2010 FIFA World Cup Previews: June 17, 2010

Argentina vs South Korea

At first glance, South Korea don’t seem up to the task of beating Argentina. While Maradona’s choices had been criticized and for good reason, it seemed, the side certainly has the talent to prevent them from struggling to finish off the Koreans.

The Argentine back four did make a few slip ups against Nigeria, probably due to the unconventional choice of defenders. We’ll soon see if Maradona attempts to rectify this. They should certainly progress to the knock out rounds, but after that this side could struggle.

South Korea have never qualified for the knockout stages outside of their home country, and have never beaten a country from the Americas. This of course, doesn’t look like a great statistic for anybody backing the Asians. The team went above and beyond expectations when they hosted the World Cup, and repeating the magic doesn’t seem all too likely.

But miracles do happen, we’ve already seen one giant go down in the form of Spain, felled by Switzerland.

Greece vs Nigeria

Both these teams lost their first matches, and this could quickly become a contest to see if Greece will finish at the bottom of the group or not. The Greeks are not a bad side, but they don’t have the players to make it out of the group stages, especially after losing to South Korea.

Greece’s form doesn’t help matters too much either, as they’ve lost three of their last four matches at 2-0. In fact, if they fail to score in this match, they will equal Bolivia’s record of five successive games without a goal.

Nigeria should be going into this match as favorites, even if they’ve looked equally as poor as the Greeks. Recently they have been doing better, but only slightly. They’ve looked like a more threatening side and they do have some pretty good players in the back four even if you wouldn’t notice it by the way they have been playing.

France vs Mexico

France are certainly not the team that they once were, and they looked very lack lustre and didn't show any real drive.

Many people suggested that Zidane was running the show while he was playing for France. With the way they played against Uruguay they certainly looked as though they lacked proper leadership and a sense of direction. Mexico do look like the superior team at least they have the ability to create chances and put pressure on the other side.

The Mexicans may have some issues with midfielder Marquez who picked up a minor injury against South Africa, but the coach believes he should be fine to play.

France will have to up their game significantly if they are to have any chance at beating Mexico although they just don’t look capable.

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