Group D, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia, Les Bleus (France)

Australia is a sports mad country, and they are not bad at some of them. In a similar fashion to the good Ol' US of A, their geographical isolation led them to develop their own brand of "footie" as they call it, namely "Aussie Rules". I have often wondered if this phrase had a double meaning in the eyes of the Australians because they tend to be rather full of themselves. 

Aussie Rules is a great sport to watch, it is a mix of Rugby and Gaelic football and as with American football is played with a ball similar in shape to a rugby ball. Anyway, the point is that real football is rather low down the food chain in Australian sports. Sheep shearing is probably more popular. One of the things peculiar to Antipodean sports is the popularity of the Mullet hair style amongst the men. The fact that as far as I can tell, this has not reached the Australian football squad is just another proof that the sport is not taken seriously. 

Qualifying for the world cup was an achievement in itself for the Socceroos as they are known and their only chance for points will come in the clash with Tunisia.

Australia was involved in one of the strangest incidents in world cup history, during their 2006 clash against Croatia which ended in a thrilling 3-3 draw. The game will always be remembered for the English referee, Grham Poll forgetting to send off a Croatian player after giving him a second yellow card which should be followed by an automatic red, which means the player is ejected from the game (one yellow is a booking and a warning, a second is an ejection, a straight red is also an ejection) The player Josep Simunic eventually received a third yellow !! which led to the red card being shown and him leaving the game. You can see it here.

So, to Tunisia, quaintly nicknamed the eagles of Carthage, in homage to the empire that existed on the North African coast of the Mediterranean before being finally vanquished by Rome. I think they should have gone with elephants to respect the great general Hannibal who led the imperious beasts over the alps in the second Punic war against the Roman empire. There are too many teams with a bird as their nickname.

Tunisia is one of the weaker African nations to have qualified. They have never had much success when they have, and I fear that they are too lightweight to make much of an impression this time round as well.

Having dismissed the chances of two teams, that leaves us with another two who will therefore qualify for the next stage with some ease. The intriguing part here is which team will finish in first place and then supposedly have an easier path going forward. 

Those two teams are Denmark and Les Bleus, that being France. Let us use cheese as an analogy. Danablu, better known as Danish Blue, is a strong flavoured semi soft cheese. You know where you stand with it. It is robust and it reflects the Danish Viking heritage. Camembert on the other hand is a soft whitish yellowy cheese with no backbone which aptly reflect the fickle and crumbling nature of Les Frogs.

The French team is very talented, that cannot be taken away from them, and please don't let me be misunderstood, they are still among the favorites to win the whole shebang, but too often they let off field distractions get in the way of the success of the team. The famous fiery Gallic temperament often shines through. This time round they are also beset by injuries which are going to make it harder for them to defend their crown. One thing to look forward to is, if Les Bleus do implode it will be spectacular.

The Danes on the other hand are solidity personified, physically very strong, allied with no little skill. In the Euros last year, the Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch while having the ball at his feet and was about to be welcomed by Odin to the halls of Valhalla, in the manner of the great Vikings whose only wish was to die with a sword in their hand. 

However thankfully, Loki the mischievous god intervened and denied Odin his victim and Eriksen survived and remarkably has returned to full fitness and will turn out for Denmark in the world cup.

With Injuries decimating the French squad, I will stick my neck out here and predict that Denmark will win the group with France finishing in second place, setting up a mouthwatering clash between "Don't Cry for me" Argentina and Les Bleus in the last 16