Football World Cup Team Grades and Reviews.

Here we go. The business end of the tournament. Although the World Cup started with a meandering walk, teams are now starting to pick up a head of steam. Now that the teams are starting to get used to the Jabulani ball (Japan) and it is now a must win scenario, we should start to see some cracking games. Let us have a quick look back at the group stage for each team.

Here are the grades for each eliminated team from their group stage performances.

Algeria: D
Australia: C+
Cameroon: C
Denmark: F
France: F
Greece: D-
Honduras: D
Ivory Coast: D
Italy: F
New Zealand: B+
Nigeria: D-
North Korea: D-
Serbia: C
Slovenia: C-
South Africa: B-
Switzerland: C-

Let us have a quick look back on the last week of action and reflect on some teams fortunes. I can’t start anywhere else apart from the All Whites heroic work. Three games, three draws. Finishing ahead of Italy, and going unbeaten. A truly herculean performance from a team full of 2 Premier league players, 1 Championship player, 3 ex non-league players, 1 Danish league player, a whole lot of A-leaguers, and a guy who works in a bank. Not bad when you compare that against the best of Seria A in the Italians, the skill and talent of the Paraguayans, and the craft of the Slovakians. Who will ever forget Winston Reid’s 94th minute equaliser? This is a sign of things to come for the All Whites as we have a relatively young squad and a lot of potential. Hopefully we can find a captain as great as Ryan Nelsen as it is doubtful he’ll be around in Brazil in four years time.

The French had a completely forgetful last six months (dating back to Thierry Henry’s dubious hand ball versus Ireland) and will want to get over this World Cup as quickly as possible. The Italians are the other big names to fall. Stuck in a group which was meant to be easy, all three teams (Paraguay, Slovakia, New Zealand) gave the Azzurri all they could handle.

The hosts South Africa were unlucky to go out on goal difference but they did also have the advantage of playing a French side who had all but boarded their plane home. Greece and Nigeria would have had high hopes of qualifying but South Korea managed to beat the Greece and held Nigeria to a draw.

Group C went according to the odds with Algeria and Slovenia missing out. It was not as predictable as many thought though after Slovenia and Algeria held USA and England to a 2-2 and 0-0 draw respectively. In the toughest group in my opinion, group D saw Australia and Serbia miss out. I think that Australia were extremely unlucky (especially with their two red cards) and the other teams will be pleased they don’t have to face the plucky Aussies. Serbia had an up and down World Cup after losing their opening game to Ghana and then defeating the much heralded Germans.

In a one sided group E, Cameroon and the hugely disappointing Denmark were the teams to miss out. Both of these teams would have fancied beating Japan and yet both fell to Japan. Group G saw Ivory Coast and North Korea miss out. Ivory Coast were beaten the moment that Portugal stuck 7 past North Korea. The North Koreans put up a good show versus Brazil, but that was all they could muster.


In the final group, group H, Switzerland and Honduras were the teams to miss out. The Swiss will be the most distraught after beating tournament favourites Spain in the opening match. After a blank against Chile they still had a chance to progress if they beat Honduras but were unable to break the Central Americans defence.