup and I don't think he is going to win one either his form has taken a dip but I will let him slide on that. Due to that form dipping he has come in for some criticism from Cameroon great Roger Milla and like the true patriot Eto'o he is threatens to quit the team. It is this sort of thing makes be not like African teams. There is always an issue. However the Indomitable Lions boast experience defender Rigobert Song, his cousin Alexandre Song and the solid naturalized duo of Sebastian Bassong and Benoit Assou-Ekotto. A fairly good squad but I just can't get into them. If they play to their potential they have a chance but I can't see that happening for some reason.

Key Man- Samuel Eto'o: If he could just tuck the distractions at the back of his mind he could really do something great.

Denmark


Years ago Denmark were not just a team that would have given you a fight but they were good money to really beat you up. I remember the Laudrup boys, Stig Tofting and Peter Schmeichel, really good players. When they all retired Denmark entered into a little lull period where we say them not really challenge for anything or springing any big shocks. Today I do think they are being to re-emerge out of that lull and can cause a bit of a stir.When we look at this group we see some strong opposition for Denmark to face but I do say with confidence they will make it through. You see in order for the Danes to make it to South Africa they had to fight off the Portuguese, who themselves made it to the event and their Nordic neighbors Sweden who didn't make it to the dance. Not only did they hold them off they topped the group. With that kind of thinking applied I can only go with the Danes to make it through this group. As personnel go they have players I really like. I am a huge fan of Daniel Agger and a huger fan of young starlet Simon Kjaer. These two defenders will no doubt be instrumental in the Danish campaign. Christian Poulsen is another favorite of mind as well as Thomas Kahlenberg. They have some veterans that they will rely heavily on such as Jesper Gronkjaer, Jon Dahl Tomasson and Dennis Rommedahl.I never thought I would say this but Denmark has a young man I have often made fun of and frankly didn't like but he has proven to be a not a world class yet but a proven goal scorer and that is Nicklas Bendtner. I would like to apologize for my folly because it is because of him that Denmark even got here.

Key Man: Christian Poulsen: Hard man in the middle will need to be even harder when coming up against stiff opposition. (That was a pretty gay sentence.)

Japan


The Blue Samurai. Which I never understood why they call them blue. Sure their kit is blue and they are Japanese so you could call them samurais but their crest is a raven with white and red. I don't know. What I am also unsure about are the Japanese chances. The Asians qualified out of the AFC zone which is a given. Japan I think was the strongest Asian team in the world until the Australians came about usurping them. They are terrific in Asia and I do think they can give most teams on this planet a run for they money but seeing the group they have been placed in I am not so keen on their chances of progressing. They have a wonderful team spirit and some really versatile players but I think they are out gunned by their opponents in Group E. The Danes are a huge team physically, the Cameroonians are themselves huge and quick even wild and I don't think anyone can get the ball away from the Dutch when they start passing it. So the Japanese really need to be super efficient in every maneuver they make. They have interesting players like Keisuke Honda, Junichi Inamoto and Takayuki Morimoto. Interesting because you know how good they can be but you just don't know if they are going to ever reach your expectations. The real big name is the aging Shunsuke Nakamura. He is real class but he is getting up there in age so Japan really need to utilize him well if they can they have an outside chance of progression.

Key Man- Keisuke Honda: He is the hottest thing in Japanese football right now and will need help out Nakamura in the creative department so the Japanese can have a good summer, well South African winter.

Netherlands


I tried to pinpoint the reason why I liked the Dutch so much so I tried to tick some boxes. I asked may it was the orange but then I said nah it can't be.I like orange soda but as a fashion sense I think the color ghastly. So then I wondered maybe it was the culture. The Dutch are a fairly liberal people with a fairly harmonious society. Yet again I thunk no. Not to be disrespectful but the Greeks, Iberians and Italians have more appealing cultures. So I went on and said maybe it's what the Dutch gave to the world like windmills, clogs and donuts. Then I remembered the Dutch also started the slave trade, then I was like definitely not. Then it came back to me, my most earliest encounters with football were Dutch affiliated. When I was a kid I remember watching Dutch football on ESPN on a Saturday morning right after watching my Saturday morning cartoons. I remember my cousin and I loved Ajax and I guess that is where it started for me. This World Cup I will be rooting for them even though I know they are not going to win but I still love them. The Dutch are the great underachievers and have been for years but they also have been packed with talent. Talent of yesteryear featured men liked Johann Cruyff, Ruud Gullit, Ronald Koeman and Marco Van Basten. Today we see the likes of Rafael Van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie. You would have notice out of the current crop I haven't called any defenders, to be frank the Dutch don't have outstanding defenders and this is why I think they will flounder. The Dutch best defender is Johnny Heitinga. That is worrying, he is very good but he is the only one. Khalid Boulahrouz is like a blind pitbull and Giovani van Bronckhorst is old so I am a bit worried. I'm just hoping Van Persie and the gang can blitz the oppostion so the defence will not be found wanting.

Key Man- Robin Van Persie: In a team filled with goalscorers he is thee goalscorer. The Arsenal man can make this a memorable tourney for the Oranje if he hits the right form.

Predictions: Bias aside here it is. The Netherlands 1st, Denmark 2nd, Cameroon 3rd and Japan 4th. The Europeans are too formidable . Cameroon may have all these great players but Denmark are more of a team ironically even though the Japanese are more of a team than all of their Group E mates they are less gifted.