World Cup 2010 - Group E

Group E is another group with teams that could all reasonably expect to go through:

Team v • d • e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Netherlands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Denmark	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Japan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cameroon	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

The top seed is deservedly the Dutch. the Oranje once again enter a tournament with tremendous talent and expectations. With the likes of Sneijder, Van Persie (assuming his 100%), Robben, Huntelaar, van der Vaart, etc they will have plenty of horses to challenge any other national team. The question becomes, will they play as a team? That has always haunted them in the past. They walked through their qualifiers winning all 8 of their matches, scoring 17 and only conceding 2 goals in the process...impressive to say the least. So which dutch team will show up? The one that walked through qualifiers or the last one we saw at the Euro 2008, the one that was being thoroughly outclassed by a Russian team and one Arshavin. The status of Van Persie will also weigh on how far the Dutch will go in South Africa, but on paper they have more than enough talent to get to the knock out stage. So who will join Oranje in the knock out stages? Denmark is the little engine that could. The Danes always seem to show well for themselves at major tournaments, sometimes even winning them after not even qualifying! Quick question - name me 3 Danish footballers....ok Bendtner and um uh...yeah a team of relatively obscure players who play in the Danish league. However they clearly know how to be a team - having won a difficult qualifying group, ahead of Sweden and Portugal - even defeating the Portuguese 3-2 in the first leg. The Danes are not to be taken lightly, and if history is any indication will do well in the groups and fizzle out in the knock out stages. What about the former co-hosts - Japan? Japan has always sought to be the Asian power that South Korea is, unfortunately they have never been able to assume that mantle. Granted they are getting closer. With a competitive and growing domestic league - the J League - they are becoming more than a baseball and sumo nation! They do have some players in Europe, mainly midfielders - surprisingly 2 in Ligue 1 - Inamoto and Matsui. They have had some recent strong run in friendlies...but those are very different that the bright lights of the World Cup. And they will not have home field advantage. They are getting there, but are still chasing South Korea and Australia for dominance in Asia...so far from world beaters in the World Cup. Finally we have Cameroon, and with the Lions one Samuel Eto'o. Much is being placed on the Inter forward's shoulders, I think too much. Granted the Lions have a solid squad with the likes of Makoun, the Songs (uncle and nephew), and a long in the tooth Geremi. They are also managed by an experienced European manager - Le Guen. This would be a threat...were the World Cup 4 years ago. The stars of Cameroon are a bit long in tooth and not sure they will be able to go far. However Eto'o remains a threat up front they do have some good youngsters in the Song from Arsenal and Bassong from Tottenham (he was a French U21 player). They will challenge for a spot in the knock outs.

Predictions: Holland, Denmark, Cameroon, Japan - I think the Danes are too well organized and will just beat out the Lions by a hair. Japan will show well for itself but in the end out matched in this group.
Player to watch: Eto'o - while he is not going to be playing with the caliber of players he had at Barcelona or even at Inter, if he steps it up, he will be a threat in every game the Lions play. While no where near the advanced age Milla was, he could mimic that performance in 1990.