ALGERIA
Coach: Vahid Halilhodzic
Star man: Madjid Bougherra
Tournament best: Group stages 1986, 1992, 2010
Scraped through qualifying on away goals against Burkina Faso, who have never made it to a World Cup, and are likely to struggle in Brazil having had a poor showing at the African Nations Cup.
ARGENTINA
Coach: Alejandro Sabella
Star man: Lionel Messi
Tournament best: Winners 1978, 1986
Barcelona superstar Messi will turn 27 during next summer’s tournament and this looks his best chance to add major international glory to his glittering club successes. Plenty of other attacking options are also available to coach Sabella, but the defence might be a weak link against top-class opposition.
AUSTRALIA
Coach: None
Star man: Robbie Kruse
Tournament best: Last 16 2006
The Socceroos qualified from the Asian section but some terrible friendly results since, plus a failure to truly refresh an ageing squad, have cost coach Holger Osieck his job. Getting out of the group phase may be the best they can hope for.
BELGIUM
Coach: Marc Wilmots
Star man: Eden Hazard
Tournament best: Fourth 1986
Back at the finals over a decade since their last appearance, Wilmots presides over a highly capable generation of players who could go far in Brazil.
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
Coach: Safet Susic
Star man: Edin Dzeko
Tournament best: Never qualified
The nation born out of the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s is heading into uncharted territory. They will rely heavily on the Champions League experience of striker Edin Dzeko and midfielders Miralem Pjanic and captain Emir Spahic while in Asmir Begovic they have a top-class goalkeeper.
BRAZIL
Coach: Luiz Felipe Scolari
Star man: Neymar
Tournament best: Winners 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002
Success at the Confederations Cup last summer has raised hopes of a record-extending sixth World Cup triumph on home soil next summer. Scolari has previous after taking them to victory in 2002, and if Barcelona forward Neymar shines then Brazil could be about to witness the mother of all parties.
CAMEROON
Coach: Jean-Paul Akono
Star man: Samuel Eto'o
Tournament best: Quarter-finals 1990
They may be a way off emulating the ground-breaking Cameroon side of 1990 but they remain a competitive force. Eto’o’s best days are well behind him but he is still the figurehead for the side, for whom Stephane Mbia, Alex Song and Jean Makoun also play an important role.
CHILE
Coach: Jorge Sampaoli
Star man: Alexis Sanchez
Tournament best: Third 1962
Chile boast a good combination of experienced campaigners like Claudio Bravo, Pablo Contreras and Jorge Valdivia with exciting younger players including Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez and Fiorentina’s Matias Fernandez.
COLOMBIA
Coach: Jose Pekerman
Star man: Radamel Falcao
Tournament best: Last 16 1990
Qualified in relative comfort and playing the finals in South America should also be an advantage to Pekerman’s side. In Falcao they have a born goalscorer, allied to the creative talents of his Monaco team-mate James Rodriguez, and they will feel well capable of at least matching their best-ever World Cup performance.
COSTA RICA
Coach: Jorge Luis Pinto
Star man: Bryan Ruiz
Tournament best: Last 16 1990
Seized upon Mexico’s struggles to follow the United States as the pace-setters in the CONCACAF section, but going any further than the group stage will be a lot to ask.
CROATIA
Coach: Niko Kovac
Star man: Mario Mandzukic
Tournament best: Third 1998
They may not be the class of ‘98 standard but there is enough quality within the squad with the talents of Bayern Munich’s Mandzukic and Real Madrid’s Luka Modric supplemented by the likes of Niko Kranjcar, Eduardo and Nikica Jelavic.
ECUADOR
Coach: Reinaldo Rueda
Star man: Antonio Valencia
Tournament best: Last 16, 2006
Although Ecuador lost their final qualifier to Chile, they secured automatic qualification on goal difference alone ahead of Uruguay, who beat Argentina but must settle for a play-off place. Their recent successes have come on the back of the emergence of players like Valencia, Christian Noboa and Felipe Caicedo.
ENGLAND
Coach: Roy Hodgson
Star man: Wayne Rooney
Tournament best: Winners 1966
England are still looking for the magic formula which will get them past the quarter-final hurdle for only the second time since they lifted the trophy on home soil. Despite concerns raised about the quality of the current squad, they topped their group without losing a game and were among the top four highest scorers in the European qualifying zone.
FRANCE
Coach: Didier Deschamps
Star man: Franck Ribery
Tournament best: Winners 1998
Scraped through qualifying after coming from 2-0 down in the first play-off leg to beat Ukraine. In Ribery they possess a world-class wide man while the likes of Yohan Cabaye and Mathieu Valbuena offer additional quality in midfield.
GERMANY
Coach: Joachim Low
Star man: Bastian Schweinsteiger
Tournament best: Winners 1954, 1974, 1990 (all as West Germany)
Arguably Europe’s best hope of bringing the trophy back from South America. Low’s side is littered with players steeped in top-level experience and this may be the time for Ozil, Muller, Schweinsteiger et al to make the final step at international level.
GHANA
Coach: Kwesi Appiah
Star man: Asamoah Gyan
Tournament best: Quarter-finals 2010
Ghana have often been the standard-bearers for African football and their controversial heart-breaking last-eight exit on their home continent at the last World Cup prevented them making history. Captain Gyan provided most of the goals in qualifying but midfielder Michael Essien, despite his injury problems, remains a pivotal player while the likes of Kevin-Prince Boateng, Sulley Muntari and Andre Ayew provide considerable experience.
