Message for the Hosts

[West End Zuma]

Get thee behind Mexico and please please give France the hot reception they deserve.

It might be worth pointing out that in the history of the WC, the host country has never failed to advance out of their group. Before WC 70 Mexico were international whipping boys but they managed a 0-0 draw against the mighty USSR and got 2 wins on their way to a 4-1 tonking by Italy in the QF.

Nobody gave the US much chance of qualifying out of a group containing Romania, Switzerland and a highly fancied Colombia at WC94. We all know what happened there. At WC54 even boring Switzerland topped a group containing England and Italy. So if WC history is anything to go by (and I put a lot of stock in WC history) the capricious WC Gods may yet favor the hosts to go thru and the frogs to get cooked.

Carne Asada, goes well with a Brai.

[G-Man]

Message for the Hosts

Switzerland had a very decent side in 1954. And boring? Any side involved in a 7-5 scoreline is not boring.

SA has a tough group, but I see no reason why they can't beat Mexico and Uruguay. Of course, there are many reasons why they might get beaten by Mexico and France and draw against Uruguay.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Message for the Hosts

If France get their act together it is an easy group to get out of but it also contains four sides of a very similar level, South Africa have the crowd factor and perhaps the Sepp factor that was allegedly prevalent in 2002.

[Mockswing]

Message for the Hosts

"Before WC 70 Mexico were international whipping boys but they managed a 0-0 draw against the mighty USSR and got 2 wins on their way to a 4-1 tonking by Italy in the QF."

They'd only won one match, in 1962. But their Group in 1970 wasn't that difficult. They had El Salvador, who only qualified because Mexico as host opened up another qualifying spot for CONCACAF, Belgium & the USSR.

Mexico also received a few refereeing decisions that were "controversial" to say the least. The referee apparently overruled a linesman & gave a free-kick to Mexico instead of a throw-in to El Salvador from which Mexico scored just before half-time, to give them the lead. They went on to win 4-0 against demoralised opponents. Having seen the game though, it's hard to tell whether the referee's decision is that bad, because it's inconclusive as to what happened just before the decision.

Also, Belgium's team spirit was shot to pieces because they had differential pay scales between the payers, so some were paid more than others. Having the referee give a penalty against them early on in the game v. Mexico couldn't have helped that spirit much either.

[West End Zuma]

Message for the Hosts

No question Mexico had it much easier at WC70, but those examples reinforce my larger point about the benefits of home advantage. Dodgy refereeing is part and parcel of the home advantage, without it South Korea probably wouldn't have made it to the semis at WC02, to name one example. So I wouldn't be surprised if South Africa benefits from a few questionable calls, and to be honest, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it, especially if it's to the detriment of France.