World Cup Group G

Wow. Probably the finest first round World Cup group ever assembled, it features three of the top 10 in the betting, and the only thing for certain is that North Korea will be exiting at the group stage.

Brazil

The one country to have contested every World Cup, Brazil sauntered to South Africa in style by topping South American qualifying, they haven’t always been the best in the preliminaries, and the five-time winners must be feared once again.

Only European Champions Spain head Brazil in the outright betting, the pair could clash as early as round two, but while the Group H side should have no problems advancing this is just about as tough as it could have got for Dunga and his men.

With North Korea up first, Brazil know that anything other than the perfect start simply won’t do and they haven’t been plunged into a group as fearsome as this for quite some time. They are favourites, of course, to top it but you just wonder whether, like Italy, early on in a tournament is the time to catch them and the Samba Boys can afford no slip-ups.

A best-priced 4/6 with Paddy Power to win group G, I’m sure Brazil would be happy to advance any which way but, having said that, I see few weaknesses and fully expect them to be survive.

Brazil have an embarrassment of riches in attack but Seville striker Luis Fabiano looks like leading the line in advance of Kaka and Robinho and it’s a sign of their strength in depth that the Serie A based duo of Pato and Diego are far from assured of a starting place.

Villarreal striker Nilmar is also knocking on the door, it will be interesting to see what formation Dunga deploys, but Brazil look solid at the back too these days and getting the ball back is always likely to prove problematic for opponents.

With fullbacks of the quality of Dani Alves and Maicon to compliment the talent further forward Brazil can wreak havoc from just about every position and even captain Lucio is a threat from set-pieces. The evergreen Gilberto Silva still plays the anchor role in midfield superbly and I cannot wait to see them in action when it really matters.

UPDATE: Dunga dropped a bombshell when he left out stars Ronaldinho and Adriano from his squad. The former continues to claim he will lead Brazil to victory, but how that will happen is a mystery.

Portugal

Cristiano Ronaldo’s side faced a real battle to even make the European playoffs for South Africa but they finished qualifying with purpose and did extremely well to be beat a talented Bosnia team in both legs to line up at the finals.

It would have been a travesty had the best player in the world failed to line up in South Africa but Portugal ultimately got the job done without their talisman, the Real Madrid star was injured for the climax of their campaign, and their recent record when it comes to the crunch is second to none.

No worse than semi-finalists in three of the last five major tournaments, Portugal were the team everybody wanted to avoid in Pot D, France included, and they are not ranked fifth in the world for nothing. Portugal have quality throughout and in Ronaldo a man who is capable of literally anything.

The very top players often fail to impress at the World Cup, for whatever reason, but you get the feeling with Ronaldo, and Argentina’s Lionel Messi, that they are built for the big arena and CR9 will already be licking his lips a the prospect of the clash with Brazil.

With Ronaldo now a proven goal scorer, gone are Portugal’s worries about lack of firepower in the final third and the former Manchester United hero should be joined by the ever-impressive Simao Sabrosa and Nuno Gomes in a front three. They will be backed up by a midfield likely to consist of Deco, the highly-rated Miguel Veloso of Sporting Lisbon and his club teammate Joao Moutinho and there is talent everywhere you look.

If Carlos Queiros can find the right balance going forward then Portugal should make life very tough for the South Americans and Ivory Coast and their recent tournament experience suggests to me they should be favoured to qualify.

Ricardo Carvalho and the excellent Pepe are the perfect paring to cope with Didier Drogba and that should go a long way to seeing them into round two. Portugal are 10/11 with totesport to do so and that looks very fair.

Ivory Coast

The hype surrounding Ivory Coast subsided somewhat following the draw but Didier Drogba’s side still warrant respect and the bookmakers find it hard to split their chances and Portugal’s.

Ivory Coast qualified with ease for the finals, winning all but one match and scoring more than three goals per game along the way, and while the challenges that lie ahead will be much tougher they are clearly a talented bunch.

Drogba spearheads the attack, the Chelsea man has 41 international goals to his name to date, but there is plenty of quality in behind and the core of their side is impressive. Manchester City defender Kolo Toure marshals the defence well while brother Yaya, the Barcelona player, keeps things ticking over in the middle.

In addition to that illustrious trio The Elephants can also call upon the likes of Drogba’s club teammate Salomon Kalou and Marseille’s Bakari Kone and Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic will be expecting them to deliver. A 3-2 win over Serbia four years ago was an indication of just what Ivory Coast are capable of and they thoroughly deserve their current world ranking inside the top 20.

I think Portugal’s greater strength in depth may just prove the difference between the pair but the African side are not dismissed lightly and if they can escape the ‘Group of Death’ then anything is possible.

North Korea

Competing in their first World Cup finals since 1966, when they reached the quarterfinals, North Korea could not possibly have been handed a tougher assignment and they are all but assured of an early exit.

North Korea edged out Saudi Arabia to claim their place in South Africa and under coach Kim Jong-Hun they have certainly progressed in recent seasons. However, they are still light years behind their more illustrious opponents in Group G and odds of 14/1 with Expekt about them qualifying sums up their chances.

North Korea will look to captain Hong Yong-Jo for inspiration but he is just one of very few of the current squad based away from the domestic league and the FC Rostov man won’t be able to do it all on his own.

Braced for three hammerings already, anything other than that will be seen as a bonus and it is surely just a damage limitation exercise for North Korea.