URUGUAY + FRANCE + MEXICO + SOUTH AFRICA
Fixtures:
ITV Fri June 11 South Africa v Mexico Johannesburg 15.00
BBC Fri June 11 Uruguay v France Cape Town 19.30
BBC Wed June 16 South Africa v Uruguay Pretoria 19.30
BBC Thu June 17 France v Mexico Polokwane 19.30
ITV Tue June 22 Mexico v Uruguay Rustenburg 15.00
ITV Tue June 22 France v South Africa Bloemfontein 15.00
URUGUAY
Coach: Oscar Tabarez (since 2006)
FIFA World ranking: 16
World Cup best: Winners in 1930 and 1950
Last appearance: 2002 - First Round
How they qualified: Uruguay were the last of the 32 countries to qualify for the World Cup finals, beating Costa Rica 2-1 on aggregate in a Playoff after finishing in fifth place in the South American Qualifying Group. Diego Lugano gave the Uruguayans a priceless 1-0 away win in the first leg and Tabarez's men doubled their lead when Sebastien Abreu scored with 20 minutes of the second leg remaining. The Costa Ricans pulled a goal back to set up a grandstand finish but Uruguay held on to qualify for just their second finals in 20 years. Earlier, Uruguay had blown the chance of automatic qualification, losing at home on the final day against their great rivals Argentina who took fourth place instead. It meant La Celeste had lost all of their games against Argentina and Brazil.
Premier League picks: Former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan will lead the line for Uruguay along with Luis Suarez of Ajax. Since his struggles at United, Forlan has improved immensely as a player and scored the winning goal in the Europa League final for Atletico Madrid this season, breaking Fulham hearts. The majority of the squad is European-based with only two of the 23 men playing in the Uruguayan league - back-up goalkeeper Martin Silva of Defensor and Egidio Arevalo-Rios of Penarol. Full squad.
Prediction: Quarter Finals
Uruguay have qualified for the World Cup finals just twice in the last 20 years - and it is 40 years since La Celeste enjoyed a truly great World Cup when they reached the semi finals in 1970. Despite struggling in qualifying, and having to go through a playoff for a third time in a row, this Uruguay squad has the potential to make up for lost time. And, with none of the teams in Group A firing on all cylinders, the partnership between Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez should prove significant if Suarez's Ajax team mate Nicolas Lodeiro can provide the service.
FRANCE
Coach: Raymond Domenech (since 2004)
FIFA World ranking: 9
World Cup best: Winners in 1998
Last appearance: 2006 - Runners-up
How they qualified: France qualified in the most controversial circumstances of all the finalists, beating Republic of Ireland 2-1 on aggregate in a UEFA Playoff. The tie looked straightforward for the French after Nicolas Anelka gave them a 1-0 win in the first leg in Dublin but Raymond Domenech's men conceded that advantage within the first half of the second leg when Robbie Keane scored. The match went to a period of extra time which Les Bleus dominated but they struggled to find a breakthrough until Thierry Henry blatantly controlled the ball with his hand before crossing for a simple finish for William Gallas. The Irish protested and, afterwards, even requested to FIFA for the second leg to be replayed but their appeal fell on deaf ears. France had been forced into a playoff after finishing second behind Serbia in UEFA Qualifying Group Seven.
Premier League picks: Four Arsenal players have made it into the final French squad of 23. Defenders William Gallas, Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy are joined in the squad by midfielder Abou Diaby. Chelsea are represented by winger Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka while Manchester United's Patrice Evra should slot in at left-back. Former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry will lead the line with Anelka, despite an inconsistent season at Barcelona, and they will expect to be supplied by Malouda and Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery. 11 of the squad play in the French First Division. Full squad.
Prediction: Second Round
The nature of France's qualification left a bitter taste in the mouth, winning them few friends, and meaning that there are plenty of observers just waiting for them to fall flat on their faces. Given a tougher group, that may well have happened but Les Bleus have enough about them to get out of Group A and should avoid an early exit a la 2002. Still, though, the French have yet to find any sort of form, losing 1-0 to China in a warm-up and a place in the latter stages would be a surprise.
