Group A's General Discussion Thread

I’m starting to reconsider and wonder if Czech Republic will be second and South Korea third.

I think South Korea has a slightly better team on paper but it’s very close and not far off. That being said, I feel Czech Republic is managed better and play better as a team.

The other thing I’m feeling is that if Mexico win against South Africa and South Korea, they might not completely go for it against Czech Republic and field a second team and that’s potentially an advantage here. South Korea will likely have to WIN against Czech Republic to get second, because based on scheduling, if the game ends in a draw its advantage Czech Republic.

At the very end, if Mexico wins their first two games and if Czech Republic either gets 2 wins or a win and a draw, Mexico vs Czech Republic might sort of play draw, or play very cautiously and defensively and not actually go for it which could easily result in a draw.

What do you all think? I’m starting to think:

1. Mexico
2. Czech Republic
3. South Korea
4. South Africa

I can easily see the South Korea vs Czech Republic game ending in a draw. I’m less confident about South Korea WINNING their opening match, and they likely will have to win to get second place. Czech Republic is going to come in and play very structured and defensively and play on the counter. South Korea isn’t managed very well and might have trouble breaking them down without leaving liabilities in the back. It’s very possible, but I just don’t see a South Korea win as more likely outcome. Thoughts?

 

Is the Korea game at night? If not, probably a bad idea to wear black in the blazing sun.

 

Crazy if true.

 

I watched the match. Australia looked pretty pathetic going forward so it is difficult to judge.

Just insane that he is the best option after 20 freakin years.

 

Memo is only 40

 

Correct. Faroe Islands (admittedly their best performance ever from what I can recall), a Montenegro in decline (a few years back they did make a playoff for either the Euro's or the WC, but they've largely sucked since), and Gibraltar? The fact that the Czech's found this pathway to second difficult is a pretty strong indictment on the state of the team. Croatia are aging, but ffs, they made the SF's of WC '22 w/an aging side, but yeah, Euro '24 was a brutal choke fest considering you had multiple group stage matches in the bag before giving up late equalizers in both. But yeah, in terms of punching power versus population, I'm absolutely not trashing Croatia as hot garbage, '98-'26 few if any have been better in terms of maxing out talent and tournament potential than Croatia.

 

The big deal for them is that after really struggling '21-'24, they rehired a legit coach who can do this thing, and he seemed to stabilize them post Copa America into the best of what their pool can offer. It still looks like their developmental program is sputtering, but developing a mega high upside, teenage potential superstar can do a lot to paper over problems, and that they have in Gilberto Mora. That combined w/the fact that they had an unbelievably friendly draw (probably the only better draws for a pot 1 side was Belgium's group) suggests they'll be fine until the R16's (at least if the 3rd place advancers are what I think they will be, which is admittedly a huge stretch).

I would have had Mexico failing to take the group if they had drawn anything challenging, but they didn't, the Czech's upset Denmark in their playoff, South Korea has been pretty erratic, and after playing quite well '21-early '24, South Africa has completely fallen off the past two years so they'd really have to implode to not take the group OR South Korea actually plays up to their potential. Since South Korea hasn't done that very often, I gave El Tri the group by default in my most recent predictions. That doesn't mean I'm impressed, I'm not, hopefully they can unplug for their developmental system in time to take advantage of Mora's upside, it would suck to have this star man come out of nowhere and have nobody similarly talented to play alongside, they still have some studs here and there but very little of consequence U24 with the upsdie of HH, Guardado, Jimenez, Lozano, Edson etc for now. The fact that they've had to snag guys out of the US program to fill out holes because of this problem is something nobody anywhere in that El Tri set up would have imagined or tolerated in the 80's, 90's or aughts, but times changes, and for now, guys like Guti, who were way down deep depth pieces for the USMNT (and whom, unlike others, I highly rated), are now potential starters for El Tri.

I can't imagine these problems will persist forever, and there are signs that their program is starting to sputter to life again but there's no question part of El Tri's decline between '20 and '24 was largely attributable to the fact that their developmental programs couldn't refine their U15 and U17 talent into anything of utility by the time they were 20+ years old from 2016-2023ish....we'll see if the more positive recent returns are sticky.

 

Mexico: This team has improved and grown a lot with the new generation over the past 4 years. They have some decent players like Alvarez, Vargas, Jimenez and a few others. While this is not Mexico of 2014 World Cup by any means, the ceiling of this team is probably similar to the level we saw in the 2018 World Cup. Plus they have home advantage.

South Africa: Probably one of the weakest teams in the whole World Cup and only snuck through qualification with topping their group by one extra point due to two lucky draws with Nigeria.

South Korea: This team has some good players. Kim Min-Jae is definitely their best player. Son used to be amazing but is aging and past his prime. There’s also Hwang Hee-Chan, Lee Kang-In, and Castrop. The problem though is that this team is not coached well at all. Hung is NOT a good coach and has not been doing well at all. Same coach they had in 2014 World Cup which was extremely poor.

Czech Republic: This team has truly improved massively under the new coach Koubek since taking over in December. They’ve found their identity, structure, rythemn, and tactics. Most players are average but their best ones are: Schick, Souvek, Coufal, and Krejci.

