World Cup Preview: Group H

This group to me is a no brainer in my opinion as it features Russia, Belgium, Algeria, and South Korea in the very last group of the world cup. Russia had an unbelievable start to their world cup qualifying with wins over Portugal, Israel, Northern Ireland to start their campaign. They ended the tourney finishing a point ahead of Portugal on their way to a tournament they hadn't qualified for since 2002. The team wasn't supposed to be the standout in the group, but with the help of Italian great Fabio Capello, they were able to succeed with guys like Roman Shirokov, Viktor Fayzulin, and Aleksandr Kerzhakov. Their biggest weapon amongst the offense is the play of their amazing goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev which helped prove these Russians are going to be hard to beat. Their midfield and attacking lines are pretty deadly as well even though people have complained they don't have the size. I am definitely picking Russia as my favorites to win the group.

For me Belgium is a contender as well in this tournament even though I have picked them to finish second in the group. Belgium finished atop of their group in qualifying having a distance if 9 points between them and second place Croatia. The last time they were here was in 2002, but the team has some strong points of this new golden generation and to me one of them is the goalkeeping. I was very impressed with Atletico Madrid's Thibaut Courtois who is going to definitely be hard to be in this tournament. Eden Hazard and Vincent Kompany need to shine as they are finally given a stage to do so. For me Algeria is just too young and inexperienced to make any real impact and they are going to try and rely on imports to help the team succeed. South Korea was blanked the other day by Ghana proving to me that they may not be the dangerous side they used to be. That may be due to the constant line up changes that Korea has had causing the team to not be a cohesive unit.

Russia 7 Points (wins on Goal Differentials)
Belgium 7 Points
South Korea 3 Points
Algeria 0 Points