FIFA 2010 Group Stage synopsis.

Group Stage:

The FIFA2k10 grandeur was kicked off on 11th June, 2010. The first match was played between hosts South Africa and Mexico. South Africa has drawn the first blood by scoring first goal of FIFA2k10. But the end was not encouraging for them as the match was drawn by a late goal from Mexico.



Group A: It has France and Mexico as favorites to start along with hosts and Uruguay. Uruguay are the stunners as they entered round16 in panache topping the group.


The turnaround match was between France and Mexico when Anelka lost his temper on coach and was sent back to France. Adding to the distress, French team didn’t participate in the training on the next day, keeping their personal ambitions before the country’s pride. This resulted in 2-1 loss against hosts(Africa) and the runner-ups bowed out of the tournament without a single win.
Uruguay and Mexico qualified for the round 16.
Group B: Its Argentina all the way in the group B. Messi mesmerized with his ball passing skills and creating chances for his team’s goals.
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But the only disappointment is not to see the best player on the planet to not score a single goal
South Koreans impressed with its play and cruised to round 16. It was a disappointing end to Greece and Nigeria.

Group C: It has England (All Star team) to start as favorites.


But USA’s comeback after going 2-0 down in the first half against Slovenia was the highlight. This made them to cruise to round 16 along with England (lucky to sneak through). Slovenia would be disappointed to miss the round16 and Algeria’s dismal performance earned them only 1 point.

Group D: It’s Germany all the way in this group to start as favorites.


They started as terminators outplaying Australia 4-0 but tumbled against Serbia and came back with 1-0 win over Ghana. Klose, Podolski, Ozil, Lahm and Mueller are the turnaround players for Germany. Ghana and Germany marched to round 16 in style.

Group E: This group was on a low profile with Dutch, Cameroon, Denmark and Japan.

Cameroon and Eto’o disappointed Africa with their gloomy play. Japan impressed everyone and entered round 16. It was disappointing end for Denmark. Dutch with Robben (turning late due to injury) had an easy go to round 16.

Group F: This group has champions Itlay without their champion goalkeeper Buffon(injured).


It was a gruesome display by them to stand last in the group stage. They couldn’t even win over New Zealand. Paraguay and Slovakia entered round 16.

Group G : This group has all time favorites Brazil, Ronaldo’s Portugal, Drogba’s Ivory Coast and North Korea. This group can be termed as toughest group. But Brazil was all the way through, Portugal 7-0 win over Nkorea made it easy for them.


The disappointment was for The Elephants(ivory coast) who ceased out after a great display. Drogba’s phone message ended a war in Ivory Coast after they got selected for world cup during qualifying phase. But they couldn’t prolong the exuberance of their football crazy nation.

Group H: Spain, the cup favorites and Chile are the favorites in this group. Swiss amazed Spain in the first match with 1-0. Can we hope such a result in French Open final between Federer and Nadal?? I would love to see it.


But the Spaniards came back strongly with the sublime touch of David Villa who made it for Spain. His 30 yard goal against Chile stands out. It was disappointing that Swiss didn’t qualify after defeating Spain, but Chile made it to round16.

Highlights: The highlights of group stages are :




Messi Messi Messi all the way …. He mesmerized everyone and Maradonna slammed the critics with his passion, tactics and gameplan.
Klose and Podolski impressed with their gameplan along with Mueller, Ozil and Lahm.

Drawbacks:
The main disappointment was France and Italy. The way they were ceased out was a shame to the two nations.