Group F overview

Italy
Paraguay
New Zealand
Slovakia

Fixtures:

14/06/2010, Cape Town, Italy vs Paraguay
15/06/2010, Rustenburg, New Zealand vs Slovakia

20/06/2010, Mangaung/Bloemfontein, Slovakia vs Paraguay
20/06/2010, Nelspruit, Italy vs New Zealand

24/06/2010, Johannesburg - JEP, Slovakia vs Italy
24/06/2010, Polokwane, Paraguay vs New Zealand

New Zealand got lucky with the fixtures here. While they probably the weakest team of the whole competition, opposition Slovakia might not have enough experience to get an easy win. Italy have a tough opening match, while it gets easier for the defending Champs down the road. While the fixtures list might also turn out to be a very favourably one. If they can beat New Zealand, while Paraguay lose to Italy, it would be a major step towards getting through from the group.

Runner up of the group will meet the Netherlands in the next stage. Winner (Italy) will take on runner-up from group E.

Hello Slovakia!

While Germany 2006 saw a record amount of nations making their World Cup debut's, eight in total, this time around there's only one - Slovakia. Well, officially there are two, but Serbia already took part of Germany 2006 as Serbia & Montenegro.

Of course you can say they have taken part of World Cup's as Czechoslovakia, but Czech Republic was also seen as debutant's in Germany.

Slovakian football has suffered quite a bit thanks to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Even though the Slovakia players were in a majority in the team that achieved two World Cup runners-up places, after the two nations departed Czechs have always been the better side with better players.

But now finally Slovakia are out from the Czechs shadow. They actually beat their neighbours in the qualifying stage to get this far. You can say it was a bit of a surprise, but the team has a good mix of youth and experience and in captain Marek Hamšík, a world class player.

Hamšík is still only 22, but a lot of the teams play and success depends on him. Seems like a lot of pressure for a young player, but Hamšík, who plays his club football in Napoli, looks to relish it.

The Slovakian local league has developed well, with Artmedia even representing them in Europe and in the Champions League, but the international players come mostly from abroad.

So, while debut appearances are often looked at like a learning curve, no doubt the Slovakians want, and have the ability, to leave their mark straight away.