England
Through a mixture of bad luck, odd management approaches, and a failure to really cohere as a team the modern England national side has never really managed to deliver. The lowest point for them in recent years was their failure to qualify for Euro 2008, which was deeply frustrating for players and fans alike.
With a squad bursting with world class talent and a domestic league widely touted as being the toughest in the world, England and manager Fabio Capello will be seeking to show doubters that they really can compete to the level they should easily be able to.
England really need to shine in this group stage (where at least the curse of the penalty shoot out can’t stop them), to establish the confidence they will need if they progress to the later stages.
USA
With soccer a growing interest in the USA and their domestic league continuing to try and raise its profile in a country where the sport has always taken a back seat to national concerns like American football, baseball and basketball, the American team will be looking to capture the imagination of the people back home by delivering a good performance.
Finishing bottom of Group E in the last World Cup they didn’t look especially convincing, though they did reach the quarter finals in 2002. With players like Landon Donovan looking to prove they are not, as some suggest, overrated and can compete with European stars in leagues like the English Premiership and German Bundesliga, the USA have a lot to play for and should be an interesting team to watch.
Algeria
Algeria have the longest odds of all of the African teams to emerge as winners, at 350-1.
The North African team did fairly well in the African Cup of Nations this year, coming in fourth after being comprehensively beaten by eventual winners Egypt by four goals to nil in the semi finals.
Whether they will show the same abilities in the 2010 World Cup remains to be seen, but Algeria could turn out to be the dark horse in this group.
Slovenia
Slovenia, whose squad comprises players from all over the European Leagues (though none from the English league), qualified by beating Russia on away goals in the play offs, having finished second in their group.
This will only be their second World Cup appearance, their last being in 2002 where they went out in the first round.
At 200-1 they are joint longest odds with Slovakia for a European team.
Prediction
This group should, on paper, be England’s for the taking. As the seeded team in the group with the least fancied African and European opponents, an on form England should dominate this group. The USA also have what should be a fairly easy route to qualification for the knockout rounds, however neither team should get complacent here, particularly where Algeria are concerned.
1. England
2. USA
3. Algeria
4. Slovenia
