GROUP H
Belgium
Algeria
Russia
Korea Republic
OUTLOOK
Yes, it is the union of the Devils that you are going to see in this group which includes two teams with the nickname “The Red Devils”. If every “non-South American” team was asked to choose a group they liked to be in during the FIFA World Cup Draw, then one of the sure choices would have been group H. It’s not because of the strength of the teams but because there is no South American team in the group. With the games to be played in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte, it’s certain that the teams who are able to adjust to the conditions quickly will progress further. Belgium looks the clear favourites to make it to the round of 16. Fabio Capello’s Russia looks another team to qualify from the group. But with Algeria and South Korea, who have created many upsets and surprises in World Cups over the years, the group can turn out to be one of the most interesting groups in this year’s football carnival. Let’s get straight into team analysis.
BELGIUM
Nickname : Rode Duivels (Red Devils)
FIFA Ranking : 11
Best Finish : Fourth at 1986 World cups
Belgium is a team that has reached six successive World Cups from 1982 through 2002 by playing qualification rounds, a record bettered only by Spain .On top of that, in that era the Belgian team reached the knockout phase five times out of six. This was referred by the pundits as the golden era of Belgian football as the Belgians never really made an impact after 2002 and before 1982. But at present, just like Brazil, they have come up with a young squad which has shown a lot of talent and promise. On paper, they surely look like a team that can better the fourth place record that they got in 1986.
Manager : Marc Robert Wilmots
Though not a person who is famous worldwide, Marc Robert Wilmots is greatly famous in Belgium not only as a footballer or football manager but as a politician too. He was in the Senate for two years for the Mouvement Réformateur party. As a player he is the highest scorer for Belgium in World Cups with 5 goals. He was also instrumental in winning trophies for his clubs including Schalke 04. With a young squad, a politician’s shrewdness and a footballing mind, it will be interesting to see how Wilmots will approach this World Cup.
Team & Tactics
The team has been named the dark horses of the tournament by the pundits and the depth of this squad makes it the one of the strongest as well as the youngest contenders for the World Cup. The strength of Belgium lies in its defence though the strong attacking midfield cannot be written off. With Thibaut Courtois as the goalkeeper and Vincent Kompany as one of the defenders, the opposition strikers will face a tough time netting a goal. Captain Vincent Kompany has been one of the best leaders this season and his Premier league triumph will surely boost his confidence. Tottenham’s left back/centre back Jan Vertoghen is another promising player to watch out for. Atletico Madrid’s Toby Alderweireld and Bayern Munich’s Daniel Van Buyten makes the Belgian defence one of the best in the tournament.
The midfield contains a group of highly talented young footballers. Marouane Fellaini and Alex Witsel are the likely defensive midfielders to make it to the starting eleven though both of them have not been in good touch this previous season. The Belgian attack will be mainly concentrated on Chelsea starlets Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku. The sheer pace and dribbling of Eden Hazard as well the finishing of Lukaku can make Belgium live up to their name of Dark Horses. Wolfsburg’s Kevin De Bruyne and Everton’s Mirallas can make the midfield more attacking and dynamic. The general formation of the team will be 4-3-3 .The squad depth of Belgium is impressive as players like Simon Mignolet, Thomas Vermaelen, Nacer Chadli, Steven Defour, Moussa Dembélé and Adnan Januzaj will fight for a place in the starting 11. With striker Christian Benteke injured and Lukaku doubtful for the first match it will be interesting to see which formation will the manger adopts.
Hazard – The Wizard of Brussels
Belgium Squad In Full
Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid, on loan from Chelsea), Simon Mignolet (Liverpool), Sammy Bossut (Zulte Waregem).
Defenders: Toby Alderweireld (Atletico Madrid), Laurent Ciman (Standard Liege), Nicolas Lombaerts (Zenit St Petersburg), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City), Daniel Van Buyten (Bayern Munich), Anthony Vanden Borre (Anderlecht), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham).
Midfielders: Nacer Chadli, Mousa Dembele (both Tottenham), Steven Defour (Porto), Kevin De Bruyne (Wolfsburg), Marouane Fellaini, Adnan Januzaj (both Manchester United), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Kevin Mirallas (Everton), Divock Origi (Lille), Axel Witsel (Zenit St Petersburg).
Forwards: Romelu Lukaku (Everton, on loan from Chelsea), Dries Mertens (Napoli).
