Here are 32 teams in this year's World Cup and a couple quick facts about them.
1. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Led by Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley, the United States came out of its preliminary tied with Mexico with the most points and went into the tournament in Group E with a much anticipated match against the always-tough Italian team.
2. MEXICO Coming out of its preliminary tied for the most points and going into its group as one of the favorites, Mexico is led by forward Jared Borgetti and will be looking forward to its game against group favorite Portugal.
3. COSTA RICA Besides losing key defender Michael Umana to injury, the Costa Rican team will be up to the challenge to play underdog against host country Germany on the opening day of the games.
4. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO This team goes into the tournament with hopes to rebound from a tough preliminary round, as forward Russell Latapy leads the team into its opening match against Sweden.
5. ECUADOR With striker Carlos Tenorio returning to the team after a calf injury sidelined him, Ecuador should be at full strength by the time it takes on Germany.
6. BRAZIL With five World Cup championships under its belt, Brazil — led by fan favorite Ronaldo — can be considered one of the favorites for this tournament.
7. PARAGUAY Even with one of its star players, forward Jose Cardozo, out with an injury, Paraguay plans to take aim at the always competitive England squad in its first game.
8. ARGENTINA Considered a favorite in the tournament, and led by Hernan Crespo, Argentina hopes to take Group C by storm.
9. SWEDEN The team averaged three goals per game in its Group 8 qualifying games, winning eight of 10 matches. This is the team's 11th appearance in the World Cup. Key striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored seven goals in qualifying.
10. ENGLAND The team is very strong at the midfield positions with a trio of David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. Also good news for the team, striker Wayne Rooney will be able to play after a positive scan on his injured foot.
11. NETHERLANDS The team is one of the favorites to win it all. Some of the international stars on the team include Ruud van Nistelrooy at a forward position, Edwin van der Sar in goal and Phillip Cocu in the midfield.
12. GERMANY The host team has a somewhat inexperienced squad. Michael Ballack, who plays professional with Bayern Munich, is the team's star playmaker. The team did beat Columbia 3-0 on Friday in its last warm-up game, but was beaten badly by Italy 4-1 in March.
13. POLAND Maciej Zurawski and Tomas Frankowski are the team's star strikers. The two combined for 14 goals in qualifying games. The team's greatest showing at the World Cup, as the East Europeans, came on German soil in 1974, finishing in third place.
14. FRANCE Winner of the 1998 World Cup, France has been on a downward slide. Also, they had a bunch of key players retire of late, including Bixente Lizarazu, Claude Makelele, Lilian Thuram and Zidane.
15. CZECH REPUBLIC Led by forward Jan Koller, the Czech Republic plans to play spoiler to a couple of teams in this upcoming tournament, and one of those is against the United States, which it plays in the opening games.
16. PORTUGAL With Nuno Gomes and Luis Boa Morte back to full health, Portugal has hopes to compete with the best and hopefully capture this year's World Cup.
17. SPAIN Going into the games motivated to win and led by forward Raul, Spain hopes to capture the 2006 World Cup but must first get past a group that includes Tunisia and Ukraine.
18. SWITZERLAND Led by Alexander Frei, this Swiss team hopes that even in this tough group, which includes France and Korea, it will be able to compete on a level worthy of the next round.
19. ITALY The Italians always seem to be a strong force in the soccer world, with three World Cup championships under their belt. This is the Italians' 16th appearance in the World Cup.
20. CROATIA Led by team captain Niko Kovac, the Croatian team hopes to compete at its best level, but it must get by the tournament favorite Brazil first.
21. SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO Led by forward Savo Milosevic, this team goes into the games with high hopes of going far, but it first must get by the ever-dangerous Netherlands team in its opening game.
22. UKRAINE Andriy Shevchenko is the star striker for the team. He plays professional at AC Milan, and how he performs will determine the Ukrainian team's fate.
23. TUNISIA Led by Francileudo dos Santos, this team heads into its game against Saudi Arabia hoping for a win to make it to the final 16 teams.
24. IVORY COAST After coming out of the preliminaries with a good showing, the Ivory Coast comes into a tough challenge in the first round as it has to face Argentina and the Netherlands.
25. GHANA With the advantage of having a team that has an average age of more than 25 years, Stephen Appiah and Ghana head into the tournament ready to take on the U.S. team.
26. TOGO With Kossi Agassa on goal and Emmanuel Adebayoron the offensive, Togo could pose a problem for teams like France and Switzerland.
27. ANGOLA Led by forward Fabrice Akwa, the Angola team starts off its games going up against a familiar foe in Portugal, of which Angola was once a colony.
28. SAUDI ARABIA Led by deadly striker and team captain Sami Al Jaber, Saudi Arabia goes into the games hoping to ruin the dreams of teams such as Spain and Ukraine.
29. IRAN Led by team captain Ali Daei, the Iranian team goes into the games to test out Mexico's team, as this will be Iran's first opponent.
30. KOREA REPUBLIC With five previous World Cup scorers, the Korean team seems to be one of the deadliest teams going into the tournament, which could make those in Korea's group a little nervous.
31. JAPAN Even after a not-so-good performance in a warm-up game and being labeled gutless by midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata, the Japanese team plans to use these incidents as motivation in the upcoming tournament.
32. AUSTRALIA After a 32-year absence from the World Cup, Australia is back in Germany, where it made its only other appearance. The team's hopes are high as it has well-respected Dutch coach Guss Hiddink in charge.
Source: http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com
