Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Preview A Pool: Group C

Group C
France
Botswana
Greece
Italy
Nigeria
Afghanistan

Summary: Group C plays out a lot like Group A and Group B. El Salvador SHOULD get second in Group A, Norway SHOULD get second in Group B, and Nigeria SHOULD get second in Group C. But in Group C, it's a lot murkier. France is back with a vengeance after being ousted by Ireland in the semi-final. They beat Laos fairly handily, and Laos ended up winning. The team remains the same, give or take a couple players. If the schedule works the way it did last year, France won't have to face Ireland until the final. And you can bet France will be bulldozing its way to the final. Botswana was up and down last year, playing Ireland a lot closer than expected and tying a strong Canada team, but they also lost to Columbia. They need some consistency if they have any hope of making it out of the group this year. Luckily for Botswana, the frontrunner for second place is Nigeria, the most inconsistent team in the tournament. Greece always shows up to play. They may not have the talent they once had, but they're Greek through and through, and a great addition to the tournament. A physical team, they'll have to rely on a compact defence to prevent any balls from getting through, because they lack scoring ability. Italy has been in the tournament for the last 4 years or so, and the result has always been the same. Never a contender, they play hard for pride and the occasional win. Attaining third in this group would be a great accomplishment. Nigeria. What can you say about them? Every year that they're expected to do good, they fall flat. Once you're down on them, they impress you. No one really knows what to expect from Nigeria, except the Nigerian team. They've been practicing hard for quite some time now. They did exceptionally well in the Regina Men's Tournament, reaching the final and narrowly losing to the O'Neill Alumni Team. They practice in the facility quite a bit(way more than any other team) and are scheduling exhibition games galore. You want a prepared team? Nigeria is it. They may not have the individual skills, but they'll play great as a team. Anything less than the semi-finals will be disappointing for them. Afghanistan is another up and down team, much like Botswana, but that's because the makeup of their team has changed so drastically from year to year. Rumor has it their team is on the rise, and could challenge Nigeria for that second spot. Before they can do that, they'll need to find a defence and some composure. They would concede a few goals, get a couple cards, then concede a few more goals. We'll see what they can come up with this year.

Prediction: France will easily sweep the group. Nigeria doesn't have the track record of El Salvador and Norway, so locking them in for 2nd place is a little tougher. However, I do expect their preparation to pay off and see them in the second round. The groups rarely turn out the way you'd expect, but these first three groups are pretty straightforward. Any upsets would be tremendous, and I hope I'm wrong on all these predictions for that reason. Botswana and Afghanistan are the next best teams, and will battle it out for third. Italy and Greece will bring up the rear.

In Finishing Order: France, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Botswana, Italy, Greece.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whoever is making those simulators, as stupid as they are, I can't say that I haven't played a FIFA World Cup match as my team and not pretended it was the WCP Cup.

Anonymous said...

Wow France boner much?

Anonymous said...

if Nigeria play the way they played in the rsa tournament they they will be fighting for first place but its true never know which nigerian team shows up each game, greece will be the other team to challenge, botswana is a spoiler as always play with nothing to loose, afghan could be better heard theyve been playing in a leaque, i dont know which players italy is getting so dont know how they will do, but its all up to france to do what they have to do , sure they reach finals this yr and win it all

Anonymous said...

italy being the underdogs will surprise u, greece will do better than what u think, they have more experience than afghanistan, nore bigger physical players who are descent and having yanni whos is like one of the best mid field players will help them alot so i think they will be contenders for 2nd, 2nd place in this groups is going to be tight than most ppl will predict

Anonymous said...

Yianni Plays For France.. Just So You Know

Anonymous said...

France is gonna kill all these teams since its got the most talented players in Regina for sure no disrespect to other teams, they are probably still aggravated from the loss in semis last yr and looking forward to the final this yr

Anonymous said...

Ya he sure is French, just like the others on that team

Anonymous said...

HEY CLOCK CLEANER ... SINCE your going to delete this...

fuck you and fuck this fucking shitty blog. when i find out who you are, i'm going to fucking punch you in the face. you have my word on that. this blog has proved to be a bunch of shit, and your opinions SUCK a big NUT. You are full of yourself and you know nothing about soccer. Can't wait to meet you bitch.

Clock Cleaner said...

Well that's a little harsh.

Anyway, I delete very few comments. Only ones that are extremely racist, sexist, and exceptionally evil towards an individual.

Anonymous said...

France will win this group. Second place is up in the air. I hope to see either Greece vs Nigeria as the last game in the Group to decide 2nd place or Greece vs Afghanistan. They should be exciting games either way. All three of these teams are in need of respect amongst the other teams.

Anonymous said...

where are my comments its like only comments should be directed to certain teams, where are my comments about team Botswana, fuck!!

Anonymous said...

Wow!
"Anonymous February 27, 2011 11:02 AM"
You need to settle down. Getting charged over this blog is definitely not worth it. If you dont like it stay away from it. I dont agree with alot that clock cleaner says but at least he takes the time to give us somewhere to discuss the WCP Cup. Thanks Clock Cleaner!
P.S. i heard they changed the trophy to a replica of the real world cup trophy.

