Group C
France
Group C to me is the most intriguing and most interesting group because it involves
three “big teams” and Romania who will consider themselves in the group of death. France who reached the 2006 World Cup final is not the winning side of 1998 and 8 years ago in 2000. Zidane, Blanc, Barthez, Deschamp, Lizarazu, Thuram, Petit and Desailly all at their peak the French were unstoppable. However today it’s a different story for the French who will rely on a new generation of stars that are not a shade on the sides of 1998 and 2000. Despite the French downfall I expect them to be strong and get past the group stages, how can you bet against a side with the likes of Henry, Sagnol, Abidal, Ribery, Nasri, and Benzema and so on?
Holland
Holland are the team everybody loves to watch and over the past 20 years have had generated some of the world’s best players. Cruyff, Van Basten, Seedorf, Bergkamp, Overmars, De Boer, Davids and the list goes on. Unfortunately for the men in Orange Holland are the “nearly” men listed alongside Spain. Could this be the year of the ‘Oranje’? Holland DO have the players to mount a serious challenge when you consider the likes of Robben, Van Der Vaart, Van Nistelrooy, Sneijder, Van Persie and experienced goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar. However it’s in defence I worry about the Dutch side, no longer are the days of De Boer, Stam or Reiziger, Numan, Bogarde. I hope for the neutrals amongst us that Holland get into gear this summer and show the world what beautiful football they can play.
Italy
The reigning World Champions will really fancy themselves this summer despite losing influential captain Fabio Cannavaro. I think the loss of the Real Madrid star will prove very costly for the Italians especially in the latter stages of the competition however I do expect them to get through this group and get to the semi-finals at least. When you have players such as Toni, Gattuso, Pirlo, Buffon, Zambrotta, Del Piero, De Rossi, Perrota etc you have to be considered one of the favourites to win the tournament. Despite the talent contained by the Azzuri I think this year they will struggle to A) score enough goals and B) keep them out without Cannavaro; their rock at the back.
Romania
Poor old Romania who has been given the group of death and no one in their right mind will fancy them to beat any of the above. If this group goes on paper Romania will sit at the bottom of the group in a couple of weeks with no points. Are critics being too harsh on the Romanians? No way. When you get put in a group with the World Champions and the runners-up of that very competition alongside the very talented Dutch side you have to be realistic and state the facts. I hope the Romanians prove everyone wrong and really show the three big sides in their group that they are no pushovers. If this is going to happen they need very BIG performances from the two centre-backs Chivu and Contra along with world class showing from controversial striker Adrian Mutu.
France
Group C to me is the most intriguing and most interesting group because it involves
three “big teams” and Romania who will consider themselves in the group of death. France who reached the 2006 World Cup final is not the winning side of 1998 and 8 years ago in 2000. Zidane, Blanc, Barthez, Deschamp, Lizarazu, Thuram, Petit and Desailly all at their peak the French were unstoppable. However today it’s a different story for the French who will rely on a new generation of stars that are not a shade on the sides of 1998 and 2000. Despite the French downfall I expect them to be strong and get past the group stages, how can you bet against a side with the likes of Henry, Sagnol, Abidal, Ribery, Nasri, and Benzema and so on?Holland
Holland are the team everybody loves to watch and over the past 20 years have had generated some of the world’s best players. Cruyff, Van Basten, Seedorf, Bergkamp, Overmars, De Boer, Davids and the list goes on. Unfortunately for the men in Orange Holland are the “nearly” men listed alongside Spain. Could this be the year of the ‘Oranje’? Holland DO have the players to mount a serious challenge when you consider the likes of Robben, Van Der Vaart, Van Nistelrooy, Sneijder, Van Persie and experienced goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar. However it’s in defence I worry about the Dutch side, no longer are the days of De Boer, Stam or Reiziger, Numan, Bogarde. I hope for the neutrals amongst us that Holland get into gear this summer and show the world what beautiful football they can play.
Italy
The reigning World Champions will really fancy themselves this summer despite losing influential captain Fabio Cannavaro. I think the loss of the Real Madrid star will prove very costly for the Italians especially in the latter stages of the competition however I do expect them to get through this group and get to the semi-finals at least. When you have players such as Toni, Gattuso, Pirlo, Buffon, Zambrotta, Del Piero, De Rossi, Perrota etc you have to be considered one of the favourites to win the tournament. Despite the talent contained by the Azzuri I think this year they will struggle to A) score enough goals and B) keep them out without Cannavaro; their rock at the back.
Romania
Poor old Romania who has been given the group of death and no one in their right mind will fancy them to beat any of the above. If this group goes on paper Romania will sit at the bottom of the group in a couple of weeks with no points. Are critics being too harsh on the Romanians? No way. When you get put in a group with the World Champions and the runners-up of that very competition alongside the very talented Dutch side you have to be realistic and state the facts. I hope the Romanians prove everyone wrong and really show the three big sides in their group that they are no pushovers. If this is going to happen they need very BIG performances from the two centre-backs Chivu and Contra along with world class showing from controversial striker Adrian Mutu.
2 comments:
Hey Shaun,
good coverage of the groups so far mate, I think i agree with everything you've said so far .. can't wait for it now, who gives a shit that England aren't in hey!? saves us the inevitable disappointment!
oh and p.s.
check this article out .. this guys amazing football knowledge/predictions are scary;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/2641675.stm
!!
haha, some of the players in that team. David Dunn? Martin Taylor? What was he on when he was predicting that team? Mellor and Tonge on the bench? He was definitely drunk whilst making that team.
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