The World Cup in a Nutshell...

Unless y'all have been living under a rock lately, you must have heard some sort of news about this year's World Cup in South Africa. This year's World Cup marked the first time the tournament took place in the continent of Africa, and whether it was the complaints about the new Adidas ball (called the Jabulani, Zulu for "celebrate") unexpectedly changing directions in the air, or a prostitution scandal by top world players, soccer's biggest stage has dominated world news headlines for months.

Games got underway today, with the host nation South Africa kicking off the tourney with a 1-1 draw against Mexico, followed by a 0-0 draw between Uruguay and France. While today's games may not have been the most exhilarating, the tournament promises to get more exciting as the top-level teams begin playing. Without further ado, here's a rundown of what to expect in this first round of games:

Group A:

As evidenced by the games today, this group doesn't have a dominant team, but all four teams are solid squads that have the opportunity to get out of the group and potentially do some damage. It would be nice to see South Africa advance out of the group, but they are the lowest-ranked team in the World Cup, and I don't know about you guys, but both them and Mexico looked to be a step slower than Uruguay and France were in their matchup. France, while someone old, still has plenty of talent with Frank Ribery and Thierry Henry being the big names. Look for them to advance out of the group, and don't be surprised if the team they played today, Uruguay, does the same. Diego Forlan is a talented leader in the midfield, but this team could be hurt by Nicólas Lodeiro's suspension for the next game. Mexico looks to be a little too inexperienced at key positions to make a deep run.

Group B:

This has to be one of the worst groups in the field. Argentina should be an elite team with it's ridiculous surplus of talent, led by the world's best player in Lionel Messi. But they struggled mightily in qualifying, and they never seem to put it together on the big stage. Failing to make it out of the group would be a monumental disappointment, but I can't say I would be completely shocked if it would happen. Greece and South Korea don't have nearly the same amount of talent as Argentina, and I don't expect either to do enough damage to win the group. Maybe South Korea sneaks out of the group on a tie-breaker for second, but the athleticism isn't there. Keep an eye on Nigeria though. They are incredibly athletic, and led by forward Yakubu Aiyegbeni, they have a formidable attack unit that could pose problems for Argentina's somewhat-suspect defensive line. But Argentina, with Messi, Caros Tévez, and Gonzalo Higuaín leading the attack, should be too much to handle for the other three teams, and is the class of the group.

Group C:

This is the USA's group, and this year's squad is as talented as ever and has a very good chance of making it out of the group. It all starts with the huge showdown tomorrow vs. England. Win that, and the US is in prime position to make a deep run in the tournament. Lose, and they face a probable must-win vs. Slovenia to even make it out of the group. No disrespect to Algeria, but they don't have the talent level of the other three teams. England, led by Wayne Rooney, is clearly the favorite here, but it's not hard at all to see the USA and Slovenia being the two teams that advance out of the group. I would feel much more comfortable about the US if speedy Charlie Davies was playing, but with Jozy Altidore and Dempsey leading the charge, I think they will pull through and advance out of the group with England.

Group D:

I'd call this group a little version of Group A. Every team is very good, but there are no elite teams. In most years, Germany would be one of the top contenders, but as soon as they lost their heart and soul in Michael Ballack, their hopes took a big hit. And I might have picked Ghana to take advantage and make a deep run, but they also lost their best player in Michael Essein. Serbia and Australia are talented, and each can make a justified case to having the best current squad. Ultimately, I see Germany, with spectacularly named midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and forward Miroslav Klose, moving on. The other three are basically a crapshoot, so I'll go with the African team and pick Ghana. Because we're all rooting for the African teams to do well, right?




Group E: Another solid group, headlined by the Netherlands, one of the more talented teams in the tournament. It's worth mentioning that star forward Arjen Robben may not be at full strength early on, but Netherlands is still loaded with other stars like the crafty Wesley Sneijder and Robin Van Persie. Not winning this group would be a big surprise for the Dutch, but if there's one team that could give them trouble, it could be Cameroon. Led by one of the best players in the world, Samuel Eto'o, this team may not have much depth, but their speed could spell trouble for a relatively old Dutch squad. Denmark and Japan should be no more than blips on the radar as these two teams advance to the next round.

Group F: Like Argentina and the Netherlands, there is a clear-cut favorite in this group, and that favorite is the defending champs, Italy. They have the most talent in the group, and combine that with a wealth of experience and you have one of the most sure-fire teams to advance out of a group. New Zealand has the advantage of being able to easily qualify for the World Cup, and I would actually be fairly surprised if they won a game. That leaves Slovakia and Paraguay duking it out for the second spot, and neither has been overly impressive as of late. Paraguay looks to have a little more talent with players like Oscar Cardozo, but they are a bit suspect on defense. On the other hand, Slovakia has little offensive presence, but has strong midfielders like Marek Hamsik. I like Paraguay to take the second spot here.

Group G: Oh North Korea. With all the problems that you already have going on in your country, I almost feel kind of bad that you had to be the one markedly inferior team in the "Group of Death". This group has one of the top two teams in the field in Brazil, which looks as strong as ever coming off a victory in the Confederations Cup. Combine them with two other upper-echelon teams in Portugal and Ivory Coast, and North Korea, per usual, is pretty much stranded on an island. I really liked Ivory Coast to make a deep run, but even if star Didier Drogba plays, he won't be 100%, and I think that Cristiano Ronaldo (sooooo sexy) and Portugal will capitalize and advance out of the group with Brazil.

Group H: The last of the eight groups, but definitely not the least. How can it be when it has the pre-tournament favorite in Spain? The other three teams certainly are fighting for second place, but that doesn't mean that they aren't talented. Chile and forward Humberto Suazo are talented enough to at least give Spain a scare. Switzerland, despite a recent poor performance, always shows up to play in the World Cup and is a tough out. Honduras is probably happy just to be in South America. Actually, I and the whole rest of the world knows they are happy to be there:



Look for Spain, and probably Chile, to move on to the round of 16.

There are some slam dunks to move on in the first group stage. I also will probably be completely wrong about several teams. But that's the beauty of the World Cup. Countries can rise out of nowhere and have success.