World Cup Preview: Group E

Again, I am running a little bit behind in all of these considering the World Cup is only 10 days away which means I am super excited. We are looking at Group E today which features Switzerland, Ecuador, France, and Honduras (who were just shocked by Israel 4 to 2). There is only one sure bet in my mind out of this group and it's the fact that I am predicting that France will win all of it's group stage matches and they will advance to the round of 16. They have the tools upfront with Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema to prove to be a nightmare for opposing defenses while the team gets some strong play from their midfield and defense. Hey, the goalkeeper Hugo Lloris is proving to be a stud in net as he only conceded six goals in qualifying for the Les Blues. France needs to erase the nightmare that was the 2010 FIFA World Cup fiasco in South Africa that damaged the teams image, but be on the lookout for Paul Pogba who could be a breakout star in the tournament.

For the Swiss Army, they'll need to get out of their scoring funk that they've been in if they plan to advance anywhere which means Xherdan Shaqiri needs to step up big time while midfield players like Granit Xhaka and Tranquillo Barnetta need to be consistent. The last time this team made it out of the group stage was in 2006 while they were given their plane tickets home in the group stage in 2010. For Honduras, this is a team that could face the same spell as in 2010 where they exited the tournament in the group stage without ever scoring a goal. Honduras in my opinion has looked shaky in the warm up games so far so an early exit is definitely on the horizon for them. Ecuador is going to need to rely on their speed and their physicality if they plan to do any damage in the world cup. Antonio Valencia needs to use his shooting ability to give Ecuador a chance, but if he's on fire, then watch out world.

1. France 9 Points
2. Ecuador 6 Points
3. Switzerland 3 Points
4. Honduras 0 Points