Little is known about North Korea, except for their results in qualifying. Their opponents, the most successful national team in history, are clear favourites. Brazil look set to open their account in style.

The lowest ranked team in the competition, North Korea would be hard pressed to claim a point in Group G against Cote d’Ivoire or Portugal, let alone trouble Brazil. Their best known player, also their captain, is Hong Yong-Jo, who plays mostly as a substitute midfielder-come-striker in lower-end Russian Premier league club Rostov. With only two other players plying their trade outside North Korea, in Japan – Kawasaki Frontale’s prolific striker Jong Tae-Se and now-relegated Ominya Ardija’s journeyman midfielder Ahn Young-Hak – the rest are an enigma.

Brazil set the benchmark for any team looking to seriously contemplate lifting the World Cup. Star playmaker Kaka may not be at the peak of his powers these days but he has scored more international goals than any of his teammates. Alongside him are a star-studded squad including Julio Cesar, Maicon and Lucio from Inter Milan, Robinho, Luis Fabiano, Gilberto Silva and Julio Baptista – this is a team so strong that Barcelona’s Dani Alves is used as an impact substitute. Maybe not as exciting as they used to be, Brazil are well organised and extremely skilful.

You would have to favour Brazil, and favour them heavily. 3-0 is the minimum score that can be expected. Star players would have to be the overlapping Maicon and undeniable talent of Robinho but expect Kaka to score – as well as popping up for the odd vital goal, Kaka has penalty duties, something which may come into effect when playing a team like North Korea.

Brazil vs North Korea Betting / Brazil vs North Korea Odds / Brazil Odds / Brazil Betting

Group D contains some of the world’s best countries. Germany may be just a cut above but all the teams in their group should make life difficult for them.

Normally, neither Serbia nor Ghana would consider themselves favourites. For Ghana, it’s a chance to emulate 2006’s great escape from a group containing eventual champions Italy, the strong Czechs and USA, and for Serbia, it’s a chance to avenge a poor performance that saw them crash out in round 1. But these are not normal circumstances.

With Michael Essien absent, Ghana are severely deflated, as reflected in their poor form leading up to the tournament, their best result being a 1-0 victory over Latvia. Though many of the team were part of the side that claimed second spot in the African Cup of Nations, Milovan Rajevac’s men will face tougher opposition here. The shining light is the re-emergence of Stephen Appiah; a forgotten man at Bologna this season, Appiah is the embodiment of calm and leadership.

Serbia are steady if not spectacular, able to compete with a full-strength team that includes Nemanja Vidic, highly sought after Milos Krasic, Branislav Ivanovic, treble-winning Inter Milan midfielder Dejan Stankovic and new Birmingham 6’7” striker Nikola Zigic. Their automatic qualification saw them force France into a play-off to join them. Very strong.

A fairly tense match, Serbia’s strong backline should hold off Ghana, and all that’s required of them is to score on the counter-attack.

In Group D’s other match, 2006’s hosts, Germany, take on 2006’s surprise package, Australia.
Switching to the Asian football association, Australia qualified for the World Cup before with two games to spare, regularly playing against tougher opposition than they had previously been used to. Still able to count on the experience and leadership of captain Lucas Neill, Vince Grella and Harry Kewell (all based in Turkey), as well as the indispensible Scott Chipperfield, Mark Schwarzer, Brett Emerton and Tim Cahill. Read more Australia vs Germany 2010 World Betting ›

With both teams likely to qualify from this group, this game may ultimately decide who tops it and seeks to avoid the unenviable task of playing Germany in the second round.

Revitalised under Fabio Capello, England are one of the early tournament favourites and have a strong squad throughout. USA, despite a great second-place finish against Brazil in the Confederations Cup – beating Spain along the way – simply do not have the credentials to beat England.

Rated 14th in the World, a number of players will be familiar to English audiences – their keepers Tim Howard, Brad Guzan and Marcus Hahnemann all play in England, along with Jonathon Spector, Stuart Holden, Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey. But their brightest star, Landon Donovan, is the man to watch: still only 28, he is their all-time leading goal-scorer with 42 goals in 123 appearances – all as a support striker.

