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Tough group for Socceroos
The draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa has now been conducted and the Socceroos have been drawn in a tough Group D.
The Socceroos will meet Germany, Ghana and Serbia and this seems to be a very tough group and I think getting out of it will be hard.
I think the toughest match will be against Germany who are the seeded team in this group but its good also that this is the first match. I think that will set the tempo for the remaining two group matches.
The second match will be against Ghana and the last one will be against Serbia.
I would have liked the Black Stars and the Socceroos to go through from this group but I think its a group where any two of the four teams can go through.
Germany has big match experience and they know exactly how to play at these kind of tournaments and I would very surprised if they are not in the second round.
This is the same German team that reached the final of Euro 2008 and lost narrowly to Spain and also in qualifying they managed to put fancied Russia into second place.
Serbia qualified from the same group as France and forced France into the playoffs.
They lost two matches and drew one and they scored a total of 22 goals and only conceding eight. Milan Jovanovic scored five of those goals.
The matches they lost were 2-1 narrow defeats against France and Lithuania and their drawn match was the home match against France.
I think also they don't have much to lose and that gives them another advantage.
I think Ghana is one of the top two teams from the African region and like Ivory Coast they play as as a team even though they have stars like Michael Essien in their ranks.
This will be a very tough match for the Socceroos especially as this will be in Africa with most of the local people probably supporting Ghana.
Ghana has some very fast play and they would have gained experience from participation in Germany three years ago. I will watch the Black Stars very closely now in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.
I hope the preparation from now on until June 13th will be spot on in order to get the Socceroos ready for this tough group.
Meanwhile its good to see that in the first two rounds of the 2010 World Cup there will be matches at 9:30 pm Melbourne time and then midnight and 4:30 am.
From round three onwards kickoff will be midnight and 4:30 am.
The Socceroos have one group match against Ghana at midnight and then the other two are all at 4:30am.
I agree its a tough group but not one that is beyond the Socceroos. Obviously the key match will be the one against Germany win or draw that and from there the tournament will be looking good. Lose it and then it becomes an uphill struggle. Its tougher this time than at Germany 2006 but I think that was to be expected.
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You are right Glenn the first match will be the key. I think it can still be lost as long as its not a big losing margin because that will give the other teams confidence. But having said that Ghana and Serbia are not like Japan and Croatia last time in 2006 but we will have to wait and see.
I think the Socceroos will need to take the initiative this time rather than sit back and attack on the counter but I am sure Pim is working on all that.
Cheers.
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