Brief Analysis Of Each World Cup Group

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France

Mexico, Uruguay, and France are easily the biggest winners of the draw, as they were drawn into Group A with hosts South Africa. Never has a host country been eliminated in the group stage, even the weakest of all previous hosts, USA and Japan. But South Africa will mostly likely become the first host country not to advance.

Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece

Group B is the most wide open group. Traditionally, Argentina would be considered the runaway winners of a group like this, but their instability under the management of Diego Maradonna means all four teams will have roughly equal chances of advancing.

Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia

Group C is probably the most clear cut group as far as both playoff places are concerned. Algeria and Slovenia both barely qualified and are very inexperienced in the World Cup, while England and USA qualified much more comfortably and will be expected to advance.

Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana

Germany got a fairly favorable draw should have no problems topping the group. Second place will be up for grabs as Australia, Serbia, and Ghana all have pretty equal chance of advancing. Australia have their Round of 16 experience in 2006 to draw from, Serbia managed to top their qualifying group ahead of France, and Ghana also finished in the Round of 16 in 2006.

Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

Group E is about as open as Group B. Seeded team Netherlands will definitely be favorites, but they will have tricky work ahead of them. Denmark topped their qualifying group ahead of Portugal, Cameroon is the most experienced African side in the World Cup, and Japan was first Asian country to qualify.

Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

Defending champs and perpetual slow starters Italy will be able to ease into the playoff stages from Group F. Paraguay and Slovakia are expected to battle for the other playoff spot from this group, and New Zealand will have to be happy just to be there after edging Bahrain to qualify.

Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal

Group G is the Group of Death. North Korea will be the punching bag of the group, but Brazil, Ivory Coast, and Portugal will have very difficult games against one another to avoid elimination. The group is made even more difficult by the likelihood of Spain awaiting the second place finisher in the next round.

Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

Perennial World Cup underachievers Span could not have asked for a much easier group than Group H. However, their next round will be very difficult when they face a team from the Group of Death. Switzerland and Chile will battle for second place, and Honduras will have an outside chance of advancing.