World Cup 2010 - The Pulse Files: Group A

The following verdict is taking in full from our friends at Telegraph Sport. The verdict was compiled by John Ley and Jason Butt.

Yesterday we looked at the hosts South Africa, today we cover the three other teams drawn in Group A, France, Mexico and Uruguay.

France

World Cup record: 1930 1st rd, 1934 1st rd, 1938 QF, 1954 1st rd, 1958 3rd, 1966 1st rd, 1978 1st rd, 1982 4th, 1986 3rd, 1998 Winners, 2002 1st rd, 2006 RU.
How France qualified for World Cup 2010: European play-off winners.

The Coach: Raymond Domenech (French, 57). Appointed: July 2004. WC experience: Player: None. Coach: 2006. He won eight caps as a player and he has made hard work of qualifying for two World Cup finals, even he did reach the final in between.

The Country: France are like England: they have won on home territory and the expectation ahead of every tournament is that they will win the World Cup again.
France came close last time, losing on penalties in the final to Italy when Zinedine Zidane attracted most of the headlines. It should not be forgotten that Les Bleus started the 2006 campaign badly, only just qualifying for the knockout stages, so the luck of their success against the Republic of Ireland should be taken in context.

France's campaign for 2010 qualification got off to a disappointing start with a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Austria in Vienna and speculation followed regarding the future of Domenech.

Despite qualification the jury is still out on the coach. A man who is of Spanish and Catalan descent admitted he had problems with former Arsenal player Robert Pires ... because of his Scorpio star sign.
Pires said at the time: "I must be annoying him. It's like being at school. It's like I'm 20 years old and playing football for the first time." South Africa could be the same.

Verdict: Any right-minded football fan will regard the French as the tournament’s bête noire after Thierry Henry’s disgraceful cheating to deny the Irish. They seem to progress in spite of – rather than because of – their coach and like Argentina are guilty of a criminal misuse of talent. However if harnessed, as was eventually proved in the last World Cup, could go far.

Mexico

Mexico's World Cup record: 1930 1st rd, 1950 1st rd, 1954 1st rd, 1958 1st rd, 1962 1st rd, 1966 1st rd, 1970 QF, 1978 1st rd, 1986 QF, 1994 2nd rd, 1998 2nd rd, 2002 2nd rd, 2006 2nd rd.

How Mexico qualified for World Cup 2010: CONCACAF 4th place.

The Coach: Javier Aguirre (Mexican, 50). Appointed: April 2009. WC experience: Player: 1986. Coach: 2002. Javier Aguirre Onaindía, aka 'El Vasco', played in the finals and now goes there for a second time as a boss.

The Country: Mexico was disqualified from the 1990 World Cup (and any other international competition) after using players over the age limit allowed by Fifa in the qualifying round for the Olympic Games in Seoul 1988.

The punishment originally was only going to be applied to the Olympic team and not the World Cup team, but the penalty later affected all Mexican national representatives of all sports for two years.

In the 1990s, after appointing coach César Luis Menotti, Mexican football began experiencing greater success. An important turning point was its participation in the 1993 Copa America, where they finished second in the tournament, losing to Argentina 2-1 in the final.

And Mexico made sure of their 14th appearance at the finals with a game to spare after a comprehensive 4-1 victory over El Salvador - despite a swarm of bees in the goalmouth halting play for 10 minutes. Aguirre's side won six of their nine games to seize the initiative in the group after the job had been started under previous coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Captain Rafa Marquez: "This is a great team and Javier Aguirre is a great coach. We worked hard and got the job done, the credit goes to all to my teammates and to the coach. They are all amazing."

Verdict: Having discarded Eriksson and employed the much tougher Aguirre as coach, the Mexicans rallied. With games at altitude in South Africa they could be very tricky opponents.

Uruguay

World Cup record: 1930 Winners, 1950 Winners, 1954 SF, 1962 1st rd, 1966 QF, 1970 4th, 1974 1st rd, 1986 2nd rd, 1990 2nd, 2002 1st rd.

How Uruguay qualified for World Cup 2010: Play-off winners.

The Coach: Oscar Tabárez (Uruguayan, 62). Appointed: 2006. WC experience: Player: None. Coach: 1990.
The former AC Milan manager first saw service with his country in 1983 when he took charge of Uruguay’s Under-20s, and assumed control of the senior side in 2006.

The Country: Uruguay were the last country to qualify for the finals, overcoming Costa Rica on Wednesday night. And afterwards, Tabárez vowed to take an improved side to the finals.

A 1-1 home draw with Costa Rica booked Uruguay a ticket to South Africa with a 2-1 aggregate win in the qualifying play-off. "It was very tough," said Tabárez. "This match mirrored the tie as a whole. I'm very happy. Fortunately, we made it, in spite of the way we did it. There is a lot to improve on.

“We'll do so and we'll have the World Cup to prove it. I'm very happy, mostly for the kids. The ones who are younger than eight years old have never seen this and now they can live it."

Captain Diego Lugano was disappointed Uruguay had to go through the play-offs. "I am happy to qualify, but not for the way we've clinched it," the Fenerbahce defender said. "It is unbelievable that we have to suffer this way."

Midfielder Alvaro Fernández added: "We'll never make it into the World Cup comfortably, but it has a special taste."

Verdict: Have wonderful attacking threat in Diego Forlán but they also appear to, at times, suffer from a lack of belief and confidence in the big moments. And they don’t come much bigger than the World Cup.

PADDY POWER INDEX (As from 26th May)
France 14/1 Mexico 80/1 Uruguay 100/1 South Africa 125/1

SportTrades Pulse: Prediction on Group Standings

1st France
2nd Uruguay
3rd South Africa
4th Mexico