Overall, I can confidently say that South Africa gets last in this group, as they are clearly inferior to the rest. This is going to be very tough for Mexico, but they have a lot of passion, and home advantage, and I think they just edge it and find a way to win this group in first place.

The real debate is between South Korea vs Czech Republic. South Korea has the better talent on paper, but Czech Republic is coached way better and play better as a team. Given this, and due to the schedule, if South Korea is going to come second, they MUST WIN against Czech Republic. A draw will be advantage Czechia because Mexico is the Czechs last game, and if Mexico win their first two games, they’ll play more cautiously, rest a few players, and not push for the win in their last game which is going to give the Czechs a huge advantage. While a South Korea win is possible, I wouldn’t expect it given the circumstances of both teams, therefore, I fancy Czechia to edge it for 2nd, and South Korea 3rd!

Final Predictions:
1. Mexico
2. Czech Republic
3. South Korea
4. South Africa

 

Altitude and heat/humidity will doom the Czechs most likely. All other teams should be able to run more than them. If they get anything, it'll be from set pieces, but they have to get up and down effectively to get corners etc. I don't think they can. I have South Korea as better than South Africa if HMB uses proper defensive players in midfield, not just two creators. He has Castrop and some CB/CDM players to use. Castrop is a FB/WB option as well. Mexico first, but not with 9 points.

 

For anyone tracking the opening match, I’m putting together a TV/broadcast list for Mexico v South Africa.

Might be useful because coverage depends a lot on country/region, and it’s easy to lose track once the tournament starts.

I’ll add the channels I find and update if people spot missing ones.

Channels (340):

