World Cup Preview 2

Germany 2006 Outsiders – Sweden, Serbia & Montenegro, Ivory Coast, Portugal, Croatia and Ukraine

Let's be clear right from the off: none of the above sides are going to win the World Cup, but they may well account for one of the more fancied teams before falling to an established nation themselves. Admittedly, everyone said that about Greece during Euro 2004 and they managed to keep going until the bitterest of ends, but if there is a God, He surely won't allow a repeat.

Sweden have a good qualifying record and have a great strike pairing in Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Super Zlatan is the key to Swedish progress -- it seems you either love him or hate him (I love him) and although he has not had the best of seasons at Juventus, he provides a touch of class in the final third that Sweden otherwise lack. Their last group game against England has 1-1 written all over it.

When Croatia and Serbia & Montenegro were the main providers of players to the Yugoslavia team they were right up there with the Spanish and the Dutch as the traditional Dark Horses (i.e. they had no chance). Since the split, Croatia have been the more successful with a third place at France 1998 while Serbia & Montenegro not making it to any finals until now. Teams from the old Yugoslavia had a reputation for paying pretty but ephemeral football but this is not something that either side can be accused of this year.

Serbia in particular have a robust game, and with only one goal conceded in qualifying they will be very hard to break down. Scoring might be more difficult - the starting partnership should be the towering Nikola Zigic (an inch taller than Peter Crouch) and Mateja Kezman. Despite an awesome number of goals scored for PSV, Kezman struggled at Chelsea and Atletico Madrid although his 7 goals in 16 appearances for the national side have included a couple of vital goals in the qualifiers against Spain and Bosnia. I still think he's rubbish.

The Croatians are also a compact side and describe Dado Prso as their only true star. The pony-tailed striker has never really convinced at the highest level and with nine goals in exchange for his 30 caps he is not deadly. To be fair, his fine recent performances played a big part in Croatia's victorious qualifying campaign although there must be worries over whether he can play three games in such a short period of time -- apparently his knees swell alarmingly after every match. FACT: his first name is actually Miladin.

Other Croatians to watch out for are speedy wing-backs Marko Babic and Dario Srjna, while coach Zlatko Kranjcar has kept faith with his son Niko as playmaker (who is not as good as he or his father thinks he is). They will be confident they will have the measure of Australia and Japan in the race for second place behind Brazil, while the Serbs will find it had to progress from their group with Argentina, the Netherlands and Ivory Coast for company.

Speaking of the Ivory Coast, they are surely the best African side in the tournament this time round, although they must be cursing their luck to be in that highly-competitive Group C. The excellent ASEC Mimosa academy in Abidjan has produced some fine players (Kolo and Yaya Toure, Didier Zokora) and they actually have good back-up for the first Xi - something most mooted World Cup outsiders lack.

If the jury is out on Didier Drogba in the Premiership, then there are no such doubts at international level - the big striker leads the line excellently for his country and he will be partnered by either Aruna Dindane or, more likely, PSV's Arouna Kone.

For my money, Kone is too profligate, so the clever Bonaventure Kalou of Paris St-Germain would be my pick, but I don't actually get to select the team. That job falls to well-travelled Henri Michel - famously described as "un sac à merde" by Eric Cantona. Big Eric also described him as "one of the world's most incompetent coaches". He actually has a decent record in charge of Raja Casablanca and Tunisia as well as coaching the French team to Olympic football gold in 1984.

Luiz Felipe Scolari's Portugal have a favourable draw alongside Iran, Mexico and Angola in Group D. Big Phil should ensure there is no repeat of Portugal's shambolic showing in 2002 and are considered to be shoe-ins for top spot with Mexico tipped to take the second qualifying place. While Portugal are definitely the strongest team, I still fancy Iran for a little upset.

The Mexicans don't convince me in Europe - their best performances have all come when they have hosted the World Cup and their much-touted improved performances in the Confederations Cup last summer came against Argentina and Brazil.

OK, no small achievement that but they still have only ever beaten one European team on European soil. Alright, they only have one European team in their group, which they don't necessarily have to beat to qualify, but I think Iran could be a potential banana skin for both Portugal and the Mexicans.

Defending isn't a strong point for Team Melli (as the Iranians are known) but they play good, neat attacking football. Hossein Kaabi at right back is a flyer in the Roberto Carlos mould while twinkle-toed Ali Karimi has shown he can compete in Europe with some strong performances for Bayern Munich this season. Add in fellow midfielders Ferydoon Zandi, rock-solid Javed Nekounam, winger Mehdi Mahdavikia and Vahid "The Helicopter" Hashemian and you have a side that can take advantage of any complacency as a 2-2 friendly draw in Pula against Croatia showed - the Croatians only forcing a draw with a penalty in the fifth minute of injury time.

Ukraine are not just about Andrei Shevchenko and a tame Group H with only Spain as competition for top spot should prove that. Ably supported by Andriy Voronin, Maxim Kalinichenko and Ruslan Rotan, Ukraine should prove good enough to give someone a scare in the knock out rounds.

With luck Oleh Blokhin's side will express themselves more than they were allowed in qualification -- if not we could have another Greece at Euro 2004 on our hands. He also made the headlines a couple of months ago with some reprehensible comments about African players in the Ukrainian league. Hopefully, it will be his team's football to make the news this summer.