World Cup News - Groups A-D

>With less than a fortnight to go until the World Cup kicks off in Johannesburg, *Sports Pundit *thought it’d be appropriate to compile the latest news from the groups.

Group A

South Africa Bafana Bafana opened the new stadium on Polokwane in style with a 5-0 thrashing over Guatemala (ranked 114th in the world). The result means South Africa are unbeaten in their last 11 matches which is a nice statistic, ignoring the quality of those opponents.

Mexico In-form Manchester United-bound striker Javier Hernandez revived Mexico hopes at the World Cup with an early double in their 5-1 rout over Gambia. The Mexicans were recently beaten by England and the Netherlands, but responded emphatically on Sunday. Hernandez, nicknamed Chicharito, looms as a star ahead of the World Cup opener on June 11.

Uruguay La Celeste boss Oscar Tabarez has announced his final 23-man squad for the World Cup. The most notable player to miss the cut was Catania striker Jorge Martinez, while others to miss out included Jorge Rodriguez and Alvaro Gonzalez.

France Les Bleus are still to hit their straps after a 1-1 draw in Tunisia, but the best news out of the game for the French was the performance of William Gallas, who has only recently returned after a calf injury. Gallas got through over an hour and scored the equaliser. Interestingly, Hugo Lloris started in goals ahead of Steve Mandanda.

Group B

> Argentina Superstar Lionel Messi has revealed the teams he believes will be the ones to beat in South Africa. Messi told CNN International: “I think that right now, the strongest sides going into the World Cup are Spain, England and Brazil.”

Nigeria Young Nigerian star Haruna Lukman did his first-team chances no harm by scoring the equaliser in the Super Eagles’ 1-1 draw with Colombia in MK Dons on Sunday. Nigeria boss Lars Lagerback still appears unsettled on his best side.

Korea Republic After a four-match streak of victories Korea came back to earth with a thud on Sunday with a 1-0 loss against Belarus. They face Spain on Thursday before heading to South Africa. Of the loss to Belarus, Korea boss Huh Jung-Moo said: “This match reminded us that we still have a lot to do before the World Cup.”

Greece Greek pair Giourkas Seitaridis and Christos Patsatzoglou have managed to overcome injuries to make Otto Rehhagel’s final 23-man World Cup squad. Greece play Paraguay in a warm-up friendly on Wednesday.

Group C

> England The English needed two own goals from the Japanese to claim victory over the Blue Samurai 2-1 in Austria. England’s fans won’t be terribly enthused by the performance, although Wayne Rooney was excellent. Frank Lampard missed a penalty (following his FA Cup final miss) which will raise question marks.

USA Defender Carlos Bocanegra has urged his team not to get ahead of themselves despite being drawn in one of the ‘easier’ World Cup groups. He said: “We get to challenge ourselves against the best in the world. We need to concentrate on the group stages first and then after that we will worry about going as far as we can.”

Algeria Playmaker Mourad Meghni is out of the World Cup, but exciting youngster Ryad Boudebouz could be the man to fill his void. Boudabouz told *fifa.com *this week: “I want to be more than just a member of the group. I want to play and contribute. I know what I can do in the playmaker position just behind the strikers.”

Slovenia Matjaz Kek, the Slovenia boss, has announced his final 23-man squad for South Africa. Key players to make way from the provisional squad included Mirnes Sisic, Darjan Matic and Dejan Kelhar.

Group D

> Germany Die Mannschaft have narrowed down their squad to 23, following injuries to trio Michael Ballack, Heiko Westermann and Christian Trasch which forced boss Joachim Loew’s hand. Andreas Beck is the other to be excluded. Also, on Saturday the Germans won 3-0 over Hungary.

Australia Despite not an overly impressive performance, the Socceroos once again claimed a victory this week with a 1-0 triumph over Denmark. Beanpole striker Joshua Kennedy scored the game’s only game, while the dangerous Harry Kewell remains on the sidelines with his groin injury. Coach Pim Verbeek says he won’t risk Kewell and it’s simply precautionary.

Ghana Following last week’s withdrawal of Michael Essien from Ghana’s World Cup squad, things went from bad to worse for the Black Stars on Tuesday when they lost 4-1 against the Netherlands. The performance will hardly inspire Ghanaian fans.

Serbia Manchester United’s Serbian giant Nemanja Vidic says his nation’s shock 1-0 loss to New Zealand on the weekend could be a positive. Vidic told fifa.com: “Sometimes a defeat in the friendly matches can be more useful for the team than a routine victory. Our confidence is not shaken - on the contrary,”