ARGENTINA

Fixtures

Argentina v Nigeria June 2 Ibaraki 2.30pm
Argentina v England June 7 Sapporo 8.30pm
Argentina v Sweden June 12 Miyagi 3.30pm

Coach: Marcelo Bielsa

Record: 1934, 1958, 1962 First Round; 1974, 1982, 1994 Second Round; 1966, 1998 Quarter Finals; 1930, 1990 Runners up; 1978, 1986 Champions

FIFA Ranking: 2

Ortega, Veron, Claudio Lopez, Crespo, Batistuta, Simeone, er - who's their goalkeeper again? If they don't win either it'll be their own fault, or it'll be the fault of their opponents, or the match officials perhaps. Bielsa is a lucky man to have so much talent at his disposal at one World Cup. Can they fail to win the World Cup? Yes, they can.

Forecast: Semi-final.

On the sidelines

Argentina didn't pick up a single red card in qualifying.

The squad

Goalkeepers
1 German Burgos (Atletico Madrid) Age 33, 35 caps
12 Pablo Cavallero (Celta Vigo) Age 28, 8 caps
23 Roberto Bonano (Barcelona) Age 32, 13 caps
Defenders
2 Roberto Ayala (Valencia) Age 29, 79 caps
4 Mauricio Pochettino (Paris St-Germain) Age 30, 16 caps
6 Walter Samuel (AS Roma) Age 24, 30 caps
22 Jose Chamot (Milan) Age 33, 42 caps
13 Diego Placente (Bayer Leverkusen) Age 25, 6 caps
Midfielders
8 Javier Zanetti (Internazionale) Age 28, 65 caps
14 Diego Simeone (Lazio) Age 32, 104 caps
11 Juan Sebastian Veron (Manchester United) Age 27, 47 caps
15 Claudio Husain (River Plate) Age 27, 14 caps
5 Matias Almeyda (Parma) Age 29, 33 caps
16 Pablo Aimar (Valencia) Age 22, 18 caps
20 Marcelo Gallardo (Monaco) Age 27, 42 caps
3 Juan Pablo Sorin (Cruzeiro) Age 26, 35 caps
18 Kily Gonzalez (Valencia) Age 27, 31 caps
17 Gustavo Lopez (Celta Vigo) Age 29, 31 caps
Forwards
10 Ariel Ortega (River Plate) Age 29, 81 caps
9 Gabriel Batistuta (AS Roma, Italy) Age 33, 25 caps
21 Claudio Caniggia (Glasgow Rangers) Age 35, 50 caps
19 Hernan Crespo (Lazio) Age 26, 32 caps
7 Claudio Lopez (Lazio) Age 27, 48 caps

ENGLAND

Fixtures

England v Sweden June 2 Saitama 6.30pm
England v Argentina v June 7 Sapporo 8.30pm
England v Nigeria June 12 Osaka 3.30pm

Coach: Sven Goran Eriksson

Record: 1950, 1958 First round; 1982 1998 Second Round; 1954, 1962, 1970, 1986 Quarter Finals; 1990 Fourth place; 1966 Champions

FIFA Ranking: 12

A young team transformed by Swedish coach Eriksson. There are quality players in midfield and Michael Owen's pace upfront but the team has problems down the left flank and the defence concedes too many. A lot will depend on Beckham recovering from injury and Owen staying fit.
Men to watch: Young guns Kieron Dyer and Joe Cole could burst on to the world stage this June.
Prediction: Touch-and-go with Sweden to make the second round presuming Argentina win the group. Then it could be ‘au revoir' at the hands of the French.

On the sidelines

A Barclaycard survey predicted that 40% of Britain's employees would take the day off to watch England's group games costing the economy £1.2 billion in lost production. If England won the Cup the overall cost could be £3.2 billion.

The squad

Goalkeepers
1 David Seaman (Arsenal) Age 38, 68 caps
13 Nigel Martyn (Leeds United) Age 35, 22 caps
22 David James (West Ham) Age 31, 8 caps
Defenders
2 Danny Mills (Leeds United) Age 25, 6 caps
3 Ashley Cole (Arsenal) Age 21, 8 caps
5 Rio Ferdinand (Leeds United) Age 23, 21 caps
6 Sol Campbell (Arsenal) Age 27, 45 caps
12 Wes Brown (Manchester United) Age 22, 5 caps
14 Wayne Bridge (Southampton) Age 21, 4 caps
15 Martin Keown (Arsenal) Age 35, 42 caps
16 Gareth Southgate (Middlesbrough) Age 31, 48 caps
Midfielders
4 Trevor Sinclair (West Ham) Age 25, 4 caps
7 David Beckham (Manchester United) Age 27, 49 caps
8 Paul Scholes (Manchester United) Age 27, 43 caps
18 Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich) Age 21, 5 caps
19 Joe Cole (West Ham United) Age 20, 5 caps
21 Nicky Butt (Manchester United) Age 27, 18 caps
23 Kieron Dyer (Newcastle United) Age 23, 9 caps
Forwards
9 Robbie Fowler (Leeds United) Age 28, 24 caps
10 Michael Owen (Liverpool) Age 22, 35 caps
11 Emile Heskey (Liverpool) Age 24, 23 caps
17 Teddy Sheringham (Tottenham Hotspur) Age 36, 46 caps
20 Darius Vassell (Aston Villa) Age 21, 4 caps

SWEDEN

Fixtures

Sweden v England June 2 Saitama 6.30pm
Sweden v Nigeria June 7 Kobe 3.30pm
Sweden v Argentina June 12 Miyagi 12.30pm

Coach: Tommy Soderberg & Lars Lagerback (joint coaches)

Record: 1970, 1978 & 1990 First Round; 1934, 1950 & 1974 Second round;
1994 semi-finals; 1938 Fourth place; 1958 runners-up

FIFA Ranking: 19

A solid, hardworking outfit capable of stifling any team with their aggressive pressing all over the pitch, with quality players in Coventry goalkeeper Magnus Hedman, Barcelona defender Patrik Andersson, Arsenal's Fredrik Ljungberg and Celtic's Hendrik Larsson.

