POLOKWANE, South Africa: A French team in disarray will face a Mexico lineup which is growing in confidence in a Group A match on Thursday that could be crucial in determining who progresses in the World Cup.
"They have their names, we have ours. But names don’t play, men do," Mexico captain Gerardo Torrado said. "Nothing short of a win is good for us."
France defender Eric Abidal says "things will become even harder if we have a bad result" because the French then have to take on South Africa in their last group game played in front of passionate home supporters.
France is usually a slow starter, having failed to win its opening match at the 2002 and ’06 World Cups and at the European Championship two years ago in another scoreless draw.
Although France went on to reach the final at Germany 2006, Raymond Domenech’s current team seems dispirited and disheveled amid rumors of a row between the coach and Florent Malouda, tensions between players and the country’s sports minister Rama Yade.
Former captain Zinedine Zidane has criticized the team, and dejected fans are starting to lose belief.
Although Abidal is a left back, he is playing at center half alongside William Gallas, who is still struggling to find his best form after recovering from a torn calf muscle.
Mexico’s lively strikers Carlos Vela and Giovani Dos Santos could cause Gallas and Abidal problems with their pace and trickery after combining for some promising moves in the 1-1 draw against South Africa.
"They have a lot of potential in attack, but so do we," Abidal said. "If you want to go all the way, you will come up against a lot of top strikers, so you have to be prepared for that. Against South Africa we saw that they like to play on the counter attack and launch attacks from deep."
Mexico coach Javier Aguirre prefers to rely on a settled team and should stick with his three-pronged attack, which has veteran West Ham forward Guillermo Franco holding the central role and with Vela and Dos Santos out wide.
Marquez hurt his right calf muscle in the second half against South Africa but is confident he is now fully fit.
"I’m fine now … at 100 percent," he said. "I’ve had trouble with the calf and against South Africa I even was thinking of being taken off, but I’ve been able to recover over the past few days."
South Korea will need to succeed where far more illustrious teams have failed this past year in trying to foil the at times unstoppable Lionel Messi.
And if that wasn’t daunting enough ahead of their Group B clash on Thursday, word from the increasingly confident Argentina camp is that Diego Maradona is starting to show his mettle as a coach, after being criticized back home for being tactically naive during the almost-disastrous qualifiers.
Messi, the 2009 FIFA world player of the year, made a major impact on day two of the World Cup with a dazzling performance in a 1-0 win over Nigeria.
He failed to score, but only because Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama made some spectacular saves.
The Barcelona forward’s darting runs and ability to draw in opponents will be key to Argentina’s bid for a third title, and he looks determined to silence those who say he struggles to reproduce his brilliant form for Barcelona when wearing his country’s colors.
He said this week that his teammates should also get the credit. But without Messi, Argentina would be far less threatening.
Another vital factor for the Argentines will be whether Maradona can prove he can cut it as a world-class coach.
Back home, where he’s enjoyed cult status since almost single-handedly leading Argentina to the 1986 World Cup title, he’s been branded by some a liability as a coach. In the qualifiers, he used more than 100 players as he struggled to settle on a team and formation.
But Argentina’s players have been heaping praise on Maradona this week — and united in crediting him for Gabriel Heinze’s diving header from a corner, which proved just enough to beat Nigeria.
"Diego prepared us for a move like that," Veron, who supplied the corner, said Tuesday. "Luckily, it came off first time."
The players said Maradona had been studying how Nigeria defended corners, and concluded that it would be best to exploit a perceived vulnerability by floating the ball to the edge of their area for an onrushing Argentine player to strike, as opposed to placing it nearer Nigeria’s imposing defenders.
"Heinze’s goal was the work of Diego," said defender Martin Demichelis. "Diego prepared everything to perfection."
Maradona is expected to make just one change to his starting lineup from the Nigeria match, with Liverpool midfielder Maxi Rodriguez coming in for Veron, who is struggling with a calf injury.
South Korea, the 2002 World Cup semifinalist, leads Group B on goal difference after beating Greece 2-0 on Saturday, and Manchester United’s Park Ji-sung is expected to be the main threat to the Argentines.
Park told Argentine newspaper Clarin this week that his team will be very wary of Messi.
"He’s magic," Park said. "Argentina’s one of the best teams in the world. But Korea is in good form and will have to defend well – and then hit them on the counterattack."
Greece and Nigeria are in the same predicament ahead of their World Cup Group B match on Thursday: lose and they’re almost certain of a first-round exit.
But Otto Rehhagel’s Greek lineup’s position is even more grim.
Nigeria only conceded one goal and went close to scoring a late equalizer in an opening loss to Argentina, while the Greeks lost 2-0 to 2002 World Cup semifinalists South Korea and still have to face Lionel Messi and the Argentine squad in their last group game.
Rehhagel led Greece to an unexpected European championship title in 2004 with a defense-first philosophy that demands his players follow his tactics precisely, denying opponents space and capitalizing on set-piece attacks.
And that’s their emphasis again.
"The team has to have a defensive capability in modern football," goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis said. "The whole team has to shut down spaces — so it’s not an issue of individual players or the defense alone."
After the loss to the South Koreans, where Greece failed to stick to his plans and conceded a crucial early goal when they failed to clear a free kick, Rehhagel warned his players to follow his instructions or they’d be headed home.
It seems they were listening.
Greece is still searching for its first World Cup goal, having conceded 10 goals and failing to score in three losses in its only other trip to the finals in 1994, and needs to find the back of the net in South Africa to maintain hopes of advancing.
If Nigeria’s opening performance against Argentina is any indication, Greece has a rough road ahead. The Africans played well against Diego Maradona’s talented squad.
"Nigeria is a very good team — we’ve seen them on tapes — they are fast and play with high quality. We must concentrate for the entire 90 minutes and be totally prepared." Salpingidis said.
The Nigerians can’t afford to lose, either, and have secluded themselves near Bloemfontein this week to focus entirely on football.
Nigeria is not quite the dynamic team which lived up to its nickname of the "Super Eagles" in the 1990s, but coach Lars Lagerback’s squad in South Africa has plenty of talent, even without injured Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel.
Goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama was impressive against Argentina, making a number of solid saves to hold Messi and Co. to just one goal in a performance that won him the player of the match award.
Everton striker Yakubu Ayegbeni and Wolfsburg forward Obafemi Martins provide strength and speed up front, while Peter Osaze and Chinedu Obasi add pace and flare from the wings.
Lagerback also has veteran striker Nwankwo Kanu and Victor Obinna at his disposal.
The Greece backline should get a boost with the return of Bologna defender Vangelis Moras, who is expected to be fit after being sidelined with a lingering groin injury.
But the speed of the Nigerians could cause problems for Greece, which has an aging squad known more for its tactical prowess than its pace.
