USA

New Delhi: Just a couple of decades ago the United States of America was considered as a second-tier footballing side though they were the semi-finalist of the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930.

But since Italia 1990, the US have been a regular participant in the FIFA World Cup finals and even managed to put up their best performance to reach the quarter-finals at Korea/Japan 2002.

Coach Bruce Arena, at the helm since 1998, has instilled a new belief in his team and it was very much visible during their qualification for Germany 2006.

USA booked their ticket to Germany, finishing at the top of the group for the first time, with three matches still to play in the final round of North, Central American and Caribbean qualifying.

"You'll look at it and say it's real easy and it's a breeze. But it's not a breeze. It's very difficult," Arena said of their qualifying campaign.

With a potent mixture of youth and experience at his disposal Arena can expect greater things from his team.

DaMarcus Beasley, Landon Donovan and old campaigners like Brian McBride along with Claudio Reyna could be enough to see off the world's best.