FIFA World Cup 2010: Group A - South Africa

The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa starts June 11. For those who don't know, there are eight groups of four teams at the start of the World Cup Finals. In the group stage, the teams in the group play every other team once. The two teams with the most points advance to the knock out rounds where if you lose you go home.

Since it will probably take 6 months to preview all eight groups, I'm starting today with the host nation and Group A.

Group A

South Africa
Mexico
Uruguay
France

What a boring group! If I had my way, all four of these teams would be sent home after the first round. On to South Africa.

South Africa's nickname is Bafana Bafana ("The Boys" in South African). They automatically qualified because they are the host nation. They played well in the Confederations Cup and have a chance to advance with their homefield advantage, however they are a very young football nation and lack the organization and experience to succeed in this competition.

Best Player: Steven Pienaar
Player most likely to end up as part of the Sesame Street game where you try to guess which one of these things is not like the others: Matthew Booth (a fan favorite of the Rainbow Nation).



Final Outcome: Eliminated in group stages. The vuvuzela will provide no advantage and the South Africans will place third in their group, just missing the cut.

Check out more on South Africa on "Football is Coming Home."