FIFA World Cup 2014: Group H Analysis

Group H was certainly the group which every team wanted to be drawn in. Based in the milder south-eastern region of Brazil, the group games will be played in the cities of Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro which are all within reasonable travelling distances of each other. The European teams involved in Group H will have breathed a sigh of relief that they have avoided playing in the humid north of the country. Let’s take a look at the nations involved in the group that will kick off last next June.

Teams

Belgium

The seeded nation in Group H is Belgium. They can no longer be regarded as dark horses after an impressive qualifying campaign and a very favourable draw. They breezed through a group containing Croatia, Serbia, Scotland, Wales and FYR Macedonia, only dropping points in two games and remaining unbeaten throughout.

Best Player: Eden Hazard

The Chelsea winger has been in superb form this season, creating 32 chances and scoring six goals. He will be the Belgians major creative weapon next summer.

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Best Young Player: Romelu Lukaku

The on-loan Everton striker’s form combined with an injury to Christian Benteke has seen him overtake the Aston Villa man into the Belgium starting eleven. He has the potential to set the world alight next summer and has scored eight league goals already this season.

Manager: – Marc Wilmots

Wilmots has managed to integrate a whole host of talented players into one fluid system. He will be quietly confident about his nations’ chances taking the draw into account but will not be taking any chances; Belgium’s golden generation has to perform when it matters.

South Korea:

The Koreans may never reach the heights they did when they hosted the tournament in 2002 but they certainly have a fantastic chance of getting out of a relatively weak group. The Asian giants have reached the knockout stages in two of the last three tournaments and are likely to be fighting with Russia for second spot here after edging out Uzbekistan on goal difference to make it to Brazil.

Best Player: Son Hueng-Min

South Korea will be heavily reliant on Leverkusen winger Son next summer. He is a tremendously gifted footballer who can score and create goals with both feet and is devastatingly clinical. Son has managed seven league goals in just 12 appearances since moving to Leverkusen in the summer.

Best Young Player: Son Heung-Min

Here he is again. Son is South Korea’s biggest hope and at the age of 21, has the opportunity to stay on the scene for at least a decade.

Manager: Hong Myung-Bo

Hong was South Korea’s captain in his nation’s historic run to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup. He played at four World Cups and now has the opportunity to manage at one after Choi Kang-Hee resigned after their poor displays in qualifying. The Koreans will be reliant on Hong’s passion to get them through the group rather than his tactical nous as he is a novice when it comes to management.

Algeria

The Africans may be the overwhelming underdogs in Group H but they will take heart from their performance against England in 2010. They came through a play-off against Burkina Faso to reach the tournament after winning a qualifying group containing Mali, Benin and Rwanda.

Best Player: Saphir Taider

The midfielder has cemented himself in Inter Milan’s midfield this season and the Algerians will be hoping he can find the form which saw the Italian giants sign him from Bologna this summer. Taider has won 60% of his tackles, completed 87% of his passes and created 12 chances this season. International teammate Ishak Belfodil also plays for Inter, meaning that the future looks relatively bright for Algeria. Don’t rule them out.

Best Young Player: Nabil Ghilas

Ghilas is Algeria’s next big hope after he joined FC Porto in the summer of 2013 and he just edges out Belfodil here. He was in great goalscoring form last season at Moreirense but has so far failed to get enough chances at Porto to make an impact. If anyone is to burst onto the scene for Algeria at the World Cup, it will be 19-year-old Ghilas.

Manager: Vahid Halihodzic – 61-year-old Halihodzic is very experienced and wily coach, having managed Ivory Coast at the last World Cup. He has also managed the likes of Lille, PSG and Dinamo Zagreb so he is no managerial slouch.

Russia

Best Player: Sergei Ignashevitch

Russia were surprisingly solid defensively in qualification, only conceding five goals. One of the main reasons for this was the form of 34-year-old Sergey Ignashevich, who has kept up these performances at CSKA Moscow this season. Playing in every game, he has won 57% of his duels and made an average of 11 defensive actions per game without making a mistake.

Best Young Player: Alexander Kokorin

Kokorin is an extremely talented youngster and has the potential to set Group H alight should he hit form. The forward has scored six goals this season and has five assists in the Russian Premier League for Dynamo Moscow.

Manager: Fabio Capello

Capello has stabilised the Russian defence but the real worry will be at the other end. They lack a star, like Andrey Arshavin was in 2008, that can help them progress to the latter stages of a tournament but possess a very experienced coach who could guide them through this group.

Best Potential Duels

Hueng Min-Son v Eden Hazard

Two young, talented wingers will go head-to-head when Korea Republic meet Belgium. The outcome of the match will most likely hinge on which wide man performs best on the day.

Romelu Lukaku v Sergey Ignashevich

When Belgium meet Russia, the battle between the two colossus’ Lukaku and Ignashevich could decide the encounter. The Russians rock solid defence meets the Belgians fluent attack, what a game it promises to be.

Combined XI

Group H Predicted XI

Prediction

Belgium are the overwhelming favourites for this group and with the milder conditions set to favour them, expect them to run away with it. Second place is much more difficult to call and I have gone for the Korea Republic to pip Russia as they have a knack of getting through their groups in major tournaments in recent times.

1. Belgium
2. Korea Republic
3. Russia
4. Algeria