• 616 Now Sports 4K
• 618 Now Sports
• 6play
• Aleph Arena
• América Televisión
• América TVGO
• Antena 1
• Antena Play
• Arena 1 Premium
• Arena Cloud
• Arena Cloud
• Arena Sport 1
• Arena Sport 1 Slovenia
• Arena Sport 1P
• ATN (Ariana)
• Azam Sports 2 HD
• Azam Sports 4 HD
• Azam Sports HD
• Azteca 7
• Azteca Deportes En Vivo
• Bangladesh TV
• BBC Radio 5 Live
• beIN Sports 1
• beIN SPORTS CONNECT
• beIN SPORTS CONNECT
• beIN Sports MAX 1 Arabia
• beIN Sports MAX 2 Arabia
• beIN Sports MAX 5 Arabia
• beIN Sports MAX 6 Arabia
• BHT 1
• Bioscope+
• Blue Sport
• Bluu
• BNT 1
• BNT 3
• BNT 5
• BNT News App
• bnt.bg
• Canal 4 El Salvador
• Canal 5 Televicentro Honduras
• Canal 5 Televisa
• Canal 5 Uruguay
• Canal+
• Canal+ Netherlands
• Caracol Play
• Caracol TV
• CazéTV
• CCTV-5
• Channel 5
• Chapin TV
• Chilevision
• Claro TV+
• Crave
• CTV
• CTV App
• DAZN LaLiga
• DD Sports
• Deportes RCN En Vivo
• deportestvc.com
• DGO
• DGO
• Dialog TV
• Digiturk Play
• DIRECTV Sports Argentina
• DIRECTV Sports Caribbean
• DIRECTV Sports Chile
• DIRECTV Sports Colombia
• DIRECTV Sports Ecuador
• DIRECTV Sports Peru
• DIRECTV Sports Uruguay
• DIRECTV Sports Venezuela
• Disney+ Premium Argentina
• Disney+ Premium Chile
• Disney+ Premium Sur
• ditu
• DStv App
• DStv Now
• DStv Now
• eltaott.tv
• ENTV
• ERT 1
• ERT FLIX
• ETV 1
• ETV+
• Eventos HD
• Fast Sports
• FAST TV
• FBC Sports
• Fola Play
• FOX
• FOX El Salvador
• FOX Guatemala
• FOX Network
• FOX One
• FOX+
• Free
• fuboTV
• fuboTV España
• Futbol de Primera Radio
• GEN
• Globo
• Globoplay
• Go3 Extra Sports Estonia
• Go3 Extra Sports Latvia
• Go3 Extra Sports Lithuania
• GOtv
• Hang Meas HDTV
• Himalaya Sports TV
• Himalaya TV
• HRT 2
• HRTi
• Ictimai TV
• inter
• ITV 1 UK
• ITVX
• JOJ play
• JOJ Sport
• JTBC
• Jupiter
• KAN 11
• KBS2 Korea
• Klani IM
• La 2 Cat
• La Une
• Las Estrellas
• LiveMode
• M4 Sports
• M6
• M6.fr
• MagentaTV
• Match Premier
• Match TV
• Match! Football 1
• matchtv.ru
• MAXtv To Go
• MBC 11
• Medcom GO
• Medianet
• Megogo
• MEGOGO Football 1
• meWATCH
• Migu
• mitelefe
• MNB Sports
• Moja TV
• Molotov
• Movistar+
• MTV Katsomo
• MTV Urheilu 1
• MTV3
• myCANAL
• MyGOV App
• MyTelkomsel
• NAICOM
• Naver
• NCI
• New World Sport App
• New World Sport3
• Nexgen
• NHK BS Premium 4K
• NHK G TV
• Nos Pais Television
• Nova Action
• NPO 1
• NPO Start
• NSports
• NTV
• Nu9ve
• OnePlay
• ORF eins
• ORF TVthek
• ORTM Mali
• Paramount+
• PEOTV
• Pilipinas Live
• Pio Deportes
• Proximus Pickx
• PTV Sports
• Qazsport
• Radio Nacional de Colombia
• RAI 1
• RaiPlay
• RCN Television
• RDS App
• Red Uno
• RPC
• RSI La 2
• RTB Aneka
• RTBF Auvio Direct
• RTE 2
• RTE Player
• RTI
• RTS 1
• RTS 1
• RTS 2
• RTS Sport
• RTVE Play
• Rush Sports
• Rustavi 2
• RUV 2
• SA FM
• SABC 1
• SABC 3
• SABC Plus
• Salom TV
• SBS
• SBS On Demand
• SBT
• SCCN
• Setanta Sports Georgia
• Shabake 3
• Sigma TV
• Singtel TV GO
• SiriusXM FC
• Sky+
• Somoy TV
• Sport 1
• Sport 24
• Sport TV Belarus
• Sport TV Multiscreen
• Sport TV1
• Sport TV5
• sport.tvp.pl
• Sportbox.ru
• SporTV
• Sporty TV App
• Sporza
• SRF Play
• SRF zwei
• StarTimes App
• Startimes World Football
• STV Player
• STV Scotland
• STVS
• Sukan RTM
• Sunrise TV
• SuperSport 2 Digitalb
• SuperSport Football Plus Nigeria
• SuperSport Football Plus ROA
• SuperSport GOtv Football
• SuperSport GOtv LaLiga
• Supersport Grandstand
• SuperSport Laliga Nigeria
• SuperSport Laliga ROA
• SuperSport MaXimo 1
• SuperSport PSL
• T Sports
• tabii
• tapmad
• TDM Desporto
• TDMAX
• Teleamazonas
• Telearuba
• Telefe Argentina
• Telemundo
• Telemundo Deportes En Vivo
• TeleOnce Guatemala
• Teletica Canal 7
• Televen
• Tigo Sports Bolivia
• Tigo Sports El Salvador
• Tigo Sports Guatemala
• Tigo Sports Honduras
• Tigo Sports Nicaragua
• Tigo Sports Panama
• Toffee Live
• Trece
• TRT 1
• TSN+
• TSN1
• TSN3
• TSN4
• TTV
• Tubi
• TUDN
• TUDN En Vivo
• Turkmenistan Sport
• TV 2 Direkte
• TV 2 Play
• TV 360
• TV 360
• TV JOJ
• TV Klan
• TV Miramar
• TV NET
• TV Okey
• TV Slovenija 2
• TV Vala Kosovo Telecom
• TV2 Denmark
• TV2 Play Denmark
• TV3 Lithuania
• TV360 by Mytel
• TV4 Play
• TV4 Sweden
• TV6 Latvia
• TVCG 1
• TVE La 1
• TVI
• TVI Player
• TVJ Sports Network
• TVM
• TVMax
• TVN2 Panama
• TVNZ 1
• TVNZ+
• TVP Sport
• TVP Sport App
• TVP1
• TVRI
• TVRI Sport
• UBC TV
• Unifi TV
• Unite8 Sports 1
• Unite8 Sports 1 HD
• UseeTV
• VBTC
• Vidio
• ViuTV
• Vivo Play
• ViX
• ViX Mexico
• VRT 1
• VRT MAX
• VTV 3
• VTV Can Tho
• VTV Go
• VTV6
• VTV9
• We Sport Moldova
• Xiaohongshu
• YouTube
• ZAP
• Zapping
• ZDF
• ZEE5
• Ziggo Go
• Ziggo Sport
• Zoʻr TV
• ZSPORT 1
• ČT Sport

Source: Namra10

 

México
África do Sul
Coreia do Sul
Chéquia

More what I want to happen then what is probable. However I think this is one of the more difficult to judge groups.

 

Mexico, South Korea, and South Africa are actually very similar style teams. That's what makes thos group interesting.

They are all smaller guys who are very technical and like to play posession and quick passing games.

South Korea seems to be the worst defensively, and South Africa the worst offensively.

Mexico easily the most effective, and experienced in handling tough situations.

Czechs are the wildcard in the group, as others have said will dominate in the air.

 

My predictions for tomorrow’s games:

Mexico 2-0 South Africa

South Korea 1-1 Czech Republic

 

Telemundo showing Mexico’s Opening Ceremony. FOX is not.

 

So, are we just doing the match conversations in this thread or is a seperate thread for each match being created?

 

Is Mexico’s music that bad that they had to convince a couple of Colombian artists to star in their show?

 

I kinda like the parade of flags.

 

The whole squad together for the anthem? Don't hate it.