Germany v England

• England have only won six of their last 20 meetings with Germany, losing ten and drawing four.
• All four World Cup games between England and Germany were drawn after 90 minutes.
• Neither England nor Germany have ever lost a Round of 16 match at the World Cup finals.
• The last two knockout games between these two sides at major tournaments have ended in penalty shootout wins in the semi-final for Germany (1990 World Cup and Euro 1996).

Germany related stats:

• Germany have only drawn one of their last 15 World Cup games keeping nine clean sheets in the process.
• Germany have failed to convert just three out of 30 World Cup penalties (incl. shootouts), with Lukas Podolski's miss against Serbia the Germans' first spot-kick failure in 18 attempts.
• Miroslav Klose returns from suspension for this game.

England related stats:

• 14 of Englands 15 wins at the World Cup finals came when they kept a clean sheet.
• The last time England won a World Cup game when the opponent opened the scoring was the 1966 World Cup final against Germany.
• Jermain Defoe's goal against Slovenia was one of only two scored by English strikers in the 2006 and 2010 World Cup (so far).
• England, have missed three of their last four spot-kicks (all shootout) in the World Cup, whilst since 1966, they have netted 12 out of 19 spot-kicks.

Argentina v Mexico

• Mexico have only won four of their previous 25 meetings with Argentina, losing 11 and drawing 10.
• These sides met in the 2nd Round of the last World Cup. Argentina won 2-1 AET courtesy of a Maxi Rodriguez wonder strike eight minutes into the first half of extra time.

Argentina related stats:

• Argentina have failed to score with three of their last five penalties at World Cup finals.
• Argentina have won their last eight internationals, their best run since 1998.
• Argentina are undefeated in 9 World Cup games. Their longest ever spell without losing at the World Cup finals.

Mexico related stats:

• Mexico have conceded inside the first ten minutes in three of their last four Round of 16 matches at the World Cup.
• If they play against Argentina, Rafael Marquez and Cuauhtemoc Blanco will beat Antonio Carbajal's all-time record of 11 World Cup appearances for Mexico.
• Mexico have won just one of their 10 World Cup encounters against South American opposition, losing seven of these matches.
• Mexico have been eliminated in the second round in their last four World Cup finals appearances

Argentina v South Korea

• Argentina have won both of their encounters against South Korea, including a 3-1 victory during the 1986 World Cup first round.
• The two coaches are no strangers to each other having featured in their teams' meeting above.
• Argentina are 41 places higher than South Korea in the FIFA World Ranking.

Argentina related stats:

• Argentina are now unbeaten in their last seven finals games, winning four and drawing two.
• Three of Argentina's last four goals in World Cup finals have come from corners.
• Argentina's six strikers have scored 170 club goals in the past 12 months.
• The Argentines have yet to draw a game under Diego Maradona. They have won 15 of 20 games since he took charge.

South Korea related stats:

• South Korea finished fourth on home soil eight years ago which remains the best-ever result by an Asian team on the world stage.
• The South Koreans have yet to beat a team from the American continent in the World Cup (three defeats and two draws).
• South Korea have never qualified to the knockout stage of a World Cup played abroad.
• South Korea's clean sheet in their opening game against Greece was their first in their last six World Cup finals games.
• In only two of South Korea's 24 World Cup final games has a goal come before the 25th minute, with the second coming against Greece in the opening game (7th minute).

Greece v Nigeria

• Both encounters between these two sides have ended 2-0, once in Nigeria’s favour (1994 World Cup), and once in Greece's.
• Spain have never failed to score against Switzerland.

Greece related stats:

• Greece have still failed to score a goal in the World Cup, conceding a total of 12 goals in their four finals games so far.
• The Greeks have yet to win a game in 2010. Their last victory was against Ukraine in November in a World Cup play-off second leg.
• Greece have conceded in the 7th minute or earlier in three of their four World Cup finals matches.
• The Greeks have conceded exactly two goals in each of their last four games (in all competitions), losing three of those matches 2-0.
• If Greece fail to score against Nigeria, they will equal the all time record of most consecutive games without scoring in World Cup history (five, held by Bolivia).

