| Group |
Country |
FIFA Ranking |
Key Player(s) - Players to watch |
Comments |
Projection |
A | France | 10 | F.Ribery, H. Lloris, P.Evra, F.Malouda, J.Toulalan | Starting 4-3-3 offensive system, former iron-chain defense looks worrisome, awful in recent games | Top 16 |
A | Mexico | 17 | R.Marquez | committed but ineffective | Group Phase |
A | Uruguay | 18 | D.Forlan, M.Caceres, L.Suarez | literally a tough opponent - they play seek and destroy | Top 16 |
A | South Africa | 90 | S.Pienaar | as the host S.A. have the crowd behind his back but I don't see much coming | Group Phase |
B | Argentina | 7 | L.Messi, C.Tevez, G.Higuain, D.Militio, S.Agüero | A team full of stars with one of the best offences in this tournament and with one mad head-coach | Top 3 |
B | Greece | 12 | S.Kyrgiakos | after a deep financial crises I see a soccer-crisis coming | Group Phase |
B | Nigeria | 20 | C.Obasi | the super-eagles are always overvalued so this time - benefit from weak group members | Top 16 |
B | South Korea | 47 | Y.S.Park | remember a surprisingly good team from the WC in Japan/N.Korea'02 but that was a long time ago | Group Phase |
C | England | 8 | W.Rooney, F.Lampard, D.Bent, A.Cole | Always candidate for the Title but never takes the next step -without key player and captain Rio Ferninand (out) | Top 10 |
C | United States | 14 | L.Donovan, E.Buddle | They could make it to the last 16 but no further | Top 16 |
C | Slovenia | 23 | M.Novakovic | Weakest of the east-european teams (Serbia,Slovenia) | Group Phase |
C | Algeria | 31 | K.Ziani | lacking on defense and offense, had an easy qualification | Group Phase |
D | Germany | 6 | B.Schweinsteiger, P.Lahm, P.Mertesacker | Signs are not good for the German Team - 5 important players are out (inj.) | Top 10 |
D | Serbia | 16 | N.Vidic, B.Ivanovic, M.Pantelic | I have ranked them "high" in my rankings - a underrated team imo | Top 16 |
D | Australia | 20 | H.Kewell, M.Schwarzer, T.Cahill | made a good qualification (9-3-2) but the World Cup is a whole other dimension | Group Phase |
D | Ghana | 32 | G.Asamoah | Without their key player and superstar Essien -it's gonna be a hard way for Ghana | Group Phase |
E | Netherlands | 4 | A.Robbe (?), W.Sneijder, M.van Bommel, R.van Persie | unbeaten in the qualification, one of Europe's heavyweights but Bayern-Star Robben is hurt (maybe out for WC?) | Top 10 |
E | Cameroon | 19 | S.Eto'o, J.Makoun | Cameroon's performance rises and falls with Eto'o | Top 16 |
E | Denmark | 35 | C.Poulsen, N.Bendtner | Danish Dynamit was long time ago - maybe a firecracker nowadays | Group Phase |
E | Japan | 45 | S.Nakamura, K.Honda | Their strenght must be teamwork, strong enthusiastic runners | Group Phase |
F | Italy | 5 | G.Buffon, A. Pirlo (?), G.Gattuso, G.Chiellini, A.di Natale | Defending Champion but too instabile for a repeat | Top 10 |
F | Paraguay | 30 | L.Barrios, O.Cardozo, R.Santa-Cruz | maybe a team with great upside but I don't see that in this group | Group Phase |
F | Slovakia | 38 | M.Skrtel | like Serbia a team with potential to finish in the Top-16 | Top 16 |
F | New Zealand | 78 | R.Nelsen | The dark horse of this World Cup, this offence is no match | Group Phase |
G | Brazil | 1 | Kaka, Lucio, D. Alves, T. Silva, Maicon, L. Fabiano, Ronaldinho | The Favorit and now with a stellar defense - even harder to beat | Top 3 |
G | Portugal | 3 | Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Alves | Portugal is always a threat with a Christiano Ronaldo but without Ronaldo what's left? | Top 10 |
G | Ivory Coast | 27 | D.Drogba, E.Eboe, Yaya Toure | Africa's top team, but they have too much ego in the team - and Drogba has an elbow fracture | Group Phase |
G | North Korea | 106 | Hong Y-J | pretty unknown international - shouldn't be an opponent to concern | Group Phase |
H | Spain | 2 | Iniesta, Puyol, Sergio Ramos, David Villa, Xavi, C.Fabregas | favorite not only to win group H, but for the title | Top 3 |
H | Chile | 15 | Humberto Suazo, Matias Fernandez, Mauricio Isla | a little unpredictable but Chile and Swiss are fighting for the advance | Group Phase |
H | Switzerland | 26 | T. Barnetta, A.Frei | you never know what to expect from these guys but expect less this time | Top 16 |
H | Honduras | 40 | C.Pavon | one of the weakest teams, more of a vacation trip for these Caribbeans | Group Phase |