In 2002 I was not impressed with the Korea Republic team. Let's look at a few facts: 8 goals in 7 games (not exactly an overpowering offense); the most fouls committed in the tournament, and probably the least known fact: most of the players played in the domestic league and the domestic league canceled the season so the team could train for the World Cup. How they would have performed if they had just come off a full season as all of their opponents did (with the exception of the US) is something we will never know.
In other words, their performance was a bit of a fluke and a bit contrived. Which is not to say that they didn't play some good games (especially against Poland), nor should all their victories be blamed on questionable calls. A case in point: in the round of 16 if Christian Vieri cannot bury the ball into the back of the net from three meters away and with no one in front of him and hits into the thirtieth row, he has only himself to blame.
Nevertheless, without home cooking on their side, don't expect Korea Republic to duplicate 2002. My order of finish for Group G: France, Switzerland, Korea Republic and Togo.
Group H should break down pretty easily as follows: Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia in that order. The first game between Spain and Ukraine should set the tone for this group. If Andriy Shevchenko is on fire, Spain could be in trouble, but will probably still qualify by beating Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. If Spain is victorious against Ukraine, I would expect Ukraine to beat Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.
Will Saudi Arabia repeat the horrible nightmare of being outscored 12-0 as it was in 2002? Perhaps not, but if the KSA Football Federation ever wants to get anywhere again in the World Cup, they should wake up and let their players play outside of Saudi Arabia. Otherwise, they should be content to be a permanent placeholder and not much else.
I'll make some predictions about the knockout rounds after we have some results from the first round.
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