Weekend Soccer Preview/World Cup Draw

In honor of finals week approaching and me having quite the busy week, this will be slightly shorter than normal, but I do have the World Cup groups with some (far too early) predictions!!!

Game(s) of the Week (Rankings from Poll)
14:45 ET Saturday
(11) Juventus v (4) Inter Milan
Inter Milan leads Serie A by 7 points over AC Milan, and Juventus is one back of AC. Inter is coming off of a win at home against Fiorentina, where they played in mediocre fashion. Juventus is coming off of two straight 2-0 losses, a bad one at Cagliari and a loss against a very good Bordeaux squad over a week ago. Both teams have vital Champions League games in the week after this, when Inter hosts FK Rubin Kazan and Juventus hosts Bayern Munich, both teams needing points to ensure they move on. Hopefully the teams won’t be looking ahead too much.

Other Matches Between Ranked Teams
12:30 ET Saturday
(19) Manchester City v (T1) Chelsea
Manchester City will be hard-pressed to end their 7 game draw streak with a win here. In fact, they should be happy to continue the streak and get a point against a red-hot Drogba and company squad.

Top of the Table Clashes
None by the looks of it.

English Premier League
7:45 ET Saturday
Portsmouth v Burnley
10:00 ET Saturday
(T7) Arsenal v Stoke City
Aston Villa v Hull City
Blackburn Rovers v Liverpool
West Ham United v (3) Manchester United
Wigan v Birmingham City
WolverhamptonWanderers v Bolton Wanderers
12:30 ET Saturday
(19) Manchester City v (T1) Chelsea
10:00 ET Saturday
Fulham v Sunderland
11:00 ET Sunday
Everton v (10) Tottenham Hotspur

Scottish Premier League
7:30 ET Saturday
Falkirk v Rangers
10:00 ET Saturday
Celtic v Aberdeen

Spain’s La Liga
12:00 ET Saturday
(9) Sevilla FC v Valladolid
Xerez v Atletico Madrid
14:00 ET Saturday
(T5) Real Madrid v Almeria
16:00 ET Saturday
Deportivo La Coruna v (T1) Barcelona
15:00 ET Sunday
Athletic Bilbao v (18) Valencia

Italy’s Serie A
12:00 ET Saturday
(T5) AC Milan v Sampdoria
14:45 ET Saturday
(11) Juventus v (4) Inter Milan
9:00 ET Sunday
Genoa v Parma
(20) Fiorentina v Atalanta
Napoli v Bari
14:45 ET Sunday
AS Roma v Lazio

German Bundesliga
14:30 ET Friday
Bayern Munich v Borussia Monchengladbach
9:30 ET Saturday
Hamburg SV v TSG Hoffenheim
Hannover 96 v (T7) Bayer Leverkusen
VfL Wolfsburg v SC Freiburg
9:30 ET Sunday
FC Cologne v (T14) Werder Bremen
11:30 ET Sunday
(T21) Schalke 04 v Hertha Berlin

French Ligue 1
13:00 ET Saturday
Nice v Marseille
Valenciennes v AS Monaco
15:00 ET Saturday
(12) Bordeaux v Paris Saint-Germain
11:00 ET Sunday
AJ Auxerre v AS Nancy Lorraine
15:00 ET Sunday
Lille v (17) Lyon

Dutch Eredivisie
14:45 ET Friday
AZ Alkmaar v Vitesse Arnhem
6:30 ET Sunday
FC Utrecht v (16) Ajax Amsterdam
8:30 ET Sunday
RKC Wallwijk v (T21) PSV Eindhoven
10:30 ET Sunday
NEC Nijmegen v (T14) Twente Enschede
SC Heracles Almelo v Heerenveen

Portuguese Liga
15:15 ET Friday
Guimaraes v FC Porto
16:15 ET Saturday
Leixoes v (25) Braga
15:15 ET Sunday
Benfica v Academica de Coimbra

