Sunday, June 6, 2010

2010 World Cup Predictions - Group D

Group D is one of the most competitive groups in the tournament. 3-time World Cup winners Germany lead a group that includes Serbia, Australia and Ghana.

Serbia won their qualifying group which included France and they've done well enough in their recent friendly matches.

Ghana is without Michael Essien to help them score goals. The loss of a single player is not necessarily detrimental in most cases, but he is THE play maker for Ghana. With him this group is a lot tougher to call. His injury could be the deciding factor in whether or not Ghana advances. They haven't fared well against European teams in recent friendlies, losing to Bosnia & Herzegovina and a 4-1 thrashing by The Netherlands. They did eke out a 1-0 win over Latvia, though.

Australia is not a team to take lightly. They easily topped their qualifying group undefeated. The USA just beat them 3-1 on Saturday, but just a few days before that they served up a 1-0 win over Denmark. If they are on for the tournament, they could advance in second place.

In this group I also would not count out the possibility of someone upsetting Germany and knocking them back to second place. If the USA advances in 2nd place we'll be playing the winner of this group, so it might be nice not to face Germany in the Round of 16.

I say it's really going to come down to the final matches. After 2 matches I say Germany in first with 4 points followed by Australia and Ghana each with 3 and Serbia with 1. A draw against Ghana would send Germany through, but quite possibly in second place. A second place finish is likely to match them up with England in the knockout stage, which they'll want to avoid. So they'll play for the win and get it. Serbia and Australia will both be playing hard for the win, but I think Serbia will just edge Australia by a goal.

Germany          7
Serbia              4
Australia          3
Ghana              3

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