Group G: Portugal

For being one of the top teams in the world, Portugal has really struggled lately.  Throughout qualifying they never looked like their normal dynamic selves, as they ended up placing second to Denmark. In order to even make the tournament, Portugal had to go into a playoff match, luckily for them, it was against a weaker Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Maybe it was just circumstance, surely Portugal were better than that? However, they continued to show poor form in the warm-up matches, and with the World Cup starting tomorrow, Portugal fans have a sense of nervous anticipation, which was only increased with the loss of Nani, the brilliant midfielder of Manchester United has been ruled out of the tournament through injury.

Portugal have at their disposal some incredible talent, but Christiano Ronaldo [pictured] is the centerpiece. After having an excellent season with Real Madrid, the winger/forward/offense midfielder will be looking to carry his form over to the World Cup. Extremely fast, and capable of some of the finest technical skill in the world, he can single handily win games for his team. This will be very important for Portugal because during qualification they had a hard time scoring goals when Ronaldo didn't play.  If he manages to keep his top level of play, and the defense can hold steady, then Portugal would not only have a shot of making it out of the Group of Death, but challenge for the title as well.

My Prediction: Second Round