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The clear leaders of Group B are Argentina, twice winners of the World Cup in 1978 and 1986. The best challenge could come from Nigeria. Greece have become lacklustre since their shock Euro 2004 win; they are, in fact, lucky to have qualified for this World Cup, given their struggle in the qualifiers.

S.Korea, arguably the best among the three Asian teams at FIFA 2010, complete the group. Argentina have met and beaten all the other three at previous World Cups, the Koreans in 1986, the Greeks in 1994, and the Nigerians in 1994 and 2002.

The fact that they have been to a semi-final in 2002 gives South Korea a psychological edge over Nigeria and Greece, for what it’s worth. We can expect some fleet footed counter attacks from the Koreans. They are fast, if nothing else.

Nigeria, however, have had some fighting encounters with the South American giants, in the past. Confederation Cup 1995 saw a goalless draw; Olympics 1996 and 2008, Argentina barely scraped past the African team, 3-2 and 1-0.

Two draws between Nigeria and S.Korea in 2006-2007 friendlies leaves unanswered the question as to who are the better outfit, of the two.

Nigeria could see some support from the crowds as a kind of African solidarity.

Nigeria have met Greece twice, winning by an identical 2-0 margin on both occasions, the first at the 1994 World Cup, the next in a friendly, in 1999. Greece have disappointed as a team after they won Euro 2004.

Contrastingly, the Koreans have had a better showing against the Africans, winning 2 of the 3 friendlies the teams played between 1983 and 2001.

This is an interesting group, as it is hard to predict the second team, apart from Argentina, that’s likely to go through to the round of 16. On paper, at least, Nigeria look the likeliest, with the remote possibility of an improved showing by Greece.

The Argentina matches are likely to attract crowds who’ll throng to see their goal-happy forward line led by Messi. The group is likely to provide Argentina a great opportunity to showboat their attacking skills. Maradona has decided on an all-out attack strategy, with no Plan B to fall back on.

So if nothing else, expect lots of goals and some dazzling football from the Argentine forward line against defences that are not quite top-notch enough to keep them in check.

Two weeks in to the world cup we get to the first knock out games of the tournament. This is where tournament football is at its best. Extra time and penalties come into play if the teams are drawing and the excitement cannot be contained as both teams go for it from the start. No more bore draws. No more parking the bus in front of the goal.

The Winner of Group A will take on the Runner up of Group B.

Group A consists of South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay and France. My prediction is that France will top the group with South Africa coming in second ahead of Mexico.

Group B consists of Argentina Nigeria South Korea and Greece. My prediction is that Argentina will head the group and Nigeria in second place.

The 15:00 game will be between France and Nigeria. What a game this is going to be. I can see this being a classic with attacking football from both the French and the Nigerians. Form says that France will win and I have to agree. It always seem that the big teams get the rub of the green. Maybe its an unconscious decision by the referee. France have great players in Frank Ribery and Thierry Henry. With those two on form I can see them having a great game against the Nigerians. France, winners of the World Cup on home soil in 1998 will have a lot of work to do in order to get past this excellent African team. We will have to wait and see. I predict that France will win in extra time.

Costa Rica

Did you know- Like Mexico, USA, and Trinidad & Tobago, Costa Rica sent soccer players to the FIFA World Cup in Germany in 2006. On that occasion, CR was one of the world’s 31 best national squads. But before it could do that, by 2004, the national team qualified for the Olympics in Athens, the capital city of Greece.

Germany

Did you know – Like Italy, Brazil and Argentina, Germany is listed among the World’s best teams. Out of 19 competitions, Germany won three times. Between June 16 and July 4, 1954, it won its first international event when the German team captured the V World Championship in Switzerland. In the final match, they beat Hungary 3-2. Curiously, in the preliminary round, it lost 8-3 to Hungary. This was the first time in which a nation other than Uruguay and Italy had won the FIFA World Cup. Two decades later, by 1974, the men’s soccer team of West Germany, led by its star Franz Beckenbauer, won its second global title by beating Holland 2 to 1 in the final game. Subsequently, in 1990, the national squad came in first place in the Men’s Soccer World Cup in Rome, Italy.

Ghana

Did you know- For political reasons, the government of Ghana -an international known opponent of apartheid in the 20th century- did not send a national team to the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. Later on, by 1992, Ghana’s national football squad won its first ever Olympic medal when it finished third in the Olympiad in Barcelona, Spain. Soccer is the country’s national passion.

Honduras

Did you know- The men’s soccer team from Honduras won the third place, bronze medal, in the Central American and Caribbean Games in Havana, the capital city of Cuba, in 1930.

Kuwait

Did you know- To prepare for the Asian Championships, the under-20 national soccer team visited Brazil, one of the world’s best known soccer centres, in October 1978. Later on, throughout the 1980s, Kuwait, encouraged by Emir Sheik Jabir Al-Ahmad al-Jabir as-Sabah, competed in two international events. Firstly, it qualified for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. On that occasion, the men’s football team of Kuwait finished sixth, outpacing Algeria, Nigeria, Colombia, and other countries. Then, in 1982, the Arab nation, by virtue of its triumph in the Asian Tournament, sent soccer players to the FIFA World Cup in Madrid, Spain. In the course of the tournament, Kuwait lost to France and England. However, in one of the most memorable moments in Spain’82, Kuwait tied with Czechoslovakia (Olympic gold medalist in 1980) 1-1.

The Wales national football team don’t have the greatest history as a far football is concerned, they have only qualified for one World Cup Finals in 1958, where they were beaten 1-0 in the quarter finals, by the eventual winners Brazil.