Fast and athletic, USA lack the cutting edge, despite that incredible win over Spain. Mystery surrounds England’s starting line-up but the players have said they want James as keeper, likely to be guarded by Ashley Cole, King, Terry and Johnson. In midfield, the signs are that club-less Joe Cole will receive a surprising starting berth with out of favour Wright-Phillips, with the centre pairing of Gerrard and Lampard supplying Crouch and the formidable Wayne Rooney.

Certainly an England win, though USA have bite to them. Impossible not to see Crouch getting some joy against a very unfit Milan defender Oguchi Onyewu. Not as close-run as Group A, this should see a difficult England victory.

World Cup hosts South Africa come into their own tournament in good form, having beaten Denmark, Colombia and Guatemala, and drawn with Bulgaria in their last 4 games – extremely good results. They will come up against a very strong in Mexico, who performed well in losses to England and Holland before convincingly beating Gambia and World Cup holders Italy. Read more South Africa v Mexico Betting 11th June 2010 17 30 ›

To their credit in 2006, Marcelo Lippi (then and present head coach) led a relatively unappreciated team from a tricky group to become champions of the world. Being without old heroes like Christian Vieri and Paolo Maldini, and refusing to recall influential players like Christian Panucci and Antonio Cassano, Lippi came in for heavy criticism.

In South Africa, Lippi faces that same criticism from many for again leaving Cassano at home, as well as other creative, combative individuals like Inter Milan’s treble-winning teenager Mario Balotelli and Villareal’s New Jersey-born Giuseppe Rossi. Instead, a base of largely unchanged faces from 2006 shuffles into the current tournament but if there’s one thing international football dictates, you never count out a country that’s won the World Cup four times.

Italy’s main strength is experience – most of the players in the squad are already world champions and 8 of the 14 that took part in that final will play integral roles this summer. Their 5 best players are Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Pirlo, Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale.

Buffon needs no introduction. The most expensive goalkeeper in the world, Buffon bucked the Italians’ general form in Euro 2008 by hauling Italy through the group phase and into the second round, where in spite of keeping Spain at bay for the entire game, he was powerless as they went out on penalties. Buffon commands the box better than any, which is just as well considering captain Fabio Cannavaro’s painful demise.

Giorgio Chiellini plays with the tactical intelligence of a player 10 years his senior but with an energy and attacking instinct vital to the success of Italy. Originally a left-back, Chiellini’s shift to the centre coincided with Didier Deschamps’ rejuvenation of Juventus in their second division season in 2006-07. Ferocious and uncompromising, Chiellini is rarely the liability his attacking instincts might suggest.

Pirlo is the lynchpin of the team. The AC Milan playmaker dictates the pace of the game through the middle, sending defence-splitting passes to the attackers, as well as being Italy’s main source of free kicks. Likely to be seen further forward for Italy than his club, Pirlo is nevertheless a schemer, not a battler. When Pirlo plays well, Italy play well.

De Rossi will always be remembered for his disgraceful elbow swing on ex-Fulham and USA captain Brian McBride at World Cup 2006, which left the forward bleeding from the face and earned him a straight red card. Since then, however, De Rossi has greatly matured. A one-club man, the Roma star has propelled his team to some unexpected achievements, adding plenty of goals along the way. Essentially filling the ‘enforcer’ role previously occupied by Genaro Gattuso, De Rossi will be a key component.

At 32, Di Natale might be nearing the golden years of his career but the 5’7” Udinese striker has outscored everyone in Europe except Didier Drogba and Lionel Messi, finishing with a hugely impressive 29 league goals. Rarely a fixture in national colours, Di Natale’s international record reads 9 goals in 31 appearances but, as a typical confidence performer, he looks set to relish his starting berth and reward Marcelo Lippi’s faith the way that Toto Schillachi did in 1990. Not quite a candidate for the Golden Boot when you consider David Villa, Messi and Robin Van Persie are lurking, Di Natale is still Italy’s best source of goals in this tournament.

So how far can we expect Italy to go in South Africa? The group stage will be no problem for them and a Last 16 tie against Denmark or Cameroon will hardly send shivers down their spines but a probable meeting with Spain in the Quarter Finals is realistically as far as their journey will go. Should they do the unthinkable and beat Spain, a repeat of 2006’s semi-final with Germany beckons and the odds would favour them setting up a pulsating final with Brazil. But it must be stressed that it would appear to be Italy’s fate, as current World Champions, to meet the European Champions, Spain and in all likelihood, Spain are too strong. Quarter Finals.