Aaaaargh! It’s finally time for the inaugural Draft World Cup to start! All that waiting is over, so strap yourself in, because first it’s time for the opening ceremony!
*Opens can of Irn Bru*
Right, now let’s get the football started! Group A features the tournament’s best side in qualifying, Portugal, but they have a nasty draw as they have Italy and Turkey, whilst Central Africa will be the outsiders of the group, but won a group containing Spain and Chile to get here.
Each team will be playing with the same (or very similar) tactics to those they used in their qualification groups, so you should head back there if you want to read more about their styles.
Portugal (1st in Qualification Group G)
Portugal were superb in qualification, and so the core of that side is kept in place, namely Iker Casillas, Maxi Pereira, Carlos Mane, Ruben Semedo, Andre Silva and Bruno Martins Indi.
Silva’s exploits in qualification means he will stay as the side’s main striker, but Vincent Aboubakar will provide quality back-up. William Carvalho is brought in as the side’s new linchpin, and Jesus Corona will be a dangerous threat on the wing.
Squad (italics indicates home-grown):
GK: Casillas (Porto), Filipe (Chaves), Mesquita (Boavista)
DF: Afonso (Guimaraes), Correia (Nacional), Gomes (Braga), Juankar (Braga), Martins Indi (Porto), Pereira (Porto), Sagna (Moreirense), Semedo (Sporting)
MD: Carvalho (Sporting), Herrera (Porto), Moreira (Rio Ave), Pedrinho (Ferreira), Pele (Benfica), Samaris (Benfica)
FW: Aboubakar (Porto), Corona (Porto), Mane (Sporting), Pereira (Sporting), Rodrigues (Porto), Silva (Porto)
Central Africa (1st in Qualification Group D)
This squad only uses £64m of the £250m available, not an immediately promising side for one of the tournament’s outsiders. Defender Kouassi N’Goran and striker Given Singuluma were fantastic in qualification, and will be key members of this side. Since Central Africa were never restrained by budget, this is a very similar squad to qualification.
Up front with Singuluma is Tresor Mputu, who is a dangerous forward, whilst Robert Kidiaba is a sturdy presence in goal. The squad is made from players of the leagues of Cameroon, Gabon and both Congo nations.
Squad:
GK: Doule (AC Leopards), Gbohouo (TP Mazembe), Kidiaba (TP Mazembe)
DF: Abouna (AC Leopards), Andzouana (AC Leopards), Boateng (TP Mazembe), Coulibaly (TP Mazembe), Kasereka (Vita Club), Kimwaki (TP Mazembe), N’Goran (MangaSport), Tchatchoua (Canon Taounde)
MD: Elia (TP Mazembe), Ilongo (TP Mazembe), Kalaba (TP Mazembe), Luyindama (TP Mazembe), Mbenza (CARA Brazzaville), N’Goyi (free agent), Zito (DC Motema Pembe)
FW: Assale (TP Mazembe), Bhebey-Ndey (AC Leopards), Luvumbu (Vita Club), Mputu (TP Mazembe), Singuluma (TP Mazembe)
Italy (2nd in qualification-group-a.htmlQualification Group A)
Luca Italia keeps the faith with his star performers from qualification – not that it was a glorious campaign – namely, Nikola Maksimovic, Ricardo Montolivo, Jose Sosa and Gabriel Barbosa. Carlos Bacca turned Italy’s qualification around when he joined halfway through, and he is unsurprisingly kept.
The big names to join Bacca as the side’s star turns are Dries Mertens and a certain Gianluigi Buffon. In order to accommodate such pricey names, there are a number of cheap squad fillers included, who will hopefully only be used in case of emergency, including Goran Pandev and Ravel Morrison.
Squad:
GK: Berni (Inter), Buffon (Juventus), Festa (Crotone)
DF: Chiriches (Napoli), De Ceglie (Juventus), Ferrari (Sassuolo), Konko (Atalanta), Maksimovic (Napoli), Regini (Napoli), Santon (Inter)
MD: Crisetig (Bologna), Marrone (Verona), Montolivo (AC Milan), Morrison (Lazio), Palombo (Sampdoria), Sosa (AC Milan), Vainqueur (Roma)
FW: Bacca (AC Milan), Barbosa (Inter), Mertens (Napoli), Niang (AC Milan), Pandev (Genoa), Tonev (Crotone)
Turkey (3rd in Qualification Group I; best third-placed side)
Turkey were very exciting in qualification, but still finished third behind Argentina and South Africa. Their record was enough to see them through automatically as the best third-placed side, but they will still need to improve to qualify from this group.
