The 3 Packages That May Spring a Surprise in South Africa!

By Darshan Joshi, writing from Sydney, Australia

Every four years, the World Cup brings about the bamboozling and rather shocking rise of several sides who really shouldn’t have done as well as they eventually did.

In 2002, we had Turkey and South Korea in the semi-finals, where they fell victim to (eventual winners) Brazil and Germany respectively. Japan reaching the second round was also no easy feat, as was Senegal’s thrilling run to the quarter-finals.

In 2006, the shocks were less apparent, though Ghana did pull of something of an upset when they beat both the Czechs and the Americans to 2nd spot in their group, behind the Italians who, as we all know, went on to lift the trophy. Australia could have, by the way, knocked the Italians in the second round themselves, had Fabio Grosso not controversially fallen over to win the Azzuri a 95th minute penalty. With a potential quarter-final against Ukraine to follow, the Socceroos could rightly have felt that a semi-final berth was beckoning.

This year, there are several others that we would have to keep an eye on.

Mexico

So they aren’t exactly that much of underdogs, but really, this Mexican side could easily waltz pretty far into the competition. Boasting the likes of Carlos Vela (Arsenal), Rafael Márquez (Barcelona), Andres Guardado (Deportivo) and the future Manchester United signing, Javier Hernandez, amongst others, this is a team not to be taken lightly. Coach Javier Aguirre has transformed the fortunes of the country after taking over Sven-Goran Eriksson’s tumultuous looking qualifying campaign by leading them into the competition. They have looked rather impressive in friendlies against more seasoned and illustrious opponents in Holland and England, and most recently, defeated the defending world champions, Italy.