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World Cup:
Group G Preview
10th June 2006
The FIFA 2006 World Cup kicked yesterday in Germany, so The
Forgotten Imp
is here to provide a concise guide to the tournament; we
continue by looking at Group G.
Group G promises to be an interesting group for the
neutrals as it contains World Cup debutantes Togo. They
face a tough fight to qualify though, as they have been
pitted in the same group as France, South Korea and
Switzerland.
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France - France will once again try
to prove that they are not a team built around just a
handful of extraordinarily talented players.
They won the tournament on home soil in 1998 and they
could progress to the last few teams this time. Their
attack relies heavily on the creativity and scoring of
Thierry Henry. France were dealt a huge blow last week
when Liverpool's striker Djibril Cisse was ruled out of
the tournament after suffering an injury during training.
The French midfield is yet again focused around the
skilful Zinedine Zidane and Patrick Vierra but age could
easily catch up with both players.
Perhaps the biggest worry that France have is their
goalkeeping situation with many unsure whether Fabien
Barthez is still capable of playing on the world stage.
The debate is reported to have affected team morale in
the camp.
France are quoted at world cup odds of 12/1 to win the
tournament. That might be too ambitious for the French
but they should qualify from Group G with ease, hence
they are quoted at 1/8 to qualify.
A player to watch out for Pascal Chimbonda, who has just
enjoyed an excellent season in the English Premiership
with Wigan Athletic.
Please click to view cheap soccer merchandise for France, Liverpool or Wigan
Athletic.
Togo - Togo are here to provide the
romance for the 2006 World Cup. Absolutely every unbiased
person is predicting three defeats for Togo, hence they
are quoted at odds of 5/1 to qualify from Group G.
These pessimistic predictions appear founded, as Togo
have suffered several problems since their qualification
to the finals. First, they lost all three of their
matches in the Africans' Nation Cup. Togo will point to
the absence of Arsenal's new signing Emmanual Adebayor as
the reason for their failure. Whether proven or not,
their failure in the Africans' Nature Cup forced a change
of coach.
Adebayor is the player to watch in Togo's side as he
scored eleven goals during their qualification to the
World Cup. He is the most famous of Togo's squad but a
large number do play in various European leagues.
Please click to view cheap soccer merchandise for Arsenal or Togo.
South
Korea - South Korea are one of the most
consistent World Cup qualifiers of recent times having
qualified for the past six tournaments. Unfortunately for
South Korea, prior to the 2002 tournament, they had
failed to win a match at the actual finals.
The 2002 tournament was held jointly in Japan and South
Korea, which excited conspiracy theorists around the
world when South Korea unexpectedly reached the
semi-finals. They are unlikely to reach the semi-finals
again but they are quoted at 8/5 to qualify for the
second round.
A player to watch out for Lee Young-pyo of Tottenham
Hotspur, who has impressed many with displays at
left-back. Also look out for Manchester United's
midfielder Park Ji-sung, although he sustained an injury
during a recent training session.
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United, South Korea or Tottenham.
Switzerland - Switzerland have not the
most enigmatic of teams during previous major tournaments
but that could change this time. In striker Alexander
Frei they have a player who can win matches, as
demonstrated by his finish as Switzerland's leading
scorer during qualification.
They will vie with South Korea for second place in Group
G and the bookmakers offer world cup odds of 11/20 on
Switzerland advancing to the second round.
One thing in their favour is that they were drawn in the
same group as France for the qualification to the Finals.
Switzerland, unlike South Korea, already know how France
play, which could be the difference between progression
and an early exit.
A player to watch out for, other than Frei, is midfielder
Johann Vogel who has been described as Switzerland's best
player. However, the AC Milan midfielder struggled to
play first team football last season, which could cause a
loss of form.
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Please click the links to view cheap merchandise for Arsenal, England, France, Japan, Liverpool, Manchester
United, South Korea, Switzerland, Togo, Tottenham, Wigan
Athletic or
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Cup in
general.
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