EPL Talk

In the first of eight group previews, I am joined by Laurence McKenna and Kartik Krishnaiyer to - with a little help of Andy Brassel, Simon Hill, and Simon Kuper - look at Group E.  The Netherlands are the seeded nation in a group with no easy points.  Denmark won its UEFA qualifying group.  Cameroon is one of the nations expected to reap an advantage from the World Cup going to Africa for the first time.  Japan's talented midfield is poised to take advantage of any team that may slip.  Your three analysts discuss each team and, going match-by-match, give their picks for the two teams that will come out of the group.

On tomorrow's podcast, the team will break down Group H - otherwise known as Spain's group - with the help of Andy Brassell, Grant Wahl, and Tim Vickery.

Sean Wheelock covers North American for the BBC and is best known for his word on the BBC's World Football Phone-In.  On today's edition of the World Cup Buzz podcast, "The Big Wheel" joins me to focus on Group C; specifically, England and the United States.  

The Guardian's Jonathan Wilson is one of the most influential soccer writers in the English-language world, whose ability to explain the tactical side of the game has changed the way the game is covered.  ​On today's podcast, the author of Sunderland: A Club Transformed, Behind the Curtain, and Inverting the Pyramid joins us to discuss two other areas of expertise - Eastern European football and African football - as we continue profiling the nations competing in this summer's World Cup.  In this interview, we cover Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire as well as Slovenia, Serbia, and Slovakia.  We also discuss his latest work, released last week - The Anatomy of England: A History in Ten Matches.

On tomorrow's edition of the podcast, BBC's North American football correspondent Sean Wheelock will join us to conclude our experts' series as we cast special focus on Group C, England, and the United States.

Sky Sports' Andy Gray broadcast the UEFA Champions League final on Saturday and will work with Fox Soccer Channel this summer as a World Cup analyst.  Earlier this week Andy joined me to talk about both events, giving us an overview of which nations he sees as strongest ahead of the finals in South Africa.

Grant Wahl is a senior soccer writer at Sports Illustrated and author of the Beckham Experiment.  He joins me on this edition of the World Cup Buzz podcast to talk about the three teams representing CONCACAF:  Honduras, who most will view as longshots; Mexico, who experienced a drastic turnaround after firing Sven Göran Eriksson; and the United States, whose expectations are elevated after success in their last trip to South Africa. 

Simon Hill is the lead commentator for Fox Sports Australia and, in addition to leading the channel's A-League efforts, covers the region's international game.  Simon joined me early last week to talk about the five teams from Asian and Oceania that will be competing in South Africa:  Australia, New Zealand, North Korea, South Korea and Japan.

One of the co-authors of Soccernomics, Simon Kuper is also an expert on Dutch soccer.  On this edition of the World Cup Buzz podcast,  I talk to Simon about the romance surrounding the Oranje, when we learned about the team from Euro 2008, and whether he feels a suspect defense and hold up in South Africa.  

Martin Tyler will be calling this summer's World Cup for ESPN, serving as the network's lead commentator in South Africa.  Earlier this week Martin joined me to talk about last week's FA Cup final, Saturday's Champions League final in Madrid, the 2018 World Cup bid, but mostly, the England national team.  Amongst other topics, Martin and I talk about the team's questions in central defense and goal, the importance of Frank Lampard and the central midfielder's strong end to the Premier League season, and the high expectations Fabio Capello has for his squad.

On this episode of the World Cup Buzz Podcast, Richard Farley discusses with Tim Vickery the South American teams who will be competing in the 2010 World Cup. Also discussed is the Albiceleste viability of Esteban Cambiasso as well as dissecting the five South American teams who qualified for South Africa from CONMEBOL. Can Brazil win another World Cup? Can Argentina keep it together? That and more on this episode.

On Monday, it was announced that an ankle injury suffered in Saturday’s FA Cup Final would keep German national team captain Michael Ballack out of the World Cup. Joining us to talk about that as well the Nationalmannschaft’s chances this summer is the Guardian and Sports Illustrated’s Raphael Honigstein. Raphael discusses the potential replacements for Ballack, Germany’s shift in formation, and the significance of Germany’s youth.