Complete Guide to the Groups for the South Africa World Cup

Group A

France, Mexico, Uruguay, South Africa

Likely to advance: France, Uruguay

Unlikely to advance: France, South Africa

The French team was dramatically excluded from the first tier of teams but was fortunate to be grouped with the host nation South Africa, the weakest team in the first tier. In this group, the French team is the strongest. However, their performance in the qualifiers could only be described as terrible, and recent scandals involving French national players have continued to emerge. The team's unity and form at the time remain unknown, especially since they are a typically slow-starting team. If their performance in the group stage remains poor, then as Domenech said, "If you want to qualify, it's not easy!"

The Uruguayan team is the second strongest in this group. In the 2002 World Cup, the defending champion French team was held to a 0-0 draw by Uruguay in the group stage, ultimately bringing down the "emperor" and dying in the group stage alongside them. Although Uruguay advanced from the South American region through a narrow victory in the playoffs, they scored 28 goals in 18 qualifying matches, second only to Brazil and Chile in terms of attack power. However, the team's defense is weak and brutal, and they will definitely suffer a great loss, especially when facing the host nation.