MEXICO
Coach: Javier Aguirre (since 2009)
FIFA World ranking: 17
World Cup best: Quarter Finals in 1970 and 1986
Last appearance: 2006 - Second Round
How they qualified: Javier Aguirre stepped in to save a Mexico qualifying campaign that was falling apart at the seams under Sven Goran Eriksson. A slight slump at the end of the semi final qualifying round of a draw and two losses carried on into the final CONCACAF Qualifying Group as the Mexicans began with three losses in their first four games. A 2-1 loss to El Salvador proved to be the final straw for the Swede Eriksson and Aguirre - who was in charge of Mexico at World Cup 2002 - arrived to turn it around. That he duly did, and five straight wins lifted El Tri from a vulnerable fifth place to a comfortable second behind the United States.
Premier League picks: New Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez will feature in this year's finals for Mexico while fellow strikers Carlos Vela, of Arsenal, and Guillermo Franco, of West Ham United, have also made the cut. Otherwise, Aguirre has selected a lot of home-based talent with no fewer than 13 of the 23 men from the Mexican top division. Full squad.
Prediction: First Round
For a nation of football lovers with a population of over 100m people, Mexico's World Cup record is definitely one of dire underachievement. In 13 finals appearances, they have played in the Quarter Finals just twice, in 1970 and 1986. On both of those occasions, they had the advantage of hosting the tournament, stepping in to save the 1986 finals after an earthquake meant Colombia had to withdraw. Mexico also have the unwelcome record of most losses at the World Cup finals with 22 from 45 games altogether. That record could get worse again this time after El Tri suffered a poor set of fixtures in the World Cup draw. First up, Javier Aguirre's men must tame the fired-up hosts in the tournament curtain-raiser and then, in match two, they face France. By the time, Mexico meet Uruguay, there could be little to play for.
SOUTH AFRICA
Coach: Carlos Alberto Parreira (since 2009)
FIFA World ranking: 83
World Cup best: First Round in 1998 and 2002
Last appearance: 2002
How they qualified: South Africa qualified automatically as hosts after beating other bids from Morocco and Egypt, having narrowly lost against Germany in the vote to stage World Cup 2006. It is a good job South Africa have had a bye to the finals because they would not have made it on their own merits. That was proven when Bafana Bafana still had to enter the qualifying draw as the African qualifiers doubled up as preliminaries for the 2010 African Nations Cup. South Africa failed even to make it to the final round, losing at the previous group stage, meaning they were absent from the continental championships earlier this year.
Premier League picks: Overweight West Ham striker Benni McCarthy has been left out of the South Africa squad despite being his country's all-time leading scorer. That leaves just three players from last season's Premier League - Aaron Mokoena of Portsmouth, Fulham reserve Kagisho Dikgacoi and Everton's Steven Pienaar who will bear the burden of his country's hopes in a squad inexperienced on the international stage. Remarkably, 16 of the squad play their club football in South Africa. Full squad.
Prediction: First Round
For the first time in years, South Africa have hit a bit of form - Bafana Bafana enter the World Cup on a high after an unbeaten run of 12 games. But, looking closer at the record, the matches appear to have largely been hand-picked in an attempt to boost the squad's fragile confidence. Although recent wins against Colombia and Denmark are encouraging, victories over Zimbabwe, Jamaica, Thailand and Guatemala will be of little help when the finals action begins. South Africa remain a woefully limited squad, ranked behind Albania and Panama, and utterly reliant on Steven Pienaar to produce anything worthwhile. Their unbeaten streak is a case of too little, too late and Parreira's men look set to make unwanted history by becoming the first hosts who fail to make it through the group.
FULL PREDICTION
Final: Brazil v Spain
Semi Finals: Brazil v England, Spain v Argentina
Quarter Finals: Brazil v Netherlands, England v Uruguay, Spain v Italy, Argentina v Germany
Second Round: Uruguay v South Korea, Argentina v France, England v Serbia, Germany v United States, Netherlands v Paraguay, Italy v Denmark, Brazil v Chile, Spain v Ivory Coast
First Round fallers: Mexico, South Africa, Nigeria, Greece, Slovenia, Algeria, Australia, Ghana, Cameroon, Japan, Slovakia, New Zealand, Portugal, North Korea, Switzerland, Honduras
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