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Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Algeria

Algeria comes into their third World Cup (1982, 1986) with no real pressure or expectations. Getting to play in the World Cup in its first time in Africa and having upset arch-rivals Egypt in a playoff match to get to South Africa should be more than enough for Algeria, making any other successes during the tournament icing on the cake. Their Manager Rabah Saadane is the only African manager at this year’s tournament and was the manager during Algeria’s famous victory over West Germany in the 1982 World Cup. It will be up to Saadane to try and get more consistency from a team that on a good day can beat Egypt (to go to the World Cup) and the Ivory Coast (to make the semifinals of the African Nations Cup this past winter) or can lose 3-0 to Malawi (in the group stage of the African Nations Cup).

The Desert Foxes have had some injury troubles of late with starting Defenders Madjid Bougherra and Nadir Belhadj and Defensive Midfielder Hassan Yebda missing time this past season. Belhadj will miss the first game of the World Cup due to a red card at the African Nations Cup while Bougherra will miss the first game due to injury, but both will be back for the team’s second match against England. Starting Goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi will miss the first and second game due to suspension from head butting a referee during the African Nations Cup semifinal loss to Egypt. Though short on attacking options, Algeria has a tall back line that likes to get forward so look for them to score their goals predominately on set pieces.

England

After 44 years of heart break, can England finally win another World Cup? This is the last chance for the “Golden Era” which has already seen Michael Owen, Gary Neville, and David Beckham go trophy-less and fall victim to injury and/or poor form. Though I do not fully rule out all of these players, this will probably be the last World Cup in which David James (40), Jamie Carragher (32), Emile Heskey (32), Rio Ferdinand (31), Matthew Upson (31), Frank Lampard (31), Steven Gerrard (30), Gareth Barry (29), John Terry (29), Peter Crouch (29), Ledley King (29), and Ashley Cole (29) play in. Add in Stephen Warnock, Shaun Wright-Phillips, and Joe Cole being no spring chickens at 28 (and SWP and Cole’s reliance upon their speed), and England only has 6 outfield players and 2 goalies likely to feature from the current side in Brazil in 2014. If that is not motivation enough, enter Fabio Capello. Capello, England’s second foreign manager ever after the hated Sven Goran Erikkson, is an amazing manager, having had success with Real Madrid, A.C. Milan, Juventus, and Roma. He also lead England to a 9-0-1 record in qualification for this year’s World Cup that included a +28 goal differential. His signing through 2012 is the best news the team has had since qualifying. A tough road lies ahead of him, but if anyone can get this group to win a title, it is him.

The biggest obstacle facing England’s World Cup aspirations, in addition to age, is injury. Both Coles have had some trouble staying healthy this season, Ferdinand spent most of the season on the sideline (and injured his left knee today casting his World Cup dreams in doubt), King has chronic knee problems, Barry injured his right ankle a month ago and just started training again, Aaron Lennon has nagging injury problems, and Wayne Rooney has yet again entered a World Cup with an injury as he hopes to shake both an ankle and groin injury. Poor form also plagues England as Terry, Heskey, and James have not impressed this past season. Heskey was still chosen over Darren Bent who is much younger, faster, and scored 25 goals (third most in the Premiership) in 40 games this season for mid-tabler Sunderland. James has been given the number 1 shirt, but it remains to be seen whether or not his knee will be healthy enough to play. Robbie Green will most likely start in net should James been unable to, though I think Joe Hart is their best option. The team will also have to hope they do not end a knockout round match in a draw as England are 0-3 in World Cup penalty shoot-outs (1990, 1998, 2006) and also crashed out of the European Championship in 1996 and 2004 on penalties.

Slovenia

With the smallest population of the 32 nations competing in this year’s World Cup, Slovenia will look to show the world size does not matter. After finishing second behind Slovakia in their qualifying group which included Poland and the Czech Republic, Slovenia made it to South Africa by beating a strong Russia side in a playoff. During qualifiers they even had the second best defense, second to the Netherlands who played two fewer games and had Scotland as their competition in the group. This recent success is quite a reversal of fortune after finishing second to last (ahead of Luxembourg) in their 2008 European Championship qualifying. This is Slovenia’s second World Cup (2002).

Much like Greece, Slovenia is more about the team than star players, with few of their players on major European sides. The main notables are their Goalkeeper and their main Striker. Between the sticks they have 25 year-old Samir Handanovic who plays for Udinese of the Italian Serie A. Handanovic only allowed four goals in their ten qualifying matches. Up front is Milivoje Novakovic who has spent the past three seasons playing for Cologne in Germany. In the past two seasons in the top division in Germany (The Bundesliga) he has scored 22 times.  He also scored 5 times during the World Cup qualifiers.

United States

Though no longer the laughing stock of international soccer, the United States still are not fully respected and will look to change that this year in their 6^th consecutive World Cup appearance. Manager Bob Bradley hopes to lead his physically tough team to the knockout rounds after a disappointing World Cup in 2006. Bradley has shown he can do big things with this team, having won the 2007 Gold Cup, reached the final of the 2009 Confederations Cup (including a win over then #1 in the world Spain snapping their 35 game winning streak), and finishing atop the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying group. The United States have also drawn the easiest group arguably since they hosted the World Cup in 1994. The hardest game is first, playing England for the first time in a World Cup since beating them 1-0 in 1950.

The main issues for the Red, White, and Blue will be their defense. Oguchi Onyewu has not played in a real match since October 2009 after tearing left knee’s patellar tendon. Should he not be healthy the usual back line will lack a tall, enforcing central defender. Forward Jozy Altidore is also an injury risk after spraining his right ankle yesterday in addition to poor form this season which yielded only 2 goals in 17 starts and 30 overall appearances. Altidore has been very solid for the national team though, and will be needed with limited forward options due to striker Charlie Davies’ need for more recovery time after a car crash last year. On the bright side, the US has a great keeper in Everton’s Tim Howard and its two star midfielders Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey are in good club form. Donovan played well enough in his loan stint with Everton that he has finally shown he can play with the best in Europe. Expect the US team to rely on Donovan and Dempsey to make big plays and for Howard to make many saves if they are to make it through to the first knockout round and beyond.

Overall Prediction

Although England has a lot of injury problems, the quality of their side and their management is such that I cannot see them finishing worse than second. I expect England to win the group. The United States should be able to beat both Slovenia and Algeria and potentially set up a grudge match with Germany (they lost in the quarterfinals to Germany 1-0 in the 2002 World Cup) in the knockout round. Slovenia will give England and the US some troubles, but I don’t think they will have enough to beat (or even draw) against either. I think Algeria’s injury concerns, inconsistency, and lack of attacking options up front will be their downfall, with them losing all three games like they did at the 1986 World Cup.