Simon Kjaer comes in to bolster the side’s weakest area, defence, whilst up front Lukas Podolski is added to play alongside Robin van Persie, who was the side’s star man in qualifying. With Wesley Sneijder behind them, they will make a fearsome front three. The side’s weakest area is in midfield, with no star turns. Nigel de Jong is paired with Tolgay Arslan, whose surname sounds like a character from a knock-off Narnia story.
Squad:
GK: Hakan (Osmanlispor), Murat (Fenerbahce), Onur (Trabzonspor)
DF: Chedjou (Galatasaray), Kjaer (Fenerbahce), Jonsson (Konyaspor), Prochazka (Osmanlispor), Skrtel (Fenerbahce)
MD: Aissati (Alanyaspor), Ben-Hatira (Gaziantepspor), Castillo (Trebzonspor), Ceyhun (Karabukspor),de Jong (Galatasaray), Gokhan (Besiktas), Mehmet (Trabzonspor), Neustadter (Fenerbahce), Sabri (Galatasaray), Sneijder (Galatasaray), Tolgay (Besiktas)
FW: Eto’o (Antalyaspor), Podolski (Galatasaray), Rusescu (Osmanlispor), van Persie (Fenerbahce)
Portugal vs. Central Africa
The opening match sees the group – and possibly tournament – favourites face one of the least-fancied of the 32. But Central Africa’s shock win over Spain earned them top spot in their group, so they certainly cannot be written off.
Portugal stick with a similar side to that which cruised qualification, with Carvalho and Corona the only additions. Central Africa switched to a 5-2-1-2 for their crunch game with Spain, and so they stick with that, Kalaba playing behind the potent front two of Mputu and Singuluma.
Italy vs. Turkey
If Portugal live up to their pre-tournament expectations, this will be a massive match in deciding who qualifies with them. Both sides were a bit disappointing in qualification, but both have significantly improved their squads.
The weaknesses of Italy’s squad selection are highlighted by the fact that a 34-year old Angelo Palombo will be the side’s anchorman. Turkey have the fairly tough decision to pick two of Eto’o, van Persie and Podolski. For this match, Eto’o is the unlucky one.
Turkey’s troubles have come from poor performances from their front three, so Eto’o is brought on for Ben-Hatira, with Podolski moving to the left wing. It has some initial effect, as Tore’s saved shot signals his side’s first effort on goal. Italy create an even better chance when Bacca plays Mertens in, but Onur is there to smother the chance and keep the scores level. From the resulting play Sneijder tracks back, but only manages to clatter into Bacca, giving away a clear penalty. Barbosa places the ball down, but Bacca is the one to step up (maybe Barbosa is his manservant?), and he places it neatly into the top corner to give Italy the lead. Tore and Sneijder are sacrificed for Sabri and Prochazka to play as wing backs as Italy are dominating the flanks, whilst Italy bring on Niang for Mertens. Turkey’s game goes from bad to worse as de Jong, always playing on the edge after a first-half yellow, picks up his second booking for a needless trip. Podolski is now playing in central midfield, his fourth position of the match. With Turkey unable to put Italy under any real pressure, the match fizzles out into a 1-0 win, with Tore’s earlier shot the only one the Turkish had.
Central Africa were rather naive in their opening match, allowing Portugal to counter their attacks and cruise to a 3-0 win, and they may find that the Italians play in a similar fashion. Should Italy win and Turkey fail to, then Italy will progress and Central Africa will be eliminated.
Central Africa make a couple of changes in defence, with Tchatchoua and Kimwaki coming in for Abouna and Kasereka, whilst Italy name an unchanged side.
Central Africa actually shaded the shot count, with 10 to 8, but none were real chances, and Italy were never in a position where they needed to try and create more.
Turkey vs. Portugal
Italy’s win means that Portugal can win here and secure qualification for both them and the Italians. A draw would just about keep Turkey alive. A Turkish win would mean there could be an interesting scrap on the final day.
Turkey were turgid against Italy’s 4-3-3, so changes are needed before facing Portugal, who use the same formation. Prochazka and Sabri come in for Tore and Ben-Hatira. Meanwhile, Neustadter comes in for the suspended de Jong. Portugal have no reason to change their side, with only Silva not performing well vs. Central Africa, and his qualifying exploits allowing one poor performance to be forgiven.
However, we are going to stop here, and leave the final round of matches for a later update. Instead, we will now see how the other groups shape up, before covering the final round of matches for all the groups.
Next time
Group B features two very strong sides – England and the Netherlands – will they be too much for Romania and the Mediterranean?