Dour Predictions

I am afraid it is going to be a sad day in the states. England beat Slovenia, the US draw with Algeria, and the two European countries go through. I hope I am wrong, but the US team has just been too inconsistent to make me think they can breakdown an Algerian side that is very adept at holding the ball and slowing the game down.

Group C

This is the one that everybody in the US is playing special attention to. It was thought that English speaking countries would waltz through to the knockout stages, leaving the smaller countries of Slovenia and Algeria in the dust. Boy was that wrong.

I actually theorized on a way that these countries could cause some mischief in an earlier entry, but I still didn't give them enough credit. Slovenia are in the driver's seat. A draw against England puts them through. A victory puts them through as group winners. They could lose and still go through depending on what happens in the other match.

England are through if they win, but need a lot of help if they draw. This is not an ideal situation, but they do still control their own destiny.

Algeria need to win and hope that England don't win.

The US are in with a win. They need help if they draw, but likely go through ahead of England if both draw.

It will be an interesting Wednesday morning, to say the least.

World Cup - Algeria & Slovenia

I'll be honest, I know very little about these teams. They have both pulled off some big upsets in recent times. Algeria defeated Egypt to qualify for the tournament, and they knocked The Ivory Coast out of the last African Cup of Nations. Slovenia won the two-legged playoff against a very talented Russian team to qualify.

Both teams have a few players sprinkled around the bigger leagues in Europe, though none at big clubs within those leagues. And Algeria's best attacking player is out with injury.

It all comes down to this; The most important match for both these countries is their opener against each other. If one or the other manages to get 3 points from that match, that puts extra pressure on the US and England.

For example, let's say the US and England draw, then the US beat Slovenia and England draw against Algeria. Going into the final match, the US and Algeria would each have 4 points, England 2, and Slovenia none. Depending on goal difference, a US/Algeria draw might put both countries through. I am not saying this is likely to happen, in fact I am pretty much certain it won't, but my point is that if either of these "minnows" wins the opening match, one or both of the English speaking countries in the group could be in a difficult situation.

So much for an easy group...

The thinking after the FIFA World Cup draw in December was that the US and England had drawn an excellent group. Most assumed that after a tough opening match against each other, the two English speaking countries would cruise into the knockout stages of the tournament.

Slovenia is still something of an unknown quality, but Algeria has just thrown a wrench into these plans. In order to qualify for the World Cup, Algeria had to get past Egypt, a very good squad which has won the last two Africa Nations Cups. Now, Algeria has knocked odds-on favorites Ivory Coast out of this months showcase in Angola.

So, undoubtably the bookies will still have England favored to win the group, and the US likely to advance, but things have now become must more interesting.