Nominate your surprise Team...

[BrooklynRed]

i think it's gonna be tight between us, the americans and the algerians..top spot is englands to lose.

I agree 100%. It is a very tight group. The USA have a lot of issues-- back four is a mess with Carlos Bocanegra probably being forced to play out of position, Onyewu (who makes bad decisions all the time) coming off of a major knee injury, Jonathan Spector coming off a horrific year at West Ham, Steve Cherundolo injured, and Jonathan Bornstein and Heath Pearce unable to mark a disabled mule. Same issues up top, with Altidore not scoring enough to make him a real threat and an unproven Edson Buddle (who has a great understanding with his club mate Donovan right now) partnering, I don't love our attack-- we are also looking at the possibility of partnering Altidore with Landon Donovan or Clint Dempsey playing out of position.

The midfield is decent with Bradley/Edu/ Clark/ Dempsey/ Donovan/ Holden and maybe Francisco Torres all in the mix. We'll be young and fast and gutsy, but we do not have a load of skill and, aside from something brilliant from Donovan or Dempsey, we don't look like world beaters.

Without Charlie Davies pace up top and with a giant mess at the back, I don't love the USA's chances at all.

[Mostar]

Actually, I think Slovenia might make it difficult for the USA to get out of the group.

Slovenia is much better team than many people think. In the friendly against England and in playoffs against Rusia they really played well. I would not be too suprised if they would squeeze their way through pass both USA & Algeria.

Robert Koren is a very good player. If he is not 30 years old I would think he could be reasonably good signing for many good PL teams

[Shaggy]

Slovenia is much better team than many people think. In the friendly against England and in playoffs against Rusia they really played well. I would not be too suprised if they would squeeze their way through pass both USA & Algeria.

Robert Koren is a very good player. If he is not 30 years old I would think he could be reasonably good signing for many good PL teams

Yet released on a free by West Brom

[Daffy Duck]

Yet released on a free by West Brom

Only to receive offers from Celtic, Fulham, Stoke, Newcastle, Wolves (and Swansea ) two hours after the news about his contract had been released into the public
Seriously, he was probably their best player under Tony Mowbray (I think he was also voted player of the year last year of a year before that), but when Di Matteo took over he immediately put him onto the bench and then only played him out of position on the wings despite his natural best position as a CM and I believe they've had quite a few arguments over this.
Aside from that, I think Slovenia will hardly make an impact in this world cup; in my opinion, most of our good results have had a lot to do with the amazing atmosphere in our home matches in Maribor, whereas our away performances have mostly been **** - and I don't believe our support in South Africa will in any way resemble that at home. The away game in Slovakia was probably the only good one (2.500 Slovenians silencing the rest of the 20k stadium), in Northern Ireland we were also quite solid but we lost there. But the games in Czech Republic, England and Russia were an absolute horror to watch, with an exception of a few moments of brilliance, when we even managed to pull back a goal instead of being 3-0 or 4-0 behind. Still, we don't seem to have unbeatable opponents in Algeria and USA, and our excellent goalie, fullbacks and central midfield (the underrated DM monster Aleksandar Radosavljevic) also leave me with some confidence, so hopefully I'm wrong about all this and we wont struggle so much in the tournament.

[SK]

Yet released on a free by West Brom

he had a fall out with di matteo regarding the position he was "forced" to play in earlier in the season, so i'd say that had something to do with west brom not opting to extend his stay for another year.

he's a very good player, and would fit in great at lets say fulham or west ham or clubs of the like.

I agree 100%. It is a very tight group. The USA have a lot of issues-- back four is a mess with Carlos Bocanegra probably being forced to play out of position, Onyewu (who makes bad decisions all the time) coming off of a major knee injury, Jonathan Spector coming off a horrific year at West Ham, Steve Cherundolo injured, and Jonathan Bornstein and Heath Pearce unable to mark a disabled mule. Same issues up top, with Altidore not scoring enough to make him a real threat and an unproven Edson Buddle (who has a great understanding with his club mate Donovan right now) partnering, I don't love our attack-- we are also looking at the possibility of partnering Altidore with Landon Donovan or Clint Dempsey playing out of position.

The midfield is decent with Bradley/Edu/ Clark/ Dempsey/ Donovan/ Holden and maybe Francisco Torres all in the mix. We'll be young and fast and gutsy, but we do not have a load of skill and, aside from something brilliant from Donovan or Dempsey, we don't look like world beaters.

Without Charlie Davies pace up top and with a giant mess at the back, I don't love the USA's chances at all.

well i'd say the defence is our strongest area, as we only conceded 4 goals in the qualifiers(plus the 3 against russia), the midfield is solid and hard working but not very creative apart from the odd Valter Birsa moment of brilliance.

Our attack is not the fastest in the world but Novakovič and Dedič combine well together and if they go to the WC in very good shape just might surprise a few people.

i'd say a lot of people underestimate Algeria, it's gonna be 11 fanatics(and i say that in a positive, sporting-like way) on the pitch plus i thought i read somewhere their government has rented airplanes to take supporters to and from SA for their games, which imo is a very nice gesture

[RedReet]

They've got one at ESPN and you can win prizes.
http://games.espn.go.com/bpredictor/en/frontpage

Cheers, will take a look tomorrow when not on my phone.

[Mike]

Uruguay will do well i reckon.

[Jayesh87]

Ghana or Paraguay






(my syndicate teams)

[5europeancups]

I think that the French will surprise a few people.

I have have this sneaking feeling they will scrape all the way to the final, much like Italian teams of old have done without setting the world alight.

[Pablo]

Slovenia or Slovakia. I can never tell which one is which though so I'll go for them both

[Fernandinho]

haha so true about slovenia and slovakia. I was looking at the odds for the games and all, and i figured that USA have a goodish chance of getting out of their group...

[SK]

haha so true about slovenia and slovakia. I was looking at the odds for the games and all, and i figured that USA have a goodish chance of getting out of their group...

Slovenia or Slovakia. I can never tell which one is which though so I'll go for them both

don't want you two to be left in the unknown regarding the two nations, so:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovakia

oh and if you get confused during the world cup match involving either of the countries, Slovakia play in blue/white Adidas kit, and our lot (Slovenia) play in white/green Nike kit..just so you won't find yourself confused in the future

[Mattshark]

Czech Republic - if they won, it would be one of the greatest upsets in the history of the tournament.

Yes, especially as they never qualified

[Fernandinho]

Yes, especially as they never qualified

[Pablo]

don't want you two to be left in the unknown regarding the two nations, so:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovakia

oh and if you get confused during the world cup match involving either of the countries, Slovakia play in blue/white Adidas kit, and our lot (Slovenia) play in white/green Nike kit..just so you won't find yourself confused in the future

Didn't take you long to bite

More importantly I heard your ladies are hotter?