Anonymous said...

Botswana blows. They are full of cocky players who think they are the shit. No thanks. You won't make it by the first round. Garanteed.

Anonymous said...

Wht are you just jealous your not playin for bots maybe u need to grow up and accept that ur shitty team is gonna loose against botswana and all you people are going to enjoy those bots boyz doing their things

Anonymous said...

BOTS got killed by Afghan. Don't you guys will get close this year.

Anonymous said...

The team I think is the cocky one in this group is definately Afghan. They come out before every game talking about how they are going to kill the team they are playing. They play in DIV 4 and play teams that are just in that DIV to have fun. Come play in the premiere league and see how you do. You clowns were almost in last place in div 3 last year as I recall. What does that tell you about this team. Your not good. You play as a one man team. That skinny midfielder with the spikey hair thinks he is the shit. Try passing the ball clown. You need more than one person to win a soccer game. Afghan will probably lose to Italy. Ha!

Ahmad Kamali said...

Listen up 10:31!!!

I don't know how to respond to you or if I should waste my time responding to you at all, because I know you will not understand. You have called our team and our play "Clown" and...etc, but you don't have the courage to even put your name, so we can see who we are dealing with. No matter what you say is irrelevant because even my little brother can sit behind a computer and offend people, but I am sure he has more class than you and will not do it! I hope you don't play for Italy because you make them look bad! I know the people in charging of the Italian team. They put lots of time and effort to put a team and it is a disgrace that people like you waste all that hard work. Believe me it is not easy to put a team!

This is NOT a one man team. I guess you have to wait until the tournament to see that! Also, you don't know nothing about our player you are offending. He is a fantastic player and a great leader in our team! You will know who I am talking about if you play with him, work with him or know him personally!

Last year was our first year participating in WCP and as far as know it was our opponents who talked about destroying us because we were in the group of death. I don't know where your get information about our team talking about destroying other teams. Like I said it was our opponents and not us!

FYI - Last indoor season we finished 8th place in the league and 2nd place in the playoffs.

This year we play in Div 4 because of the new rule that div 2 and div 3 can accommodate only 8 teams. So far our record is 14 wins, 0 loss and 0 tie. I am not bragging about this record because I know div 4 is not the sexiest league, but it is a fantastic record for a league that consists of 18 teams. I am not really and I think we should not be concerend about how we played or anybody else played last year or yesterday because it past and its gone! We can't change that but we can change the future!

I hope the comment about Botswana is not from our players because I have nothing but respect for them. Most of those guys are my friend and we know they have a good team. As we all know, they tied Canada last year. Nothing is free in life, so we and every other team have to give our all if we are intending to qualify to the next round.

Once again, I am asking you be considerate and don’t sit behind your computer bashing other people/teams!

C U in the tournament and please don't reply if you don't have something good to say! I love to hear your opinion as long as it is not offensive and has some meaning behind it!

Ahmad Kamali

Anonymous said...

sure Ahmad,you have shown absolute absolute humble in your comments, lets keep the vibe of soccer going, soccer is all about excitement and having fun not hating on each other, we are trying to be a soccer community which have people hopes at hearts and we all have to exercise mutual understanding and respect, oh by the way i'm only 17 and plays for team Botswana, we just love soccer with our heart,please don't break our hearts.

Anonymous said...

Botswana is a good team, however, Afghanistan is not. Don't care about your record in the RSA league. Div 4 is nothing. I can take that division serious, with all the hacking and brutally dirty players. Your going to coke bad in the WCP CUP. End of story. My prediction: Afghanistan fails to make it to the next round. They don't stand a chance against France or Nigeria. They will lose bad. Garanteed.

Anonymous said...

I was watching my boyfriend play a few weeks ago against a team called AFG United, pretty much your wcp cup team Afghanistan and I couldn't even watch the game.

The game wasn't enjoyable because all their little brothers were talking nonsense and yelling absolutely the most ridiculous stuff about the other team. One kid said his brother was "so amazing". Like really. Get over it already. Let people enjoy the game without that kind of junk.

Learn to control your kids please. I want to enjoy the games, not hear all that nonsense.

Anonymous said...

Ahmad Kamali why are you telling people to be all nice on here. People are speaking the truth and you can't handle it. You'll see how bad your team is when you play a real team like France. I hope you have some real talent, or maybe just fold your team now.

Anonymous said...

having Noor on afghan will help booster their confidence but all in all i dont expect them to do anything maybe in a few yrs down the road, they have a couple of decent players too but all of them are too small to play in these physical and fast games but give them credit for putting in a team and having there great fans out every game

Irish soccer legend said...

If my team was playing against Afghans in this group I would be scared as hell, cause I think they will beat france with no difficulty, you guys have no idea about their new line up and players its for sure one of the best roster in this tournament, they will make it out of the group for sure, either first or second....I am also glad 2 of their players are gone back to vancouver cause they were the sickest players I had seen in regina.