Turkish Super League
13:00 ET Friday
Besiktas v Diyarbakirspor
13:00 ET Saturday
Eskisehirspor K v Fenerbahce
13:00 ET Sunday
Galatasaray v Istanbul BB

Belgian Juliper League
14:00 ET Saturday
Standard Liege v Germinal Beerschot
14:30 ET Sunday
Cercle Brugge KSV v Anderlecht

Austrian Bundesliga
9:30 ET Sunday
SK Sturm Graz v SV Salzburg
12:00 ET Sunday
SV Josko Ried v Austria Vienna

Greek Super League
12:00 ET Saturday
FC Xanthi v Olympiakos
9:45 ET Sunday
Panathinaikos v Atromitos

Group A
South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
The hosts have moved onto the knockout stages in every World Cup in history, but then again the hosts are generally good at soccer. Still, South Africa played impressively in the Confederations Cup on home soil and has a chance to give their group-mates a run for their money.
France and Mexico to advance. No handballs this time.

Group B
Argentina, South Korea, Nigeria, Greece
A decent draw for Argentina, as was the draw for nearly every seeded team in this Cup. Greece squeaked into the Finals in the playoff against Ukraine, as did Nigeria, who qualified on the final match-day. Nigeria starts off with a match against Argentina, but if they can keep their heads up in case of defeat, they can come back and move on in their home continent.
Argentina and Nigeria to advance.

Group C
England, USA!!!!, Algeria, Slovenia
I have to be honest, after USA did not draw South Africa, I was hoping we would have a chance to take on England. Obviously any non-SA seeded team is going to be difficult but England is not a terrible match-up, and we were drawn with two other beatable teams. I cannot wait for June 12, 2010 at 1:30 CT, when USA plays England in the first match-up in this group.
England and USA to move on, no matter the result of the first match I think Algeria and Slovenia are beatable for both squads.

Group D
Germany, Australia, Ghana, Serbia
This is a very strong group. Australia had a lot of fun in Germany for the last World Cup, and Germany and Serbia are very good European sides that both won their qualification groups. As with all African teams, Ghana will probably play a bit better as they are on their home continent.
Germany and Ghana to advance.

Group E
Netherlands, Japan, Cameroon, Denmark
I enjoy this group a lot. I love watching Dutch football and I am a quarter Danish so I will be pulling for both European teams here. Cameroon will be an interesting team to watch as well, as they missed out on the last World Cup and will want to make up for lost time. Samuel Eto’o is a dangerous striker and the other sides will have to watch out for him.
Netherlands and Denmark to advance.

Group F
Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia
New Zealand will just be enjoying the ride, while I think Paraguay and Slovakia will fight it out for the right to join Italy in the knockout stages. The defending champions are aging, but they are still the team to beat in the group.
Italy and Paraguay to advance

Group G
Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal
This is without question the only group worthy of the “Group of Death” tag. Portugal is ranked 5th in the world, which is an inflated ranking due to the fact that they had the opportunity to play extra qualification matches (a reason why FIFA did not use the most recent rankings). Still, they are obviously an immensely exciting team to watch with one of the best players in the world, Christiano Ronaldo. He will look to be healthy and be on form for Portugal for once. Before the draw, Ivory Coast was the trendy sleeper pick for the Finals, and they will be devastated with the draw that has been handed to them. Still, I think that if Drogba continues his incredible run of form this year, they will prevail in the group.
Brazil and Ivory Coast to advance.

Group H
Spain, Honduras, Chile, Switzerland
Spain is handed a good draw, a fact that their coach acknowledged after the draw. Chile will be happy to even be participating following a near-ban when a Chilean club team threatened to sue the Chilean Football Association. Switzerland made it to the World Cup by way of a fairly easy qualification group of them, Greece, Latvia, Israel, Luxembourg, Moldova.
Spain and Honduras to advance.