Why You're Probably Underrating The Sound 4
Orochimaru is a reasonable guy, he has ninja like Jugo, Kabuto, Suigetsu and Kimimaro and yet the band of Sound ninja he trusts the most to go and do his dirty work and collect LITERALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO HIM (Sasuke's body) to the Sound 4. The Sound 4 get ripped on quite a lot, and fair enough. You'd probably call him 'fodder' and 'THEY GOT BEAT BY A BUNCH OF GENIN LOL' isn't a creative or a very reasonable comment at all.
People underestimate these characters severely, they managed to ambush a top team of Leaf chunnin and jonin led by Shizune & Genma and effortlessly beat an angered Curse Mark Sasuke to a pulp (something Gaara couldn't do in the Chunnin exams) These guys have strength! They set traps and have good tactics, but the reason they all lose (other than the plot) is because they are all matched up badly. I mean, imagine if Tayuya got matched up with anyone BUT Shikamaru, let's say Chouji. Chouji is too slow and wouldn't be able to figure out her pretty impressive strategy and her strong summoning jutsu, he'd have been powerless with or without the pill. Imagine if Shikamaru ended up with Jirōbō! Not much time to come up with a strategy when you're being beaten to a pulp by a Chakra giant... We all KNOW what happened to Naruto when he got singled out by Kidomaru...
You must be registered for see images
Imagine if Naruto was alone and Kidomaru had stopped playing around...
The problem is with these guys is that they all have pretty large personality flaws that each of the Sasuke Retrieval Team targets.
You must be registered for see images
Kidomaru plays with his food, giving Neji the perfect chance to work out his techniques. He can trap any enemy, has a strong projectile and also has the golden armour which is a pretty big deal. Amateresu and Susanoo attacks do not scratch him.
You must be registered for see images
Jirobo is definitely the weakest member but has an appetite and bullies his enemies, taunting Chouji isn't exactly a great thing to do and it led to his downfall, underestimating a genin with nothing left to lose and a HUGE suicide technique he was willing to use.
You must be registered for see images
Tayuya is smug and is convinced that nobody could figure out her jutsu. Too bad she had Shikamaru otherwise she could've possibly beaten every other member. Her Phantom Sound Chains cripple Aoba instantly and create an opening for the others with Sasuke.
You must be registered for see images
Sakon and Udon were actually most likely going to win theirs if it had gone on much longer. There's not much to comment on with the Kiba/Sakon fight- Not much to say... Other than the fact that he's EXTREMELY hard to kill. Orochimaru comments that Sakon is most likely the strongest member and Tayuya has the 'heart that burns just as hot' so make of that what you will. Literally any other arrangement and Shikamaru's squad would've all died...
Not to mention, their teamwork was pretty good. They knew each other well enough to know that Shikamaru was impersonating a fake Jirobo just from a few seconds of talking and before they got split up they seemed almost faultless. Their jutsus cover each other and we never got to see them fighting together. Their abilities are so good that even Kabuto, a guy who has access to Madara and other legendary ninja, still infused their abilities into himself because they were so useful. I'm sick of seeing these Chunnin rank ninja (with Jonin/Low Kage level abilities and jutsus) ESPECIALLY CURSE MARK COUGH CURSE MARK COUGH being slacked off and being treated like they're bottom of the barrel ninja.
So there you go. Take another look without that ridiculous bias of yours and realise that even if you personally think Sasuke wins, that this is a very good matchup.