GREECE
Coach: Fernando Santos
Star man: Georgios Samaras
Tournament best: Group stage 1994, 2010
Goals have been a problem and so the pressure will be on the likes of Samaras and veteran Dimitris Salpingidis to deliver up front, particularly if Greece can keep things tight at the back as they have done throughout qualifying.
HOLLAND
Coach: Louis van Gaal
Star man: Robin van Persie
Tournament best: Runners-up 1974, 1978, 2010
Van Gaal made amends for his failure to lead the Oranje to the 2002 tournament with an impressive qualification campaign, but memories are still fresh of their awful showing at Euro 2012. If the egos can be managed, they could go far, although getting to the final again seems unlikely.
HONDURAS
Coach: Luis Fernando Suarez
Star man: Wilson Palacios
Tournament best: Group stages 1982, 2010
Honduras have undergone several changes since South Africa, but pulled it all together in time to enjoy a successful qualifying campaign, finally sealing their place with a 2-2 draw against Jamaica in the final match.
IRAN
Coach: Carlos Queiroz
Star man: Javad Nekounam
Tournament best: Group stage 1978, 1998, 2006
Topped their qualification pool ahead of South Korea and although the side contains players like Nekounam with European pedigree, it is difficult to see them progressing beyond the groups.
ITALY
Coach: Cesare Prandelli
Star man: Mario Balotelli
Tournament best: Winners 1934, 1938, 1982, 2006
Prandelli’s team performed well in reaching the Euro 2012 final and would love nothing more than to equal Brazil’s record of five World Cup successes on Brazilian soil.
IVORY COAST
Coach: Sabri Lamouchi
Star man: Yaya Toure
Tournament best: Group stage 2006, 2010
The African nation possess plenty of goal threat from Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Wilfried Bony and Yaya Toure but they have struggled to transfer that into success at major tournaments despite regularly being one of their continent’s standard bearers.
JAPAN
Coach: Alberto Zaccheroni
Star man: Keisuke Honda
Tournament best: Last 16 2002, 2010
Stormed to qualification in their pool and Zaccheroni has moulded them into a strong squad, but three defeats out of three at the Confederations Cup last summer leaves them open to question about their top-level credentials.
MEXICO
Coach: Miguel Herrera
Star man: Javier Hernandez
Tournament best: Quarter-finals 1970, 1986
They needed the intercontinental play-offs to qualify, but routed New Zealand 9-3 on aggregate once there. A blend of seasoned veterans and emerging stars - built around the focal point of Javier Hernandez – will make Mexico a dangerous proposition in Brazil.
NIGERIA
Coach: Stephen Keshi
Star man: Victor Moses
Tournament best: Last 16 1994, 1998
African Player of the Year-nominated Moses may only be 22 but has quickly become a key player since making his debut in 2012. Goalkeeper and captain Vincent Enyeama provides stability from the back with Chelsea’s Jon Obi Mikel their midfield enforcer.
PORTUGAL
Coach: Paulo Bento
Star man: Cristiano Ronaldo
Tournament best: Third 1966
In Ronaldo Portugal possess a player worthy of gracing the game’s biggest stage but therein lies their problem as they rely so heavily on the Real Madrid forward’s unquestionable star quality. Frequently unstoppable but when the world’s best defenders can isolate him he has few team-mates who can make the difference.
RUSSIA
Coach: Fabio Capello
Star man: Alexander Kokorin
Tournament best: Semi-final 1966
Russia’s recent World Cup record is a story of failure but Brazil offers them the chance to start redressing the balance. Having missed three of the last four tournaments and not progressed beyond the group stage since 1986 topping Group F ahead of Portugal suggests things may be about to improve with the promise offered by 22-year-old forward Alexander Kokorin backed by the experience of the likes of goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev and striker Alexander Kerzhakov.
SOUTH KOREA
Coach: Hong Myung-bo
Star man: Son Heung-min
Tournament best: Fourth 2002
Koreans hope that 2002 captain Hong can inspire the current crop, but an appearance in the last 16 might be the best they can achieve.
SPAIN
Coach: Vincente del Bosque
Star man: Andres Iniesta
Tournament best: Winners 2010
Having enjoyed the best spell in their country’s history there is a sense that Spain are not as strong as they once were as their golden generation loses some of its lustre. However, that does not mean the depth of their talent should be under-estimated as the likes of Roberto Soldado, Alvaro Negredo, Jesus Navas and Michu have added new impetus while the quality of Andres Iniesta, David Silva and Xavi remains.
SWITZERLAND
Coach: Ottmar Hitzfeld
Star man: Xherdan Shaqiri
Tournament best: Quarter-finals 1934, 1938, 1954
Hitzfeld will be among the most experienced coaches among the 32 finalists, and he oversees a group featuring several star names from the German Bundesliga. A new generation which has impressed at under-age tournaments in recent years - spearheaded by Bayern Munich’s Shaqiri - are now poised to strut their stuff at senior level.
UNITED STATES
Coach: Jurgen Klinsmann
Star man: Clint Dempsey
Tournament best: Third 1930
Klinsmann struggled initially to make his mark but his team ultimately qualified with comparative comfort. Reaching the quarter-finals looks like a realistic goal.
URUGUAY
Coach: Washington Tabarez
Star man: Edinson Cavani
Tournament best: Winners 1930, 1950
The Copa America holders struggled to qualify, needing a play-off against Jordan to book their place after narrowly missing out on the top four of the South American qualifying section. With players like Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez, though, they have more than enough ability to cause problems. Won the World Cup last time it was held in Brazil, back in 1950.
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