Group E - Analysis

Teams: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

Predicted qualifiers: Netherlands, Cameroon

This is another good squad from the Dutch which contains a creative midfield and effective forwards. Robben has speed and finishing, van Persie has distribution and first touch, Huntelaar has height, Sneijder and van der Vaart are both talented and creative midfield, added to the solid de Jong and van Bommel. This team has everything in attack, aren’t they? The question is whether they could improve their defence before they could think of winning the world cup. Any which way I still think they could go far this time, the rest of teams in this group could not overcome them. Denmark is not a bad team. Just that Bendtner has not matured to lead the team’s attack, Tomasson and Gronkjaer have passed their best, Poulsen doesn’t look as good as he should be after going through a flopping season with Juventus. Their warm-up match sees Kjaer to be stretched off the field, which is definitely not a good sign during their preparation to the tournament. They would face an uphill task to overcome Cameroon’s strong attacks. Cameroon looks strong this time, added to the tournament being held in Africa, I would fancy them to go through from this group ahead of Denmark. Kameni is a good keeper. Bassong and Alex Song have improved greatly in the past season. And Eto’o would lead the front line. Though his finishing is not truly breathtaking, but his striker instinct is one of the best in the world as he always appear in the right place at the right time. They would stand a good chance to at least reach the knock-out stage, unless the inharmonic voices among the squad increasingly disrupt the team spirit of the team. There is no way for Japan to make a breakthrough here. One of the best ever Japanese footballers Shunsuke Nakamura has to bid farewell to his last world cup bitterly. Hopefully Honda and his mates could use this tournament as a valuable trip to earn experiences and prepared themselves better for the tournament in Brazil 4 years later.

Below are squad lists of the teams:

NETHERLANDS

Goalkeepers: Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax/Netherlands), Sander Boschker (Twente/Netherlands), Michel Vorm (Utrecht/Netherlands)

Defenders: Khalid Boulahrouz (VFB Stuttgart/Germany), Edson Braafheid (Celtic/Scotland), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord/Netherlands), John Heitinga (Everton/England), Joris Mathijsen (SV Hamburg/Germany), Andre Ooijer (PSV Eindhoven/Netherlands), Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax/Netherlands)

Midfielders: Ibrahim Afellay (PSV Eindhoven/Netherlands), Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich/Germany), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City/England), Stijn Schaars (AZ Alkmaar/Netherlands), Wesley Sneijder (Internazionale/Italy), Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid/Spain), Demy de Zeeuw (Ajax/Netherlands)

Forwards: Ryan Babel (Liverpool/England), Eljero Elia (SV Hamburg/Germany), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (AC Milan/Italy), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool/England), Robin van Persie (Arsenal/England), Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich/Germany)

DENMARK

Goalkeepers: Thomas Sorensen (Stoke City/England), Stephan Andersen (Brondby/Denmark), Jesper Christiansen (FC Copenhagen/Denmark)

Defenders: William Kvist (FC Copenhagen/Denmark), Simon Kjaer (Palermo/Italy), Lars Jacobsen (Blackburn Rovers/England), Per Kroldrup (Fiorentina/Italy), Daniel Agger (Liverpool/England), Patrick Mtiliga (Malaga/Spain), Simon Poulsen (AZ Alkmaar/Netherlands)

Midfielders: Martin Jorgensen (AGF Aarhus/Denmark), Christian Poulsen (Juventus/Italy), Jakob Poulsen (AGF Aarhus/Denmark), Dennis Rommedahl (Ajax/Netherlands), Thomas Kahlenberg (VfL Wolfsburg/Germany), Thomas Enevoldsen (FC Groningen/Netherlands), Christian Eriksen (Ajax/Netherlands), Mikkel Beckmann (Randers/Denmark), Daniel Jensen (Werder Bremen/Germany), Jepser Gronkjaer (FC Copenhagen/Denmark)

Forwards: Jon Dahl Tomasson (Feyenoord/Netherlands), Soren Larsen (MSV Duisburg/Germany), Nicklas Bendtner (Arsenal/England)

JAPAN

Goalkeepers: Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus/Japan), Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale/Japan), Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo Iwata/Japan)

Defenders: Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F. Marinos/Japan), Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Nagoya Grampus/Japan), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata/Japan), Daiki Iwamasa (Kashima Antlers/Japan), Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo/Japan), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo/Japan), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers/Japan)

Midfielders: Shunsuke Nakamura (Yokohama F. Marinos/Japan), Junichi Inamoto (Kawasaki Frontale/Japan), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka/Japan), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale/Japan), Daisuke Matsui (Grenoble/France), Yuki Abe (Urawa Reds/Japan), Makoto Hasebe (Wolfsburg/Germany), Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow/Russia)

Forwards: Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus/Japan), Yoshito Okubo (Vissel Kobe/Japan), Kisho Yano (Albirex Niigata/Japan), Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse/Japan), Takayuki Morimoto (Catania/Italy)

CAMEROON

Goalkeepers: Hamidou Souleymanou (Kayserispor/Turkey), Carlos Kameni (Espanyol/Spain), Guy Roland Ndy Assembe (Valencienne/France)

Defenders: Benoit Assou-Ekotto (Tottenham/England), Sebastien Bassong (Tottenham/England), Gaetan Bong (Valenciennes/France), Aurelien Chedjou (Lille/France), Geremi (Ankaragucu/Turkey), Stephane Mbia (Marseille/France), Nicolas Nkoulou (Monaco/France), Rigobert Song (Trabzonspor/Turkey)

Midfielders: Eyong Enoh (Ajax/Netherlands), Jean II Makoun (Lyon/France), Georges Mandjeck (Kaiserslautern/Germany), Joel Matip (Schalke/Germany), Landry Nguemo (Celtic/Scotland), Alexandre Song (Arsenal/England)

Forwards: Vincent Aboubakar (Coton Sport/Cameroon), Eric Choupo-Moting (Nuremberg/Germany), Achille Emana (Betis/Spain), Samuel Eto'o (Inter Milan/Italy), Mohamadou Idrissou (Freiburg/Germany), Achille Webo (Mallorca/Spain)