Brazil: Will go 3-0 in group play. Kaka will carry the offense.
Argentina: No one expected such a big outburst from the Argetines. Netherlands game is huge.
England: Will prove to be an elite after group play(3-0).
Spain: Was Ukraine a tough opponent? Spain sure hopes so.
Ecuador: Amazing 2-0 (5-0 goal differential). Germany game huge.
Germany: Playing at home a huge advantage, but can they take on Ecuador?
Netherlands: They will play as well as Van Nistelrooij plays.
Italy: US tie slows them down, but Czech win can boost their chances of becoming a top 5 team.
Korea Republic: France game will prove that they deserve to move on.
Portugal: Many think they are overrated, Mexico game is huge.
Sweden: England game huge. Will prove if they are a fluke or not.
Mexico: Tying nil-nil to Angola(ranked 60th internationally) is a huge blow and only reason why they are so low.
US: Will come through with a win against Ghana and the Italians will help them out so the americans will advance.
France: Will advance with a 1-1-1 record due to Henry pulling out a goal against Togo and Korea helps out by beating Switzerland.
Australia: Don't see them making it further than group play. Brazil had easy group.
Ukraine: Comes back to go 2-1 in group play and advances. But they stop here.
Out of those, there are a fair few who could win the whole thing easily. Argentina have proved themselves challengers (Messi, for example, who Diego Maradona has christened his prodigy). Brazil haven't impressed so far, but they almost never do have a good start and build up slowly. I expect a largish win against the Aussies tommorow. Germany have home advantage. Their defence is lacking, but there is a trend of home nations taking the cup. Don't expect them be walkovers. Spain - perhaps. They almost always underperform, and I want to see a second game before I judge.
England, unfortunately for me, have just not performed good enough to be a real challenge and will continue to drag unless they step up significantly. Italy, after that US game, have in my eyes, knocked their world-cup challenge significantly. France are uninspiring at the moment. Ukraine can't exist purely on the strength of one man. And the US lacks world-cup experience. Though, football is notorious for causing upsets due to it's low scoreline. Who knows what will happen next.
Argentina v Netherlands is huge? Do they know that? From what I hear, they are going to be resting quite a few players. It looks like they will take on Mexico, Portugal or Angola and they would get England or Germany in the Quarters. Does it make that big a difference what position they play in?
Unfortunately for us spectators, they'll probably rest their main teams and those with yellow cards, but I'd very much want to see an on-form Argentina and an on-form Holland. There's no real practical use at finishing top, except perhaps for morale and pride, but if Argentina could crush Holland then they really would become one of the, if not THE, challengers of the tournament.
