At every major sporting event, they are there. Hidden in the shadows, peeking stealthily around corners, and chewing mouthfuls of holy green turf.
They are the dark horses; striking fear into the hearts of even the boldest of pre-tournament favourites, and playing on the overconfidence of their more fancied opponents. Unassuming yet deadly, they are the silent killers of the sporting kingdom:
History is littered with tales of woe caused by these beasts on a rampage; and the football World Cup is no different.
USA 1994 - Bulgaria
Whilst reigning world champions Germany and perennial golden boys Brazil were the favourites for the 1994 tournament, it was a team who'd previously never won a game in the finals who took the World Cup by storm. Entered into a reasonably tough group against Argentina, Greece, and Nigeria, the ‘Golden Generation' of Bulgarian football endured a rough first game - suffering a comprehensive 3-0 defeat at the hands of Nigeria.
They then bounced back with a 4-0 scoreline against World Cup debutants Greece; but it was their 2-0 defeat of Argentina that really signalled the Bulgarians' intent. Qualifying through to the round of sixteen, they summarily dispatched regional powerhouses Mexico on penalties. But it was their next match, against reigning world champions Germany, that was to be the crowning glory of their campaign.
Germany went ahead through a Lothar Matthaus penalty in the 47th minute, but a three-minute double-salvo from Hristo Stoichkov and Iordan Letchkov ensured that there were scenes of near-rioting in the Bulgarian capital that night. Bulgaria may have then lost to Baggio's Italy 2-1 in the semi-finals, and run out of steam against Sweden in the third place match, but the achievement of knocking out a team containing Klinsmann and Voeller was enough to cement this team in World Cup folklore.
Korea/Japan 2002 - South Korea
Host nations often loom as the hidden threat at World Cup tournaments. However, in 2002 nobody really gave the (supposedly) physically weak and (allegedly) technically deficient Asian teams any real chance of causing an upset. When South Korea started off with a win against Poland, few people were impressed - well yes, they beat a European team and all, but come on... it's Poland! After all, the Koreans had never made it out of a World Cup group stage.
A 1-1 draw with the United States added further fuel to the fire. Ha! They couldn't even beat those yanks! Pathetic! Well, ‘those yanks' beat Portugal in their opening match - and when South Korea performed the same feat a few days later thanks to Park Ji Sung, the Koreans were through to the final 16 of their own tournament. Unfortunately for the Asian supremos, they were lined up against Italy.
Quarter-finalists in France, runners up in USA 94 (beating mighty Bulgaria, no less) and third placed finishers in their own tournament, the Italians were easy favourites to beat the Koreans and advance to the quarter finals. Well, evidently nobody told that to the ‘Red Devils'. Coached by some guy by the name of Guus Hiddink, ably assisted by Pim Verbeek, the Koreans knocked off Italy 2-1 thanks to an extra time golden goal from Ahn Jung-Hwan, who ironically played his club football for Italian club Perugia. After the result, Perugia's president famously declared that Ahn would "never play for the club again".
Spain were up next, and the Koreans fought hard the entire game. In a tight affair, the match went to penalties with the scores locked 0-0. Incredibly, Korea won the football lottery and came through with a 5-3 win. This meant that for the first time in South Korea's footballing history, they had not just made it out of the group stages - but had now qualified for the World Cup semi-finals. A tight 1-0 loss to Germany in their semi-final, followed by an entertaining 3-2 defeat against Turkey in the third place play-off, could not fail to dampen this tremendous achievement.
So, which fillies am I picking to give the World Cup a real shake this year?
Ivory Coast
Looking forward to this very African of tournaments, one could imagine a local side giving things a real shake. I'd say the Ivory Coast are possibly Africa's best chance of an upset for this year. Traditionally, it is the hosts who get a fillip for the home would cup - but I think South Africa simply don't have the star power of Cote d'Ivoire.
Didier Drogba. Salomon Kalou. Kolo Toure. Emmanuel Eboue. And that's just the big stars of the Premier League - what about all the players in Ligue 1, the Bundesliga, and La Liga? This star-studded team topped their African qualifying group undefeated - and while the quality of their qualifying opposition may be the subject of some debate, there's no doubting they'll give their World Cup group a run for their money. They're up against Brazil, North Korea, and Portugal in what will be a very tough group - but if they can make it out of there, who knows how far they'll go?
Serbia
Poor Germany - as if being drawn to face international superpowers Australia wasn't bad enough, another dark horse has whinnied its way into Group D in the form of Serbia. Despite being drawn in the same European qualification group as France, Serbia steamed through qualifying to finish top of their group with a 7-1-2 record, relegating France to a sudden death handball match with Ireland. This was also the first time Serbia had competed as an independent nation in a FIFA qualifying campaign; having rid themselves of the pesky Montenegrins (though not through ethnic cleansing, I should point out).
Milan Jovanovic, set to join Liverpool next season, is likely to be a real danger to opposition defences. The Jupiler League Player of the Year has scored 52 times in 116 matches for Standard Liege, and will probably be looking to link with Valencia attacker Nikola Zigic at the pointy end of the White Eagles' play. The Serbian defence is also very strong, bolstered by two EPL stars in the form of Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic and Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic - both key players still on the right side of thirty. Throw Ghana into the mix, and Group D is looking very unpredictable indeed; with three supposedly ‘lesser' teams all dreaming of claiming a big-name European scalp.
United States of America
The thing with the USA is you're never quite sure what team is going to turn up on the day. When they don't play well, they're terrible. But if they're switched on, look out! The Stars and Stripes' physical strength and fitness, combined a surprising level of technical prowess, has the potential to upset any team at this World Cup. Spain, newly crowned European Champions, went 35 games undefeated before running into the USA at the 2009 Confederations Cup. Until facing the US, they had won their last 15 straight games. This all went out the window when Bob Bradley's lads won 2-0 in the semi-finals and sent Spain crashing out of the tournament.
As if to prove that this game was no fluke, the USA then went ahead and proceeded to put two goals past Brazil in the first half of the cup final. The fact that they then conceded three goals in the second half to allow Brazil to hold aloft the somewhat-meaningless trophy still doesn't diminish the fact that this team is quite capable of mixing it with the big boys. Mind you, they'll want to put the 5-0 loss to Mexico on US soil out of their heads long before heading to Johannesburg. Their friendly with Australia on June 5 will go a big way to establishing just how serious both nations are about a tilt at the trophy in South Africa.
Speaking of the Socceroos, you might well be wondering why I've left Australia off this list. Well, it is with some pride that I note that British paper The Daily Telegraph has listed the Socceroos as among their dark horses for this year's World Cup - on the back of "the quality of Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell, and Mark Schwarzer". But in writing this article I've tried to remain impartial - and while we still have some very good players, our squad is another four years older since the heroics of 2006 and the nation has struggled to replace some of our ageing star players.
There's no new Mark Viduka, not yet an out-and-out replacement for Craig Moore, and still some conjecture over just who fits best in the crowded Australian midfield. And let's face it, while it's great to see some new faces in the mix - I'm completely unbiased when I say I'd like Nikita Rukavytsya to be our World Cup bolter - the fact is that some of these potential World Cup debutants simply don't have the international experience or pedigree of past squad members such as Lazaridis, Skoko, or ‘Dukes'. Guys like Nikita, Tommy Oar, and Dario Vidosic may one day approach that level; but they're not there just yet.
That said, I still firmly believe we play our best football with our backs to the wall. So dark horse or no dark horse, I still think we're going to make a good fist of it - just don't be disappointed if we don't quite get as far as last time.
In the meantime, who is your dark horse for South Africa 2010? Let us know below.
