The World Cup starts today, when the South African soccer team, better known as Bafana Bafana (The Boys), plays Mexico in what the South Africans hope will be an improbable run towards immortality: winning the World Cup as the host country, a feat done only six times since 1930.

In a sports event of this magnitude – indeed, one could argue that this is the biggest sporting event in the world, even bigger than the Olympics – this is no ordinary time for the world. There is oil spilling in the Gulf of Mexico, financial crisis ruining lives, water scarcity, and terrorists threatening to strike at every corner of the globe. Still, in spite of our insecurity, we pause to crown a champion in “the world game” or as it is also known: “the beautiful game.”

I wanted to drill down to some of the themes that I am following as the Cup begins in earnest and all we are worried about will be trying to pry ourselves away from our iPads, PDAs and computer monitors, to join the billions around the world riveted by the skills of each nation's finest.

Disappointing injuries:

... that will keep key players out of the excitement. At the top of the list is a story from the Ivory Coast, where Didier Drogba, one of the top five strikers in the world, fractured his elbow in a friendly match with Japan just 11 days before the Ivory Coast is set to play Portugal. Drogba is the heart and soul of the Ivory Coast team and it is questionable whether they will have the same impact without him. On the personal side, if Drogba does not get a chance this year, at 32, he may not ever be able to play for the Cup again. The Ivorians are in a hardscrabble group: With the likes of Brasil, Portugal, and the enigmatic North Korean team this is the “Group of Death,” and with the loss of Drogba, Ivory Coast has been dealt a deadly blow even before the first vuvuzela horn has been blown.

The England team captain, Rio Ferdinand, has also gone down with injury and will lose his chance to play in the World Cup. Torn ligaments in his knee sustained while training will force the defenseman out and dramatically alter the way England arranges its players to account for his loss of leadership and his 78 matches of experience in international play representing England. USA and England play on Saturday, June 12^th at 1:30 ET.

The Team with 'God' on their side:

When Diego Maradona played he was known to his fellow players by his nickname: “God.” In 1986 Maradona led the Argentines to a Cup and now Maradona is not playing, but leading as the manager of this year's squad. Luckily he has another outstanding striker – probably the best player in the world, Lionel Messi – who has come off of a grueling season in which he dazzled for Barcelona. This is a team to watch. Argentina is either really good or really bad. They lack consistency and have not really had time to gel. It will come to the coaching squad, led by Maradona and anchored by the steady hand of Carlos Bilardo, who coached Argentina in 1986, to forge this team into a championship mold that the world has not seen since the 80’s. It also does not hurt to have “God” on your side.

Hey Hey, U-S-A!

Hey, whaddya say: I am rooting for the USA because, as a good friend said to me recently, I am a hopeless jingoist – I love my country’s team, but the England v USA match will probably not be the most important match for the United States in their campaign.  In fact, fans should really worry about the U.S. matches vs Slovenia and Algeria.  If the U.S. happens to lose to England (which realistically is expected because of how strong England is) the U.S. will then have to beat a very organized and disciplined team (Slovenia) and then would have to beat Algeria – the dark horse of the group (and the Cup, for that matter). Algeria is a wild card team who beat Egypt (defending champs and 5 time African Cup of Nations champion) to advance to the World Cup.

If the Yanks do not make it out of their group, it won’t be because of the game vs England: It will be because they couldn't beat Slovenia or Algeria.  It's very similar to 2006, when the U.S. lost to both the Czech Republic and Italy, and on their final match got soundly beaten by Ghana.  Most critics back then would argue that the U.S. were much better than Ghana, however in the end, they could not produce the goals to advance to the knockout stage. 

The question going into Saturday is simple: Can Landon Donovan, Josy Altidore and the rest regain the magic from last year's Confederation Cup (which was, ironically, played in South Africa) in which they beat #1 ranked Spain and eventually finished second?

Olé Olé Olé Olé Olé Olé!