2010 FIFA World Cup Previews: June 23, 2010

Slovenia vs England

Capello has confirmed that Upson will replace the suspended Carragher in defence. King remains sidelined although Carrick has recovered from his ankle injury and will likely wind up on the bench.

He has also said that he will make a few other changes to make sure that England perform as well as they should do and this may consist of making changes to the England attack which has been pretty much ineffective so far.

There cannot be any slip-ups for England in this match as it would spell the end for their World Cup. Only time will tell if they can actually perform to expectations.

Slovenia will probably be without centre back Suler who picked up an injury against the USA. The Slovenes surprisingly top the group at the moment although with the USA more than likely to beat Algeria they could end up slipping out of the qualifying spots should they lose to England. A draw will be enough for Slovenia so it is more than likely be what they play for against this vapid England side.

USA vs Algeria

USA’s Findley has picked up a suspension so they’ll be forced to shake up their attack. Dempsey will step into the attack and Feilhaber should play in the midfield. A win for the USA should put them through to the next round of the World Cup, and against Algeria they have every opportunity to do so. They’ll just have to make sure they aren’t part of another major upset at the hands of Algeria.

Algeria will have been bolstered by the very respectable result that they achieved against England who are one of the outside favourites for the Cup. Although this was not an on form England it was still something of an achievement for the Algerians.

Technically speaking Algeria can still get through the group stages so this may not be the defensive match that you would expect to see on their part. Hopefully this will make for an interesting match.

Australia vs Serbia

Technically Australia still have a chance―assuming that Ghana can beat Germany they could qualify. And in all honesty the Aussies have been more than just a little bit unlucky, losing both Cahill and Kewell has seen them playing with a significantly weakened squad. Australia have a good shot of beating Serbia, but whether or not this will do them any good remains to be seen.

The Serbians have a half decent chance of actually qualifying, and even more interestingly it could be at the expense of Germany, depending on the result of their match with Ghana. A draw could be enough to see them through under the right circumstances. No matter what happens a win would definitely see them advancing, which is a position that the Serbians will probably be quite happy to be in.

Ghana vs Germany

Ghana have found themselves at the top of the group table which is probably not where they expected to be before the cup started. A draw would be more than enough to see them get into the last 16 so it is quite likely that we’ll see them shut up shop early on and play a defensive game. There has been some pretty good news for Ghana with the return of Mensah and Vorsah.

Germany will be without Klose due to a ban, so Cacau will probably take his place. Germany’s coach has said that he will make some tactical changes to the side before the match so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Only a win for Germany will guarantee their progression so it is absolutely essential that they don’t slip up and tarnish their brilliant World Cup record.

Xavier - live scores and sports