Chile doesn’t have a great tradition in football like Brazil, Argentina or Uruguay. Chile fights for being in the second order in South America and through the years, have dealt with good and bad administrations of its FA, which never have let the national team cement a solid base to the future. Despite all this, Chile manages to qualify for World Cups.

A very attacking team, with a high-powered offence. From the very first minute, Chile will go searching for goals. And when the team is winning, they keep up the pressure and do not fall into a defensive shell. Synchronised movements are the key to their success.

Key players
Humberto Suazo (Monterrey)
Alexis Sanchez (Udinese)
Matias Fernandez (Sporting CP)

Honduras will participate in its second World Cup. The first one was the 1982 edition in Spain. There are not many achievements for the Bicolor, most notably a third place finish in the 2001 Copa America and a runner up position in the CONACAF Gold Cup in 1991. Honduras have won the Central American Championships twice. This year has been one of the best in Honduras’ football history. In addition to World Cup qualification, the Under-17 and Under-20 teams qualified for their respective youth tournaments. The Under-23 team was also present last year in the Beijing Olympics.

Honduras has a strong defence and a powerful midfield. Its back line conceded less goals than any other in the qualification phase. The counterattack is its main weapon, thanks to the fast players at the front.

Key players
Carlos Pavon (Real Espana, Honduras)
David Suazo (Inter)
Amado Guevara (Toronto FC, Canada)

Switzerland is a small country that always has to fight hard to qualify for the World Cup every four years. They Swiss have qualified eight times for the World Cup and their best results were in 1934, 1938 and 1954.

The motivation in the team was never a problem. They have players like Barnetta, Frei, Senderos and Benaglio who have European experience. The collective in the team is very important and that’s the key for good results.

Key Player
Alexander Frei (FC Basel)
Diego Benaglio (VFL Wolfsburg)
Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen)

While Spain are regulars at the World Cup, all too often they have underachieved. Their best finish of all-time was fourth at the 1950 tournament, which Uruguay won at the Maracana. But in general La Roja’s World Cup record is one of sorrow, comprising a strong squad on paper but a weak team on the pitch. Particularly dreadful was the first round exit at France ‘98. But after winning Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, and having an absurdly strong midfield and attack ready to fire on all cylinders, Spain have finally proved themselves. They are the only country to have topped the FIFA World Rankings without winning the World Cup.

Forget the statistics: let’s talk about an idea of how they Spain know how they want to play. It’s Barcelona-style football: possession play and an eye firmly on attack. Luis Aragones, the victorious 2008 coach, built a team around Barca pair Andres Iniesta and Xavi. With David Villa, David Silva, and Fernando Torres to aim for, this team does not want either for creativity or firepower. When Spain play, they take no prisoners.

Key players
Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona)
Gerard Piqué (Barcelona)
Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
David Villa (Valencia)
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)
Puyol (Barcelona)
S.Ramos (Real Madrid)

Here the Seleccao das Quinas began to find legendary players again: Luis Figo, Fernando Couto, Rui Costa, Vitor Baia and many more began to creep onto the scene, turning Portugal into genuine continental contenders. Euro ‘96 and 2000 saw the side advance to the quarter and semi-finals respectively, and then came the 2002 World Cup.

A return to major tournament play on the global stage again resulted in a first Round exit, though, and then the heartache of losing at home in the Euro 2004 final followed. But fourth place in the 2006 World Cup, and a last eight at Euro 2008, sees Portuguese hearts gain hope again for 2010.

Portugal are solid at the back. In Bruno Alves and Ricardo Carvalho their central defence is impressive, and Real Madrid’s Pepe is deployed just ahead of them in a defensive midfield role, one at which he excels. The full-backs are fine, too, not least Jose Bosingwa. Then there’s the undoubted wing talents of Simao and a certain Cristiano Ronaldo.

Key Players
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, Spain)
Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea, England)
Raul Meireles (Porto, Portugal)

With only one participation at the 2006 World Cup – in the “Group of Death” with Argentina and the Netherlands – the Ivorians showed what they were capable of in Germany, but their lack of experience at that level didn’t allow them to fully explore their potential.

But four years later, with some of the best players on the planet now blossoming on their team, everyone is expecting them to do better, and they will undoubtedly have to live up to those high expectations. Along with Ghana, the Elephants are the African continent’s great hopes for the next World Cup.

With Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Gervinho, Boubacar Sanogo, Aruna Dindane, Amara Diane, Bakari Kone, and many more, Cote d’Ivoire’s firepower seems endless. With strikers starting in some of the most successful European clubs, the Ivorians seem to have one of the most impressive attacking lineups in the tournament.

Key Players
Didier Drogba (Chelsea)
Kolo Toure (Manchester City)
Gervinho (Lille)

If you are only going to have one World Cup appearance under your belt then you could do a lot worse than North Korea’s 1966 adventure. The Chollima’s 1-0 victory over Italy in the final group game is one of the most famous shocks in the history of the World Cup, or any other tournament. The quarter-final against Portugal almost matched it. The East Asians raced into a 3-0 lead in Liverpool before the mighty Eusebio and fatigue intervened to give the Iberians a 5-3 win and a place in the last four. Now, after 44 years, they are back.

The statistics don’t lie. North Korea’s modern success stems from a solid backline. A five-man defence conceded just seven times in 16 qualifiers and it is a defence that isn’t afraid to stay behind the white line. The team counter-attacks at speed and is capable of catching out an opposition that strays too far forward.

Key Player
Jong Tae-se (Kawasaki Frontale)
Hong Yong Jo (FC Rostov)
An Yong Hak (Suwon Bluewings)

Brazil is arguably the most successful team in football history. They’re the only team to have won the World Cup five times (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002) and also the only country to feature in every edition of the tournament. The only major competition that Brazil has yet to win is the Olympic Games.
It is one of the biggest contenders for the World Cup title.

Set-pieces and lightning fast counter-attacks are Brazil’s specialities under Dunga . Corner Kicks and free kicks close to the box are taken with efficiency by Elano and the center-backs join the forwards to threaten the opposite goal. The counter-attacks are usually led by the speed of Kaka.

Key Players
Kaka (Real Madrid)
Luis Fabiano (Sevilla)
Julio Cesar (Inter)
Lucio (Inter Milan)

Slovakia was a part of Czechoslovakia from 1918 until 1992. The Slovak players always featured for the Czechoslovakian national team. The Czech national team qualified for eight World Cups (1934 –2nd place, 1938, 1954, 1962-2nd place, 1970, 1982, 1990). The following Slovakian players were members of the squad in the 1962 World Cup in Chile: Schroif, Popluhar, Kvasnak, Adamec, Stibrani, Scherer.

The last World Cup that Czechoslovakia participated in was Italia ‘90. The team progressed to the quarter-finals and lost to eventual champions Germany 1-0. From the 17 national team players, eight were Slovakian : Kocian, Bielik, Kinier, Chovanec, Moravcik, Griga, Weiss, Luhovy. Slovakia turned into an independent Republic in 1993. This is their first World Cup participation as an independent nation.

Every member of the national team plays their club football outside of Slovakia in countries such as England, Germany, Netherlands and Russia. The pillar of the team’s strength is in defence, led by the goalkeeper Jan Mucha and central defender Martin Skrtel (Liverpool). Slovakia are no slouches upfront either as they lead their group with the most goals scored.

Key player
Martin Skrtel (Liverpool, England)
Marek Hamsik (Napoli, Italy)
Miroslav Karhan (Mainz, Germany