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| Belgium |
BELGIUM
Nickname: The Red Devils
How do they play?
STYLE & FORMATION: Belgium gave a series of controlled and powerful displays throughout qualifying. Disciplined defensively, they are prepared to be patient but look to break with pace.
Manchester United's Marouane Fellaini and Manchester City's Vincent Kompany are two of 12 (CHECK)Premier League players in the Belgium squad
A feature of their usual 4-2-3-1 system is the frequent positional interchanging between the three attacking midfielders.
STRENGTHS :Their strength for one thing; Belgium are a physically imposing side and seldom outmuscled.
They also have an abundance of versatile attacking players and, crucially, a tight-knit team spirit instilled by coach Marc Wilmots.
WEAKNESSES: Marc Wilmots has expressed concern that regular starters such as Thomas Vermaelen, Kevin De Bruyne, Nacer Chadli and Marouane Fellaini are suffering from a lack of playing time at club level.
Vincent Kompany's commanding presence in central defence was sorely missed in recent back-to-back friendly defeats at home, while the wide players like to drift infield and do not routinely help out with defensive duties - which can leave the full-backs exposed.
KEY PLAYER
The PFA Young Player Of The Year Chelsea's Eden Hazard, 23, has generally flourished under Marc Wilmots after a previously underwhelming contribution to the national side. A superb technician with an explosive turn of pace, the playmaker is Belgium's key creator.
THE BOSS
A celebrated player, and then a less successful politician, Marc Wilmots became national coach in June 2012 after three years as an assistant. His managerial CV was restricted to undistinguished spells at Schalke and Belgian side St Truiden, but he did guide Belgium from 54th to a best-ever fifth in the Fifa rankings.
HOW THEY QUALIFIED
In emphatic fashion, registering a national record seven successive qualifying wins during an unbeaten campaign.
World Cup record
Belgium qualified for six straight World Cups from 1982 to 2002, reaching the knockout phase five times and coming fourth in 1986.
FIFA RANKING: 12 (correct to 6 June)
Provisional Squad
GOALKEEPERS: Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid, on loan from Chelsea), Simon Mignolet (Liverpool), Koen Casteels (Hoffenheim), Silvio Proto (Anderlecht).
DEFENDERS: Toby Alderweireld (Atletico Madrid), Laurent Ciman (Standard Liege), Nicolas Lombaerts (Zenit St Petersburg), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City), Daniel Van Buyten (Bayern Munich), Anthony Vanden Borre (Anderlecht), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham).
MIDFIELDERS: Nacer Chadli, Mousa Dembele (both Tottenham), Steven Defour (Porto), Kevin De Bruyne (Wolfsburg), Marouane Fellaini, Adnan Januzaj (both Manchester United), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Kevin Mirallas (Everton), Divock Origi (Lille), Axel Witsel (Zenit St Petersburg).
FORWARDS: Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea), Dries Mertens (Napoli).
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| Algeria |
ALGERIA
Nickname: The Desert Foxes
Best World up finish: First round in 1982, 1986 & 2010
PROSPECTS
Write off Algeria at your peril. No longer World Cup whipping boys, the Desert Foxes are boosted by a stronger professional league, improving standards at grassroots level and an influx of emigre players with Algerian parents or ancestry.
Zinedine Zidane, Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri have all previously slipped through Algeria's net. The Greens will be hoping they have turned off that particular tap that has been flowing in the direction of France, and with it enhanced their own standing in world football.
World Cup stars of yesteryear Diego Maradona and Rivaldo, as well as Javier Zanetti, have been queuing up to sing the virtues of the Greens' class of 2014 - the only Arab nation present in Brazil. Maradona predicts Algeria "will cause a surprise", while Rivaldo says "the possibilities of reaching the second round are abundant".
KEY PLAYER
France-born Sofiane Feghouli, 24, is an attacking midfielder or winger for Valencia who was described by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger a year ago as "exceptional" and "a physical beast".
THE BOSS
Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic, 61, took charge in July 2011 and the disciplinarian has cast aside several established players in favour of a new generation, many of whom represented France at youth level. Brazil will be his World Cup bow as a coach, having been sacked by Ivory Coast three months before the 2010 finals.
HOW THEY QUALIFIED
Algeria were the last African qualifiers, beating Cup of Nations finalists Burkina Faso 1-0 in the second leg of their play-off to advance on away goals after a 3-2 first-leg defeat. They won all but one game in the previous group stage.
