World Cup Group E Preview

One group where everyone is predicting an orange winner, Denmark, Japan and Cameroon will be looking to cause an upset over the in-form Dutch. On paper and on your TV screen, albeit an easy qualification group and friendly results, Holland are the far superior team in this group. Denmark’s defence looks set to ultimately crack under the intense pressure of the Dutch attack. Japan will struggle with the aerial ability the Netherlands posses from set pieces and Cameroon enter this tournament with a leaky defence.

Netherlands

Eight wins from eight in qualifying, albeit against Norway, Scotland, Macedonia and Iceland. Netherlands enter the World Cup off the back of an impressive qualifying campaign and impressive friendly results before the finals begin.

If Arjen Robben fully recovers and Robin van Persie stays fit, those two and Wesley Sneijder give the Netherlands one of the best attacking trios in the competition. They will certainly put fear into most defences they come up against in this year’s competition. The Netherlands defence conceded just two goals in qualifying, but question marks remain over first choice goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg. The defence in front of him isn’t secure either and the better teams will find a way past them. Their oldest player also happens to be their most inexperienced at international level. FC Twente goalkeeper Sander Boschker enters this tournament on just one cap. There is plenty of experience elsewhere in the team, with the likes of Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Mark van Bommel, Andre Ooijer and Dirk Kuyt all likely to feature. The Netherlands looked terrific in the group stages of Euro 2008, winning 3/3 in a group that contained Italy, France and Romania. But they underperformed in the first knockout stage, losing to Russia in extra time. They went out at the first knockout round of the last World Cup too, losing to Portugal. Will the same pattern continue for the Dutch in South Africa?

Japan

Coach Takeshi Okada is looking to put the bad memories of World Cup 98 behind him with an improved performance from his nation this time around. Back in 1998, Japan were beaten late by both Argentina and Croatia to eliminate Japan from the competition, before they lost their final game… 2-1 to Jamaica.

This Japan team appears to be organised, and as in 1998 they will be looking to keep goals against to a minimum. An organised defence is in place, but they look beatable from set pieces. They do possess a good threat at attacking set pieces, Shunsuke Nakamura, Yasuhito Endo and Keisuke Honda all good takers. Defender Tulio a good target and recipient of them. This is an experienced unit and a talented one too. They’ll need to get points against both Denmark and Cameroon to get out of the group though, and Japan have never won a World Cup game outside of their own country.

Denmark

Denmark have never managed to put together a competitive team since Euro 1992. The nation certainly hasn’t produced the likes of Peter Schmeichel and Michael Laudrup since. Qualifying from a group that included Sweden and Portugal was impressive, but the Danish will now be wanting to progress from their tough group at the finals. Interesting, in all three previous tournaments they have qualified, the Danish have made it past the group stage every time.

In goal is the reliable Thomas Sorensen whom they’ll be able to rely calling upon in this tournament. In front of them there’s a pretty solid defence if Palermo’s Simon Kjaer is fully fit. He will play alongside Daniel Agger, with both capable of holding out top strikers. Adding the defensive line in front of the Danish back four in previous tournaments has been tough players like Stig Tofting and Thomas Gravesen. This year it will be Juventus’ long blonde haired midfielder Christian Poulsen. The wingers are all ageing which leaves question as to weather the team can create enough chances for Nicklas Bendtner, given the number of chances he needed for Arsenal per game this season to come close to scoring. Top scorer in qualifying, Soren Larsen is coming off an injury-hit season, so concerns over his fitness remain.

Cameroon

Samuel Eto’o's frustration, perhaps boiled over from a disappointing African Cup of Nations continued by being red carded in a friendly with Portugal in the lead up to the World Cup. That means Africa’s most decorated footballer misses Cameroon’s opening match with Japan which is a very important game in regards to progression from the group. A nation that has relied on power in previous competitions, they are no different this time around.

Cameroon offer very little creativity on the pitch, which makes you ask who is going to create goalscoring opportunities for Eto’o. Both Eto’o and Pierre Webo can score goals, with their feat and head if given the opportunities. Failure to do so and look out for Eto’o's frustration to boil over. There are a lot of tough tackling players in this team, most notably Binya and Andre Bikey. Cameroon need to remain disciplined in their challenges if they want to compete in this group. Rigobert Song is selected for his fourth World Cup as he puts himself in contention for being the first player to be sent off in three World Cups.

Value Bets

Netherlands to win Group E 4/7
Robin van Persie to win Golden Shoe 12/1
Team Top Goalscorer: Robin van Persie 7/4