ALGERIA
Nickname: Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes)
FIFA Ranking : 22
Best Finish : Group Stages (1982,1986,2010)
Algeria has produced the soccer legend Zinedine Zidane. Though he represented France, he admitted that he was Algerian by descent. The team has been improving after making consecutive World Cup qualifications. The 2014 World Cup will be the fourth for Algeria with the team exiting at Round 1 in the previous three. Though they narrowly qualified after winning the playoffs, their comeback was nothing less than inspirational as they overturned a 3-2 away loss with a 0-1 home win against Burkina-Faso. The team is not expected to make it to the playoffs but African teams have been always a hard nut to crack.
Manager : Vahid Halilhodžić.
He is one of the most experienced managers in the current World Cup. The Bosnian has managed around 9 clubs and 2 countries (including Algeria). PSG, Lille, Côte d’Ivoire and Stade Rennais are some of the notable teams that he has managed. He was successful in integrating a successful bunch of attacking youths in the Algerian team. The team lost just 5 out of 26 matches after he took charge of the team and much of the country’s hope will rest on him as they face Belgium in their first match.
Team & Tactics
The team’s strength lies in their young attack as well as the midfield. A lot of promising youngsters like Yacine Brahimi, Islam Slimani and Sofiane Feghouli have been in good form during the qualifiers. Sofiene Feghouli will be undoubtedly the key player for them as the Valencia midfielder has been in good form for the national side. Tottenham’s Nabil Bentaleb will be another key player to watch out for. The team’s defence will be the major concern for Halilhodžić. The team is likely to play a 4-1-4-1 formation with Sporting Lisbon’s Islam Slimani as the lone striker. Algeria is a team with an exciting bunch of young players but lack experience in big matches and perhaps this is why I feel that they won’t make it to the playoffs.
Bentaleb – Young Gun
Algeria Squad In Full
Goalkeepers: Rais Mbolhi (CSKA Sofia), Cedric Si Mohamed (CS Constantine), Mohamed Lamine Zemmamouche (USM Alger).
Defenders: Essaid Belkalem (Watford, on loan from Granada), Madjid Bougherra (Lekhwya Club), Liassine Cadamuro (Mallorca), Faouzi Ghoualm (Napoli), Rafik Halliche (Academica Coimbra), Aissa Mandi (Stade Reims), Carl Medjani (Valenciennes), Djamel Mesbah (Livorno), Mehdi Mostefa (AC Ajaccio).
Midfielders: Nabil Bentaleb (Tottenham), Yasine Brahimi (Granada), Medhi Lacen (Getafe), Saphir Taider (Inter Milan), Hassan Yebda (Udinese).
Forwards: Abdelmoumene Djabou (Club Africain), Sofiane Feghouli (Valencia), Nabil Ghilas (Porto), Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City), Islam Slimani (Sporting Lisbon, Portugal), Hilal Soudani (Dinamo Zagreb).
RUSSIA
Nickname : Sbornaya (‘Team’ or ‘Selection’)
FIFA Ranking : 18
Best Finish : Fourth place in 1966 as USSR
Even before the communist revolution, football was a famous sport in Russia. As Russia was part of the Soviet Union till the 1990 World Cup, this will be their 10th. Soviet Union’s best finish was fourth place in 1966 world cups. But after the country of Russia was born they were unable to clear the group stages in both 2002 and 1994. The past few years has seen a revival in Russian football especially after the arrival of Fabio Capello as their manger. They finished first in a group containing Portugal and Israel during the World Cup qualifiers. This form clearly makes them the second favourites to clear the group. Politically Russia is being a little aggressive right now and if they carry a bit of this aggression in football, then Putin will end up congratulating the team at July 13.
Manager : Fabio Capello
He is undoubtedly one of the most experienced managers in this year’s World Cup and is the highest paid too. His interest in the collection of fine art (a personal collection worth 10 million pounds) was truly reflected in his style of play as well as in his tactics. Though the Italian won many trophies while he managed clubs like AC Milan, Roma and Real Madrid; his managerial form dipped while he was in charge of the England national team for the 2010 World Cup as they were knocked out in the Round of 16 by Germany. But his form with the Russian team during the Qualifiers was exceptional. With a stereotypical Italian approach, he was able to bring much more quality to the defence of the team.