WORLD CUP RECORD
In 1982, Algeria became the first African nation to win two matches in the same finals, but they failed to qualify from the group on goal difference after Germany and Austria contrived a result (external) that allowed them both to progress.
Algeria have not won a game in their subsequent two finals (1986 and 2010).
FIFA RANKING:25 (correct to 6 June)
Provisional Squad
GOALKEEPERS: Izzedine Doukha (USM El-Harrach), Rais M'bolhi (CSKA Sofia), Cedric Si Mohamed (CS Constantine), Mohamed Lamine Zemmamouche (USM Alger).
DEFENDERS: Essaid Belkalem (Watford, on loan from Granada), Madjid Bougherra (Lekhwya Club), Liassine Cadamuro (Mallorca), Faouzi Ghoualm (Napoli), Rafik Halliche (Academica Coimbra), Nacereddine Khoualed (USM Alger), Aissa Mandi (Stade Reims), Carl Medjani (Valenciennes), Djamel Mesbah (Livorno), Mehdi Mostefa (AC Ajaccio).
MIDFIELDERS: Nabil Bentaleb (Tottenham), Ryad Boudebouz (Bastia), Yasine Brahimi (Granada), Adlene Guedioura (Crystal Palace), Amir Karaoui (Entente de Setif), Medhi Lacen (Getafe), Saphir Taider (Inter Milan), Hassan Yebda (Udinese).
FORWARDS: Abdelmoumene Djabou (Club Africain), Rafik Djebbour (Nottingham Forest, on loan from Olympiakos), Sofiane Feghouli (Valencia), Nabil Ghilas (Porto), Foued Kadir (Rennes), Riyad Mahrez (Leicester), Islam Slimani (Sporting Lisbon), Hilal Soudani (Dinamo Zagreb).
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| Russia |
RUSSIA
Nickname: The National Team
National anthem: Gosudarstvenny Gimn Rossiyskoy Federatsii
Best World Cup finish: first round 1994, 2002
PROSPECTS
Fabio Capello and Russia work to each other's strengths. Of their potential starters at the World Cup, nine boast 40 caps or more. The miserly back-line predominantly come from CSKA Moscow, while perennial Champions League dark horses Zenit St Petersburg provide the rest of the spine.
For the most part, Capello only calls up Russian-based players so he has got to know his squad and their strengths quickly. The midfield is key of them, playing high-tempo, pressing football. Yet their Achilles heel can be when they are subjected to it themselves.
KEY PLAYER
Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev recently set a national team record (external) by going 12 hours without conceding a goal. Once tipped as a future world star, his career with CSKA Moscow has been held back by two serious knee injuries.
THE BOSS
Former England boss Fabio Capelloinherited a side that had been meekly eliminated from Euro 2012. He quickly instilled a greater mental fortitude into the team and dropped fading force Andrey Arshavin. The Italian's authoritarian style divided opinion in England, but has earned approval in Russia - he has been given an extended contract until 2018.
HOW THEY QUALIFIED
Despite back-to-back defeats by Portugal and Northern Ireland, they edged the former to win Group F by a point. They conceded just five times in 10 games.
WORLD CUP RECORD
The USSR were semi-finalists in 1966 and quarter-finalists in 1958, 1962 and 1970. But their achievements since the fall of the Berlin Wall - tame group-stage exits in 1990, 1994 and 2002 - show a footballing superpower in decline.
FIFA RANKING: 18 (correct to 6 June)
Provisional squad
GOALKEEPERS: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Yury Lodygin (Zenit St Petersburg), Sergey Ryzhikov (Rubin Kazan).
DEFENDERS: Alexander Anyukov (Zenit St Petersburg), Alexey Berezutski (CSKA Moscow), Vasili Berezutski (CSKA Moscow), Vladimir Granat (Dynamo Moscow), Andrey Eshchenko (Anzhi Makhachkala), Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Alexey Kozlov (Dynamo Moscow), Dmitry Kombarov (Spartak Moscow), Andrey Semenov (Terek Grozny), Georgi Schennikov (CSKA Moscow).