Men to watch: Larsson and Ljungberg will provide the goal threat. Larsson has scored over 80 in the last two seasons in Scotland.

Prediction: Could well be a surprise package but their style of play won't suit the hot and humid conditions if they progress from Group F.

On the sidelines

The official Swedish supporters club took up only half their share of tickets for the national team's games in Group F and the rest were returned to the host nation, Japan, for sale

The squad

Goalkeepers
1 Magnus Hedman (Coventry City) Age 29, 43 caps
12 Magnus Kihlstedt (FC Copenhagen) Age 30, 12 caps
23 Andreas Isaksson (Djurgarden) Age 20, 1 cap
Defenders
2 Olof Mellberg (Aston Villa) Age 24, 21 caps
3 Patrik Andersson (Barcelona) Age 30, 94 caps
4 Johan Mjallby (Celtic) Age 31, 34 caps
5 Michael Svensson (Troyes) Age 26, 11 caps
13 Thomas Antonelius (FC Copenhagen) Age 29, 6 caps
14 Erik Edman (Heerenveen) Age 23, 4 caps
15 Andreas Jakobsson (Hansa Rostock) Age 24, 12 caps
16 Teddy Lucic (AIK) Age 28, 40 caps
Midfielders
6 Tobias Linderoth (Everton) Age 23, 18 caps
7 Niclas Alexandersson (Everton) Age 30, 57 caps
8 Anders Svensson (Southampton) Age 25, 24 caps
9 Freddie Ljungberg (Arsenal) Age 25, 31 caps
17 Magnus Svensson (Brondby) Age 33, 25 caps
19 Pontus Farnerud (Monaco) Age 21, 1 cap
20 Daniel Andersson (Venezia) Age 24, 37 caps
Forwards
10 Marcus Allback (Aston Villa) Age 28, 17 caps
11 Henrik Larsson (Celtic) Age 30, 66 caps
18 Mattias Jonsson (Brondby) Age 28, 23 caps
21 Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Ajax) Age 20, 8 caps
22 Andreas Andersson (AIK) Age 28, 31 caps

NIGERIA

Fixtures

Nigeria v Argentina June 2 Ibaraki 2.30pm
Nigeria v Sweden June 7 Kobe 3.30pm
Nigeria v England June 12 Osaka 3,30pm

Coach: Festu Onigbinde

Record: 1994 & 1998 Second round

FIFA Ranking: 27

Money disputes, administrative corruption and a new coach, spells something of a crisis for the African powerhouse. New boss Onigbinde has dropped veterans Finidi George and Sunday Oliseh after a disappointing Africans Nations Cup where they lost to Senegal in the semis. Undoubted talent and flair but this Nigerian team may have to wait to become the first African team to win the World Cup.

Men to watch: Nwankwo Kanu, Arsenal's tricky striker and of course, Julius Aghahowa, if he scores look out for world football's most spectacular sight – 7 back flips and a backward somersault.

Prediction: Will not be vaulting into the second round.

On the sidelines

Nigeria has over 40,000 active footballers.

The squad

Goalkeepers
1 Ike Shorunmu (Lausanne, Switzerland) Age 34, 33 caps
12 Austin Ejide (Gabros) Age 18, 3 caps
22 Vincent Enyeama (Enyimba) Age 19, 1 cap
Defenders
16 Efe Sodje (Crewe Alexandra) Age 29, 6 caps
13 Rabiu Afolabi (Standard Liege) Age 22, 2 caps
14 Ifeanyi Udeze (PAOK Salonika) Age 20, 14 caps
15 Justice Christopher (Antwerp) Age 20, 7 caps
6 Taribo West (unattached) Age 28, 38 caps
2 Joseph Yobo (Marseille) Age 19, 15 caps
3 Celestine Babayaro (Chelsea) Age 23, 24 caps
19 Eric Ejiofor (Maccabi Haifa) Age 27, 12 caps
5 Isaac Okoronkwo (Shakhtar Donetsk) Age 24, 12 caps
Midfielders
8 Mutiu Adepoju (Salamanca) Age 31, 49 caps
10 Austin Jay-Jay Okocha (Paris St-Germain) Age 28, 56 caps
7 Pius Ikedia (Ajax) Age 21, 8 caps
20 James Obiorah (Lokomotiv Moscow) Age 23, 1 cap
18 Benedict Akwuegbu (Shenyeng Haishi, China) Age 27, 14 caps
11 Garba Lawal (Roda JC Kerkrade) Age 28, 32 caps
23 Femi Opabumni (Grasshoppers) Age 17, 2 caps
Forwards
17 Julius Aghahowa (Shakhtar Donetsk) Age 19, 16 caps
9 Bartholomew Ogbeche (Paris St-Germain) Age 17, 3 caps
21 John Utaka (Al Saad, Qatar) Age 20, 1 cap
4 Nwankwo Kanu (Arsenal) Age 25, 37 caps