Predictions

Sorry to hear that. That could cause lots of distraction to the Super Eagles.

Right now the distraction seems to be minor. People are really giving Lagerback a chance.

Could be nothing - maybe they just checked Lagerback's e-mail account and saw that he had a proposition from a Nigerian businessman asking him to pay an advance fee and gain access to someone's $10,000,000 inheritance.

hahahaha you could well be right. those 419 scammers bring the country down sometimes.

There isn't a proper thread for this, but:
Lagerback is on course for a total revolution of the Nigerian squad. I.e. it looks definite that Micheal Odibe from Genoa will make the team. Lagerback has a list of 45 players that he is watching and I'm sure there is a lot of surprising names on the list.

One thing is certain: This is going to be a completely new Nigerian squad. Due to this all bets are off. No-one has any idea whether this team will be world-beaters or just too inexperienced to really matter.

Can't wait to see the end results, but I know one thing for sure: Nigeria needed such a closet clean-out.

I disagree, wholesale changes will be fatal IMO (remember 2002), the squad from the ANC needs about 5 or 6 changes to the 23, and it will be fine.

In 2002 they was no revolution if I recall. Naturally I don't think a revolution 2-3 months before the world cup is a good idea, but well... main thing Nigeria need is creativity in midfield and fresh blood in defence. apart from that i don't really expect a big revolution.

It could be worse. They could have just hired Sven Goran Erikson...

Ah, I was about to make a thread like this too lol, well too late

Well, I'm definitely voting, 1. Argentina.

Second, for my home country!! - South Korea!!

i have a serious feeling that Nigeria and Greece come out of this group.

Argentina haven't done well against physically tough opponents that close up at the back and play counterattacking football

How many teams have Diego's Argentina faced that are "physically tough opponents that close up at the back and play counterattacking football"?

Wow, if Greece makes it to the next round, then it will be a completely disastrous nightmare! It was in my dream once, I was sooo scared!!!

It has to be 1. Argentina and 2. Nigeria or Korea Republic

End of story!

I honestly can't see Argentina not getting out of the group. Unless there's a huge combination of bad luck and injury on the field, they should be able to draw twice and win once (at the very least).

I see this group as a battle of three teams for one spot with S. Korea, Nigeria, and Greece all having equal chance to advance.

My prediction:

S. Korea vs Greece: 2-0 to Korea
Nigeria vs Argentina: 0-2 to Argentina

Argentina vs S. Korea: 2-0 to Argentina
Greece vs Nigeria: 1-1

Nigeria vs S. Korea: 1-1
Argentina vs Greece: 2-1 to Argentina

Argentina: 9 points
S. Korea: 4 points
Nigeria: 2 points
Greece: 1 point

Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay in the last 3 qualifiers. They struggled in all 3 except the Uruguay game where they played very defensive.

Uruguay is the only physical team there and Argentina beat them for the first time in Uruguay in I don't know how many years.

I'm not sure if Greece has the speed to counterattack, their forwards seem to be built for receiving crosses and set piece positioning. If a small team can keep them away from the wings, force them to play through the middle and stop their crossing game, they will be a non factor in the group.

Hey this to to the argentina fans. I was wondering if you could help me. I would like to know if you think your team is going to play 2 or 3 strikers? Is Messi going to play as a striker or a winger? Who play's out of Tevez,Aguero,Higuain,Milito? I was anting to put a bet on one of them for the golden boot but i need to know who's going to play.
Lastly do you think your better then 4 years ago? Thanks & good luck x

As it stands right now the strike partnership will be Messi-Higuain. Jonas and DiMaria will play the wings unless he moves Jonas to RB and in that case the wingers will be Maxi Rodriguez and DiMaria. However who knows what Maradona will do before the cup starts. I read that he's trying to figure out a way to incorporate Tevez into the starting line-up as well. So really until that first match who knows.

4 years ago the team was better on paper and played with better chemistry but until the cup starts and we see how the team performs it's hard to say.

Let's not forget Martin Palermo as a 5th striker. Diego seems to have great faith in him, even if nobody else does.

With Maradona coaching anything's possible. Who knows, maybe he'll go with 5 strikers. They've got a dodgy defence so maybe he figures they can score more than they concede. My stab in the dark is he'll start Messi, Tevez and Higuain. I have nothing to base that on, mind.

I think the Argentina of 06 was one of the better teams of the tournament, but that early defensive substitution against Germany was a coaching blunder that cost them the game. Based on the evidence so far, I'd say Argentina 06 was a better team than this one.

I can't see Argentina not winning the group, their talent alone should be enough to see them through despite Maradona's bizarro coaching. 2nd place could be anyone in the group, but please, God, don't let it be Greece. I'll go for Nigeria over South Korea, but I could live with either one going thru.

Unfortunately, you're correct. I can see Palermo playing at some point in the World Cup, even though Argentina have some of the finest striking talent in the world. Palermo isn't actually that bad and has scored some important goals, but objectively speaking there's no way he's better than some of Argentina's other players.

Argentina, and I have a feeling South Korea will edge the other two out.

If the World Cup was to start right now, I think South Korea and Argentina would move to the knockoff round. South Korea have been performing very well in their friendlies and have yet to concede a goal even to the likes of Ivory Coast. Our friendly with Spain will truly test our capabilities. So far, our players are confident and morale is high but the South Korean National team still approaches cautiously to our upcoming fixtures.

Greece performed very poorly against North Korea. 1st half went to Greece. 2nd half went to North Korea. Their team morale is very low with the greek fans. On a side note, I don't understand why Greece friendlied North Korea. Even though we have similar DNA, North Korea totally a different game then us. North Korea are like the "Greece" of Asia. They are very defense oriented team.
Did not watch this match but... I've heard Nigeria had a disappointing performance against Saudi Arabia drawing 0-0. Some people said Saudi Arabia were the better performers. Can anybody contest to this?

Apparently, team morale is low at the moment. Nigeria's best players are in the U-17 and U-20 team, according to the fans.