Team & Tactics
Capello will be going with a 4-2-3-1 formation for the World Cup. Their goal keeper Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow) has played every minute of the qualifiers and has conceded just 5 goals. Along with the goal keeper, Russia’s strongpoint will be its defence which was exceptional during the qualifiers. Vasili Berezutskiy can turn out to be one of the key players in the Russian defence. Andrey Eshchenko, Sergey Ignashevich and Dmitry Kombarov are likely to complete the team’s back four. Igor Denisov and Roman Shirokov are likely to do the job of defensive midfielders. Alexander Kerzhakov and Alan Dzagoev are the players to watch out for the opponent defenders. Alan Dzagoev’s form was exceptional during UEFA Euro 2012 and will hope to carry that form on to the World Cup.
Dzagoev- A formidable weapon in Russia’s arsenal.
Russia Squad In Full
Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Yury Lodygin (Zenit St Petersburg), Sergey Ryzhikov (Rubin Kazan).
Defenders: Vasili Berezutskiy (CSKA Moscow), Vladimir Granat (Dynamo Moscow), Andrey Eshchenko (Anzhi Makhachkala), Sergey Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Alexey Kozlov (Dynamo Moscow), Dmitry Kombarov (Spartak Moscow), Andrey Semenov (Terek Grozny), Georgi Schennikov (CSKA Moscow).
Midfielders: Denis Glushakov (Spartak Moscow), Igor Denisov (Dynamo Moscow), Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow), Yury Zhirkov (Dynamo Moscow), Alexey Ionov (Dynamo Moscow), Pavel Mogilevets (Rubin Kazan), Alexander Samedov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Victor Faizulin (Zenit St Petersburg), Oleg Shatov (Zenit St Petersburg).
Forwards : Maxim Kanunnikov (Amkar Perm), Alexander Kerzhakov (Zenit St Petersburg), Alexander Kokorin (Dynamo Moscow).
KOREA REPUBLIC (South Korea)
Nickname : Taeguk Warriors ( The Red Devils)
FIFA ranking : 55
Best Finish : Fourth at 2002 World Cup
They will have excellent memories of the 2002 tournament on home soil, in which they reached the semi-finals. But away from their home nation, their record in major tournaments leaves much to be desired. But yes, things are changing in South Korea and they can be inspired from their own citizen PSY who has conquered the whole world with his “Gangam Style”. The team has caused so many upsets in World Cup history and their only chance of proceeding to the round of 16 is by causing some more of them.
Manager : Hong Myung-Bo
Considered as one of the greatest Asian footballers of all time, he was instrumental in the country’s 2002 World Cup campaign, ending up winning the Bronze Ball. His experience in World Cups is something that every Asian player probably dreams of. He has played 4 consecutive World Cups and hence, his experience will play a key role in his role as a manger.
Team & Tactics
The team will be mainly relying on their experienced manger this World Cup. The team’s performance in the qualifiers was not so inspiring as they made it to the second place only due to better goal difference. The team will employ a 4-2-3-1 formation likely . Son Heung Min had a reasonable season with Bayer Leverkusen and has the ability to score goals and create chances for the Koreans. Sunderland’s midfielder Ki Sung Yeung also had an excellent season and was instrumental in getting his club out of relegation this season. The power of the team lies in their attack and can cause some big upsets if all of them deliver like “Gangam Style”.
Son Heung Min – The second most sought after Korean in Europe after PSY.
Korea Republic Squad In Full
Goalkeepers: Jung Sung-ryeong (Suwon Bluewings), Kim Seung-gyu (Ulsan Horang-i), Lee Bum-young (Busan I’Park)
Defenders: Yun Suk-young (QPR), Kim Young-kwon (Guangzhou Evergrande), Hwang Seok-ho (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Hong Jeong-ho (Augsburg), Kwak Tae-hwi (Al Hilal), Lee Yong (Ulsan Horang-i), Kim Chang-soo (Kashiwa Reysol), Park Joo-ho (Mainz)
Midfielders: Ki Seung-yueng (Sunderland, on loan from Swansea), Ha Dae-sung (Beijing Guoan), Han Kook-young (Kashiwa Reysol), Park Jung-woo (Guangzhou R&F), Son Heung-min (Bayer Leverkusen), Kim Bo-kyung (Cardiff City), Lee Chung-yong (Bolton Wanderers), Ji Dong-won (Augsburg).
Forwards: Koo Ja-cheol (Mainz), Lee Keun-ho (Sangju Sangmu), Park Chu-young (Arsenal), Kim Shin-wook (Ulsan Horang-i).
From The Penalty Spot 