In 1977 Wales played Scotland in a World Cup qualifying match, which, had they won, would have seen Wales reach the World Cup Finals in Argentina in 1978. A hand ball by Joe Jordan was to prove a decisive factor in the game, which Scotland won.

Even before the game, Wales were to lose their home ‘advantage’ when the fixture was re-scheduled to be played at Anfield, England, rather than in Wales at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground. This followed the Football Association of Wales’ decision to move the game to secure a larger crowd and to make more money. A huge number of Scottish fans attended the game, far more than would ever have been possible at Wrexham, which created a very hostile atmosphere for the Welsh players who were also playing on an unfamiliar pitch.

The game itself remained goalless until, in the 78th minute, came the fateful moment for Wales following an incident with Scotland’s Joe Jordan

The Scotland striker, Jordan, jumped with Wales defender David Jones to challenge for a long throw-in into the Welsh penalty area, with Jordan then deliberately punching the ball towards the Welsh goal, to the astonishment of the Welsh fans and players, the French referee Robert Wurtz awarded a penalty. Television replays clearly showed it was Jordan’s and not Jones’ hand that had touched the ball, but the referee had made his decision.

Scotland’s Don Masson scored the penalty, which broke Wale’s hearts, and with minutes remaining as Wales pushed forward in search of an equalising goal, Kenny Dalglish scored a second goal and the Wales dream was over and it was Scotland who would go to the World Cup finals.

Prior to the game everyone in the Wales was talking about Argentina and the World Cup finals and many still feel upset about the incident to this day.

To rub salt into the Welsh wounds, Joe Jordan refuses to own up to his handball and has never apologised.

Diego Maradona was famously involved in a handball incident in the 1986 World Cup when he scored a goal against England, and then claimed it was the ‘hand of God’ that had intervened.

More recent ‘handball’ incidents include that of Thierry Henry in the qualifying game against Ireland for the 2010 World Cup Finals, which have now eclipsed Wales’ injustice, and while Joe Jordan has made never made any claims of divine intervention, he will be fortunate to find any Wales supporters who will forgive him easily.

Football and controversy are best friends. And they continued to be friends throughout 2010. Here are the best seven football controversies we wrote about during the year:

1. Maradona Vs Pele: A Perennial Rivalry

When Argentina had beaten Nigeria and were about to take on South Korea, Maradona decided to stake everything on his team winning the World Cup. With the conviction of a man who already had the World Cup securely locked in his cupboard, Maradona decided to settle scores with Pele and Platini who had questioned his coaching skills. To begin with, he said that Pele belonged in a museum…

2. Are The Brazil Holland Match-Fixing Rumours True?

There are conspiracy theories doing the rounds, about the World Cup. A popular one is that the Brazil Holland quarter-final was ‘fixed’…

3. Lampard’s Disallowed Goal At FIFA World Cup 2010

Uruguayan referee, Larrionda, might have actually done the football world a favour with his disallowing of Lampard’s goal in the England-Germany match at the World Cup…

4. Holland Unhappy With Referee Webb

Holland coach Bert van Merwyjk spoke out against referee Howard Webb after his side’s 1-0 loss to Spain in the final of FIFA World Cup 2010…

5. Jambulani Ball: Adidas Lets Out The Secret

Adidas, the manufacturer of the Jambulani Ball, has revealed the real reason why teams who received the ball in February failed to get used to the Jambulani…

6. Referee Scores Winning Goal

Football referees are human too. Like us fans, they want to see goals scored in games. And like us, again, they are bored when they are forced to officiate in goalless draws.

7. Referee Beats Up Players

Everyone goes to a football game to watch a good fight. And the fight becomes even more interesting when it’s between players and referees.

His full name is Hernán Jorge Crespo. He was born 5 July 1975. Crespo is an Argentine soccer player who now plays for Genoa in Italian Serie A. He was given the nickname of «El Polaco» for the reason that his Grandma was from Poland. But Fans accustomed to call Crespo «Valdanito» for the reason that his looks, build and running style recall 1986 World Cup winning forward Jorge Valdano.

Before playing for the club he joined now, Crespo experienced joining with some big clubs such as River Plate (Argentina), AC Parma (Italy), SS Lazio (Italy), Inter Milan (Italy), Chelsea (England), and AC Milan (Italy).

Hernan Crespo began his career as a footballer in River Plate as long as 1993/1994 season and making contribution with 13 goals in 25 league appearances. After that in 1996 he moved to Parma and at 1999 in this club he won both the Italian Cup and UEFA Cup. In 2000 he left to Lazio and be the top scorer with 26 goals in 2000/2001 Serie A season. In 2002 he moved to Inter Milan and 2003 sign to Chelsea but he moved again in 2004 loaned out to Milan.

With national team of Argentina Crespo has 64 caps and 35 goals. In February 1995 he won his first cap in a friendly match in opposition to Bulgaria. Crespo was called up to the final roster for the 1998, 2002, and 2006 FIFA World Cups.

He scored twice in Argentina’s 3-1 World Cup qualifying win over archrivals Brazil in Buenos Aires in June 2005, which made him Argentina’s career scoring leader in World Cup qualifiers. He ended the 2006 tournament as the Silver Shoe Award winner.

Some of honors that he ever got are:

1996 Copa Libertadores winner (River Plate)

1999 UEFA Cup winner (Parme AC)

1995 Argentina League Champions (River Plate)

1999 Italian Cup winner (Parme AC)