England are among the top seeds in Pot 1, along with South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Holland and Spain. But what terrors lurk in the other pots?
Ratings: ***** = red alert
**** = treat with caution
*** = only dangerous if England have a bad day
** = only dangerous if England have a bad day and are reduced to nine men
* = no danger; similar to playing Scotland or Wales
Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania and North/Central America)
* * Japan First country to qualify for the finals and probably among the first to go home next summer.
* * * South Korea Asia’s best team but short of flair and overreliant on Park Ji Sung, of Manchester United.
* North Korea May have beaten Italy in 1966, but we wouldn’t fancy their chances of a repeat result this time.
* * * Australia Like this year’s Ashes, next summer will be a tale of high expectations, fitful performances and frustrating underachievement.
* New Zealand Ryan Nelsen apart, they are no-hopers who could be on the end of a couple of rugby scores.
* * United States Beat Spain last year, but that was a fluke; they won’t score many but could concede plenty.
* * * Mexico Always a safe bet to reach the second round, then make a plucky exit. Should be same again.
* Honduras Wigan Athletic’s feeder nation are in their first finals since 1982 but their defence is too rickety for them to progress.
Pot 3 (Africa and South America)
* * * * * Ivory Coast Didier Drogba’s side were intermittently impressive in 2006 and are likely to be highly dangerous next year.
* * * Ghana Perhaps the best defensive team in Africa but depend too much on Michael Essien.
* * * Cameroon A decent side with Samuel Eto’o, of Barcelona, as their spearhead, but short of quality overall.
* * * Nigeria Lucky to qualify but can call on John Obi Mikel, Yakubu Ayegbeni and Obafemi Martins.
* * Algeria Tight defence compensates for lack of firepower and their play-off win over Egypt shows they can cope with pressure.
* * * Paraguay Very impressive qualifying campaign but a shortage of experience makes them vulnerable.
* * * Chile Exciting in attack and their coach is nicknamed “El Loco”, but you’d be crazy to think they’d beat England.
* * Uruguay Made it via a play-off win over Costa Rica and apart from Diego Forl?n and Luis Su?rez in attack, nothing much to offer.
Pot 4 (Europe)
* * * France With Raymond Domenech still in charge and a lingering guilt gnawing at Thierry Henry’s soul, they are less than the sum of their parts.
* * * * Portugal Scraped through qualifying but if Cristiano Ronaldo is on form, could make semi-finals.
* * Slovenia Population one third smaller than Wales, yet overcame Russia in a play-off; they will look minnows next year~
* * Switzerland A wily coach in Ottmar Hitzfeld but the team have too many average players and are usually hampered by injuries.
* * Greece Written off before Euro 2004, and look what happened there. Still, it won’t stop us dismissing them as makeweights again.
* * * Serbia Qualified ahead of France, but maybe that’s not saying much. An all-round good team with knockout-phase aspirations
* * Denmark Unexpected qualifiers from a tricky group. Organised, solid, dull.
* Slovakia Debutants, this is an enthusiastic but limited squad.
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England’s group of death
Australia, Ivory Coast, Portugal
England’s dream draw
New Zealand, Algeria, Slovakia