MIDFIELDERS: Vladimir Bystrov (Anzhi Makhachkala, on loan from Zenit St Petersburg), Yury Gazinskiy (Krasnodar), Denis Glushakov (Spartak Moscow), Igor Denisov (Dynamo Moscow), Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow), Yury Zhirkov (Dynamo Moscow), Alexey Ionov (Dynamo Moscow), Pavel Mogilevets (Rubin Kazan), Alexander Samedov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Victor Faizulin (Zenit St Petersburg), Oleg Shatov (Zenit St Petersburg), Roman Shirokov (Krasnodar).
FORWARDS: Artem Dzyuba (Rostov), Maxim Kanunnikov (Amkar Perm), Alexander Kerzhakov (Zenit St Petersburg), Alexander Kokorin (Dynamo Moscow), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Reading).
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| South Korea |
SOUTH KOREA
Nick Name: Taeguk (Warriors)
Best World Cup Finish: Fourth Place 2002
PROSPECTS
When South Korea and Japan were awarded the 2002 World Cup as co-hosts it was with a view to spreading the football gospel. To provide better coaching, facilities and infrastructure not only for both countries but for Asian football as a whole.
South Korea certainly embraced the gift given to them by Fifa. Their coach Hong Myung-bo was part of Dutchman Guus Hiddink's fourth-placed finishers at that tournament. Two further Dutch coaches followed, as did several South Korean playing exports to western European club sides.
Once seen as whipping boys, the Taeguk Warriors are anything but these days and are seen as genuine challengers to qualify. This is their eighth consecutive World Cup finals appearance and they have progressed past the group stage in two of the last three editions.
KEY PLAYER
Playmaker Son Heung-min joined Bayer Leverkusen from Hamburg last summer for a club-record £8.5m fee. He has found goals hard to come by at the BayArena but is still only 21.
THE BOSS
Hong Myung-bo is a South Korea hero; captain of their 2002 World Cup squad that finished fourth, he was named by Pele in 2003 as one of the greatest 125 living footballers. He led South Korea to a bronze medal at the London Olympics and was the natural choice to take over a country looking for leadership last summer. (external)
He has done so confidently, with a new direction and without fanfare.
HOW THEY QUALIFIED
They edged Uzbekistan on goal difference to claim the second qualification spot in Asian Group A, ending two points behind Iran. However, laboured performances, including defeat at home to Iran and away to Lebanon, prompted coach Choi Kang-hee to quit at the end of the campaign.
WORLD CUP RECORD
They have made group stage exits in six of eight tournaments. They rode their luck to reach the semi-finals on home soil in 2002, and lost to Uruguay in the last 16 in 2010.
FIFA RANKING: 55 (correct to 6 June)
Provisional Squad
GOALKEEPERS: Jung Sung-ryeong (Suwon Bluewings), Kim Seung-gyu (Ulsan Horang-i), Lee Bum-young (Busan I'Park)
DEFENDERS: Yun Suk-young (QPR), Kim Young-kwon (Guangzhou Evergrande), Hwang Seok-ho (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Hong Jeong-ho (Augsburg), Kwak Tae-hwi (Al Hilal), Lee Yong (Ulsan Horang-i), Kim Chang-soo (Kashiwa Reysol), Park Joo-ho (Mainz)
MIDFIELDERS: Ki Seung-yueng (Sunderland, on loan from Swansea), Ha Dae-sung (Beijing Guoan), Han Kook-young (Kashiwa Reysol), Park Jung-woo (Guangzhou R&F), Son Heung-min (Bayer Leverkusen), Kim Bo-kyung (Cardiff City), Lee Chung-yong (Bolton Wanderers), Ji Dong-won (Augsburg).
FORWARDS: Koo Ja-cheol (Mainz), Lee Keun-ho (Sangju Sangmu), Park Chu-young (Arsenal), Kim Shin-wook (Ulsan Horang-i).
FIXTURES
Tuesday 17 June 2014
Belgium v Algeria, Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte, 5:00 PM
Tuesday Tuesday 17 June 2014
Russia v South Korea, Arena Pantanal, Cuiaba, 11:00 PM
Sunday 22 June 2014
Belgium v Russia, Estadio do Maracana, Rio de Janeiro, 5:00 PM
Sunday 22 June 2014
South Korea v Algeria, Estadio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre, 8:00 PM
Thursday 26 June 2014
South Korea v Belgium, Arena de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, 9:00 PM
Thursday 26 June 2014
Algeria v Russia, Arena da Baixada, Curitiba, 9:00 PM
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