2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa

As much as Uruguay were deserving winners of this group, having won two and drawn one of their three matches, France were deservedly knocked out as their off-pitch shenanigans made a complete mockery of thousands of fans who traveled all the way to South Africa to support their team. Mexico were left to rue missed opportunities in their game against Uruguay and will now face the daunting prospect of keeping a red-hot Argentina at bay in the last 16. South Africa started brightly but their heavy loss to Uruguay made their task of progressing very difficult.

Argentina proved why they are one of the favorites by waltzing through the group. They started well by beating Nigeria, then blitzed Korea Republic before overpowering Greece with a second-string side. The scariest part about them is that World Player of the Year, Lionel Messi is yet to get on the scoring sheet and Diego will be hoping that he does soon, with crunch matches to come. Korea Republic knew that with Argentina in the group, they could only hope for second-best and they ensured that with a draw against the Nigerians in a see-saw match. In Park Ji Sung, they have genuine quality to trouble Uruguay and I reckon that match will stretch to penalty kicks. Greece paid for their anti-football and as for Nigeria, it was too little too late.

England were widely expected to top this group, with the only challenge from USA. However, things were far from easy as they huffed and puffed towards qualification, amid all sorts of myriad controversies and rumors. USA had their fair share of stumbles as well, but at least they were brave fighters and in Landon Donovan, they have an inspirational figure on the field who does not understand the phrase "give up". England now face Germany and are already arrogantly talking about meeting Argentina in the quarterfinals. The more humble Americans face Ghana in a rematch of their exciting group encounter four years ago in Nuremberg, which they lost narrowly. Slovenia started well with a win against Algeria, but faded away after a morale-sapping draw against USA and loss to England. Algeria were good up front, but their defence was too leaky for their liking and were over-reliant on Karim Ziani.

Ghana and Germany were the pace-setters in Group D, with Germany annihilating Australia 4-0 in their opening match. Serbia made things interesting in the group after their win against the Germans, but with 10-man Australia keeping Ghana to a 1-1 draw, all Germany had to do was avoid a defeat against the Africans and hope Serbia draw or lose to Australia. The Australia-Serbia game was a nerve-wracking affair, with a decent dose of controversy thrown in at the fag end of the match when Cahill escaped with a handball inside the Australian D. Ghana became the only African team to qualify for the last 16.

The Dutch ran away with group honors, despite not having Arjen Robben for the first two group games. Cameroon were downright disappointing, squandering chances in their match against Denmark and generally looking listless. Japan, on the other hand, were fully deserving of their second-placing in the group, after their enterprising win against the Danes in a make-or-break clash for either team. Such is the embarrassment of riches at Takeshi Okada's disposal that even the most prolific international goalscorer in the last twelve months, Shinji Okazaki can only make the bench.

New Zealand, Paraguay, and Slovakia. The Italian media scoffed at these teams and assured their readers that qualification was just a question of when, not if. And they were duly served humble pie by a shockingly misfiring Azzurri. In a World Cup first, the finalists of previous edition (Italy and France) crashed out in the first round stage. Paraguay topped the group and will face Japan while Slovakia were rewarded for their heroic feat of ejecting Italy with a last 16 meeting with the Dutch, who will be boosted by the return of Bayern Munich wizard, Arjen Robben.

Death or no death, Brazil sealed this group after contrasting wins over Korea DPR and Cote d'Ivoire. Like their fierce South American rivals, Argentina, Brazil are now coached by a former World Cup-winning captain in Dunga and if Brazil lift the Jules Rimet trophy on July 11, Dunga will be the 2nd man after compatriot Mario Zagallo in winning the World Cup as a player and manager (Zagallo, incidentally, remains the only man ever to win the World Cup as a player, manager and assistant manager). Portugal kept a clean sheet in all three matches, a creditable achievement, considering the opposition they had to face in the likes of Luis Fabiano, Didier Drogba and Jong Tae Se (Asian Wayne Rooney). Cote d'Ivoire were unlucky as they were again in a tough group, but aside from the footballing lesson they received from Brazil, they acquitted themselves pretty well. Korea DPR gave Brazil a run for their money in their opening match but were left battered and bruised after crushing defeats to Portugal and Cote d'Ivoire.

Spain were caught out by Switzerland, handing the advantage to Chile who exploited it to the full. However, the European champions had enough quality about them to revive their chances and by winning their remaining group matches, they eventually topped the group (on better goal difference vis-a-vis Chile) and set up a mouth-watering clash with Iberian neighbours, Portugal in last 16. Likwise, Chile will face their territorial rivals, Brazil, while Switzerland could not build on their early success and crashed out due to lack of goals. Honduras, like Cameroon, became the whipping boys of the group.