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Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Australia

The Socceroos are making their third World Cup appearance, this time they qualified through winning their Asian Football Confederation group instead of winning the Oceania region and having to beat another federation’s team in a play-off to qualify. Australia was the first team to qualify for South Africa after going undefeated (6-0-2) in qualifying and only letting in one goal. Four years ago in Germany they lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to eventual World Cup Champions Italy because of a penalty given in injury time. Manager Pim Verbeek will look to lead the team like his mentor Gus Hiddink as far, if not farther, this World Cup with most of the players from 2006 returning. Their hardest game will be first against Germany, though no game is easy in this group which has the most depth top to bottom.

The big question mark for this team is who will fill in the large cleats of the only major player missing from the 2006 World Cup campaign, striker Mark Viduka. Goals will be all the difference in this group and with Harry Kewel’s injury problems ever present, it is unclear who will be supplying the goals up front. Luckily for Australia their defensive spine is very solid starting with Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer who’s past two seasons with Fulham have seen them finish in 7^th (the highest to date finish for Fulham in the Premiership) and reach the Europa League Final. Lucas Neil and Luke Wilkshire are experienced and imposing in defense and will also be supported by holding midfielder Brett Emerton. Tim Cahill of Everton will look to be the main offensive spark.

Germany

Germany has one of the most impressive World Cup histories having won the title three times, lost in the final four times, finished third three times, and qualified for the fourteenth consecutive time. Every player on the team plays for a team in the Bundesliga, a testament to the recent rise of the Bundesliga’s quality which is ranked fourth in Europe by FIFA barely behind Italy’s Serie A. Germany also barely lost to Spain in the finals of the 2008 European Championships. They are known well for their discipline and ability to step it up during major tournaments. With tactician manager Joachim Low at the helm, the team will be very dynamic; able to play defensively, attacking, and somewhere in between. They will be without captain and midfielder Michael Ballack though, and for the first time in a long time their Goalkeeper will be a weak link. Their familiarity with one another on the club and league level and their strong manager will be enough to override a lack of depth in the group stage, but how far they go in the knockout rounds when they play more dynamic and star studded teams only time will tell.

Without Ballack, attacking midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger will lead the team. Polish born strikers Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski will look to re-create their successful 2006 partnership and put behind them poor club seasons. Strikers Mario Gomez and Thomas Muller will look to add to the German attack as well. Starting Goalkeeper Bayer Leverkusen’s Rene Adler injured his shoulder so Manual Neuer of Schalke will have to step up to the challenge in a major way for Germany to make noise in South Africa. Defender Philipp Lahm will lead an offensively minded defense that will always be involved in the deadly German counter attack.

Ghana

In their second straight World Cup appearance, the Black Stars will look to re-create the magic of their first World Cup this time on their home continent. Ghana beat the Czech Republic and the United States to finish second in the group of death behind eventual World Cup champions Italy in 2006. They were the first African team to qualify for the World Cup and are on a high after winning the U-20 World Cup in October and making it to the finals of the African Nations Cup (which included a win over Nigeria). Unfortunately, (like Germany) they will have to play without their captain Michael Essien. Essien’s importance as a defensive midfielder will be missed and potentially could lead to Ghana not making it out of the group stage.

Even without Essien, this team still has quality in both their youth and their veterans. Though Ghana lacks a major striker, the squad has a very solid group of defenders, defensive midfielders, and creative wingers.  Kevin-Price Boateng is in the squad for the first time despite being born in and having played for Germany up to the U-21 level. Boateng’s tackle for Portsmouth in the FA Cup against Chelsea led to German Captain Ballack’s injury so without even playing a game for Ghana he has already helped their chances. In defense they have Lee Addy of Bechem Chelsea a club team in Ghana, which is impressive as most African players play somewhere in Europe. They also have John Pantsil of Fulham who enjoyed great success on one of Europe’s biggest stages, the Europa League. Sulley Muntari was a favorite of Jose Mourinho’s at Inter Milan and will look to fill the midfield leader role along with Boateng in the absence of Essien.

Serbia

This will be the first time that Serbia is in the World Cup as Serbia. After a disappointing showing as Serbia and Montenegro in 2006 and failing to qualify for the 2008 European Championship, Serbia will look to make their first World Cup a success. They won their group which included 2006 World Cup finalists France with relative ease with impressive displays from their wall of a back line. Though their recent international friendlies have not been too impressive, losing 1-0 to New Zealand, Drawing 0-0 with Poland, and beating Cameroon 4-3, the first two games were in rainy and wet conditions and involved the trying out of different lineups. The defense is there, but scoring will be the difference between early send off and deep run in the knockout rounds.

Serbia’s back line is headlined by Manchester United central defender Nemanja Vidic and Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic. Last World Cup Serbia and Montenegro were without Vidic and it showed. The midfield is led by captain Dejan Stankovic who won the treble this past season with Inter Milan and has spent the past twelve seasons in Italy’s Serie A. Serbia will hope to score a lot off set pieces given the generally large size of the team as well as Nikola Zigic, the 6 foot 7 striker who recently signed for Birmingham City. He will look to get back in goal scoring form after only scoring three goals during qualification and struggling for first team football at Valencia the past three years.

Overall Prediction

This group has no one team that is going to easily win the group. Though Germany is hard to count out, without Ballack or homefield advantage they are not the same team that finished third in 2006 or second at the 2008 European Championship. It is no guarantee, but Germany should still finish first given its much better attack. Australia, with a wealth of experience and no major injuries, and Serbia with their strong defense look best suited to draw with Germany. Ghana is the weakest link solely because the importance of Michael Essien to this team in defense, passing, leadership, and other intangibles make his absence impossible to recover from. All three teams lack a prolific striker up front and have strong defenses though, making second place truly a matter of goal differential. I think Australia will sneak through in second, with Serbia and Ghana a close tied for third.