Groups G and H, two for the price of one and the toughest to predict.

After another day of high drama, with the Cherry Blossom coming from behind to beat Ze Shermans (not such a surprise to you my loyal followers) and the Maple Leafs giving the Brussel Sprouts a good run for their money (I know haven't published the preview for that group yet, it will appear tomorrow) we now look forward to another day of high drama.

Two groups to cover in this preview. The Samba Boys from the Copa Cabana, the yodeling, cow bell ringers from the Swiss Alps, Serbia, a bunch of thugs if ever there was one and the indomitable Lions from Cameroon in group G. 

This will be followed by the explorers from Portugal led by the self-proclaimed CR7(Christiano Ronaldo), the Asian Tigers of South Korea, the Black Stars of Ghana (that is their official nickname before anyone accuses me of anything) and last but not least to round off group H, the sky Blue of Uruguay. In my opinion, these are the strongest groups in the whole tournament and the hardest to call. 

We will start with group H, although they are from different continents, there will be no love lost between Ghana and Uruguay due to the controversial end to their match up in the 2010 world cup.

Personally, I feel that in a situation such as that, a goal should be awarded like a penalty try in rugby. That would have seen Ghana advance to the semifinals, but instead Uruguay won on penalties. Luis Suarez, the Hannibal Lecter of modern football is still turning out for Uruguay and their clash will be very tasty, but hopefully not for Suarez. An English newspaper ran a feature called if they were a club equating the National teams to a club side. For Uruguay they used Leeds United, and I quote, "associated with the dark arts and making life a misery for their opponents. A fine history and relish their unpopular reputation" end quote

If we think Japan are good, then South Korea at least on paper are even better. This will be their tenth consecutive appearance in the finals. However, I think Japan have overtaken South Korea as the best team in Asia, but the Koreans are more than capable of springing a surprise. 

This leaves us with the Magellan boys. Portugal only qualified via the play offs and there is undoubtedly some tension between arguably the best two players in the squad, namely one CR7 freshly departed from the red team of Manchester and Bruno "diving cry baby" Fernandez who is still playing for the same red team. If the Portuguese men of war play to their potential, they should take the group, but if they start poorly, they are also a team who could impersonate an imploding star.  Who will advance from this group is anyone's guess

Group G features the peoples favorite of Brasil, this version of the Samba boys is top heavy with attacking talent, which is to be expected, but for once, they also have two top class goalkeepers in Alisson and Ederson who play at Liverpool and Man City respectively. This is part of a trend which I do not think has ever occurred before, in that twelve of the squad currently play in the English Premier league. I am sure that is the most for a Brazilian squad ever.

If they click, it is like watching poetry in motion, the same cannot be said of the bully boys from Belgrade, led by the bruising figure of Aleksandar Mitrovic. I have nothing against Serbia, but they are not a very nice bunch. They are street fighters, Serbian history is awash with war and conflict, and they remember every one of them, as the football chant goes "no one likes us we don't care".  No team is going to enjoy facing them.

Next up are the yodeling boys from the Swiss Alps, they are an interesting team in that they are really rather boring, now I know that seems like a contradiction, but it is not. Their style of play fits the stereotype of the boring Swiss banker to a T. It can be very effective, but rarely exciting.

Lastly, we have the indomitable Lions of Cameroon, they have already been responsible for one of the other greatest shocks in world cup history back in 1990 when they did this to Argentina.

A little agricultural as we like to say. They also provided us with Roger Milla, the 38 year old dancing striker, he was a joy to watch.

They have never reached those same highs again, crashing out of the group stages in five consecutive attempts with only one win in fifteen games. As we have seen you cannot write anyone off in this world cup, but I do not expect much from them. Brasil and the yodelers to go through