Brazil Nuts, Swiss Chocolate ,Costa Rican coffee and Serbia along for the ride Group E Preview

The tournament is now in full swing and the two teams we are all waiting to see, Brazil in this group and Germany the reigning champions in Group F start their campaigns today

Brazil are joined by Switzerland, Costa Rica and Serbia.

Brazil as opposed to " Ze Shermans" are most neutrals favourite team. If you asked football fans and even those not so interested, who they liked best, after or even before their own national team, the answer would be Brazil.

They bring such a joie de vivre to the game that it is infectious in its enthusiasm. The football pulses with the samba beat for which the country is synonymous with as they glide effortlessly over the pitch with the ball seemingly glued to their feet.  Below you can see the latest example as Neymar the latest in a long line of Brazilians to wear that number ten shirt, strokes the ball into the goal against Austria.

Neymar against Austria

While mentioning names, the Brazilians have an interesting approach to that, who can forget Pele, Zico or even Socrates who was far removed from his Greek namesake in his style of play. The thing about these names is that often, they have no, at least to an outsider, relationship to their real name,

For example, Pele was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento which is a bit of a mouthful so Pele it is. They also to English ears at least have some amusing abbreviations, for instance Hulk or this time round Fred. If Brazil get to face England, the English fans are going to have a field day with Fagner, the mind boggles as to the songs there will be.

Next up are Switzerland, the Swiss as would be expected from a country known for its precision watches, have become in recent years an effective if somewhat underwhelming team, they are efficient but boring reflecting the Swiss personality, the reason they have got anywhere is the influx of players of none Swiss extraction, who have brought a different mentality and skill set to Swiss football.

Costa Rica are a team that surprised many in the previous world cup by advancing to the last sixteen in a group which included Italy and England (Perhaps not such a surprise then). They have a system which they stick to but I would be surprised if they enjoy the same level of success this time

This leaves us with Serbia, if there is one way to put a spoke in the wheels of the Brazilian juggernaut, it is by attempting to kick them off the park and Serbia are just the team to do that. It has happened in the past, as much as I disliked Maradona, the treatment and the lack of protection from referees he received was scandalous.

I do not want people to think that I consider all East European teams of being agricultural in their approach. I would never accuse Poland or in its day the great Hungary of that style of play, but Serbia are a thuggish looking team who could cause problems, especially if a weak referee is assigned to their games, one who will turn a blind eye to their robust attitude to what is supposed to be known as the beautiful game.

Anyway, Brazil and Switzerland should advance from this group.