Uruguay

Placed nicely in Group A, Uruguay have hosts South Africa, France and Mexico to accompany them. From the looks of things, the fight will be on for second place with France being guaranteed the top spot. However, if World Cups are anything to go by, then the 2002 results will tell us to pre-empt a team's performance at our own peril.

France do remain one of the top prospects and beating them will be quite hard. However, a one-off tie means that Uruguay can, if they organize themselves well, put up a good fight and gain a point against the French who are susceptible to fall to infighting & petty internal squables, rather than opponents.

Mexico have always been average at World Cups and therefore, cannot be underestimated when looking at the fortunes of Uruguay. They may not be the side of yesteryears but still thrive on their footballing culture to pull them through tough games. Uruguay will have their task cut out if they are to get three points here.

South Africa are probably going to be the toughest opponents in the group. The hosts will be looking at Mexico and Uruguay as possible 3-point games, with France being the tough ones. If the Confederations Cup performance is anything to go by, then South Africa are definitely a force to reckon with. Not Dark Horses though, Uruguay will have a tough time getting past the NFL jerseys pumped-up hosts.