Nigeria related stats:

• Nigeria are the only team at the 2010 World Cup with every member of their squad playing in a foreign club.
• Nigeria qualified for the World Cup unbeaten.
• The four wins managed by Nigeria in the World Cup have been against European sides.
• Nigeria are now without a win in their last six finals games, losing five, drawing one and failing to find the net in three of those games.

France v Mexico

• France are unbeaten against Mexico, winning five times and drawing once, three of those meetings coming at World Cup finals.
• The last goal Mexico scored against France was in the 1966 World Cup.
• Their most recent meeting was a 1-0 friendly win for France in May 2006.

France related stats:

• France are unbeaten in their last eight finals games, although they have drawn half of those matches.
• France have won just one of their last seven group matches at the World Cup.

Mexico related stats:

• Mexico have made it to the knockout stage in their previous five World Cup participations.
• Mexico have never won a World Cup match against any of the seven countries that have won the competition (11 defeats and five draws).
• Mexico have scored at least one goal in each of their last nine World Cup games against European sides.
• Mexico are bidding to improve on a record of just one win from their encounters with European nations at the finals.
• Mexico have managed just one win in their last seven finals games.

South Africa v Mexico

Opening game stats:

• Eight of the last 11 opening matches at World Cups have produced one goal or less.
• No host nation has ever lost their opening match at the World Cup.

South Africa related stats:

• South Africa and Mexico have met three times; all three games were played in the United States; Mexico won twice and South Africa won once.
• South Africa have conceded nine goals in their three international encounters against Mexico.
• South Africa are only the third African side to play in an opening game at the World Cup, the previous two both won 1-0: Cameroon vs Argentina (1990) and Senegal vs France (2002).

Mexico related stats:

• Mexico have suffered the most defeats in the history of the World Cup (22).
• Mexico have failed to win their two World Cup encounters against African sides, losing 1-3 to Tunisia in 1978 and drawing 0-0 with Angola in 2006.
• Mexico have won their opening matches at the last three World Cups.
• The Mexicans have made it to at least the second round in their last five World Cup appearances.
• Mexico have twice before appeared in the opening match of a World Cup, failing to score in both.

France v Uruguay

• The last two matches between these two countries have ended goalless.
• Thierry Henry was sent off the last time these two teams met in a World Cup (0-0 in 2002).
• France have won just one of their five matches against Uruguay, losing twice and drawing twice.

France related stats:

• France have kept a clean sheet in their last four World Cup matches against South American sides (three wins and one draw).
• France have only conceded one goal in their last four opening games at World Cups.
• AndrePierre Gignac was joint-top scorer for France during qualifying scoring the same number of goals (four) in 439 minutes of action as Thierry Henry did in 968.
• Only Portugal (14) and the Netherlands (16) conceded fewer shots on target during European qualification than France (21), not including the play-offs.
• France won the Most Corners in 92% of their qualifying games (11 out of 12).

Uruguay related stats:

• Diego Forlan was top scorer for Uruguay during qualifying, bagging seven goals in 13 appearances.
• Uruguay have won none of their last 12 World Cup clashes with European sides, scoring just five goals in this period.
• 88.8% (16/18) of Uruguay's games went Over 35 Booking Points/3.5 Cards.

France : The French struggled to qualify for South Africa and only for the "hand of Thierry" managed to secure their place after beating the Irish in the play offs.  Since then they have played 4 Internationals against Spain (lost 0-2), Costa Rica (Won 2-1), Tunisia (Drew 1-1) & China (Lost 0-1).  So their form isn't exactly brilliant coming into this world cup!  However, they are group favourites and despite many of their star names having retired now they are still a decent side but perhaps not one to be trusted. 

One to Watch : Frank Ribery has had a brilliant season at Bayern Munich helping them get to the Champions League final but then being unfortunate to have to miss out due to suspension.

How will they do : They should get through their group but I am sure we would all have said that in 2002 when as defending champions they never even won a game!  They are not one to be trusted and even if they get out their group I can't imagine them going much further this time.

Mexico : Massive pressure on the Mexicans as no doubt the whole world will tune into the first game of these finals as they play the hosts South Africa.  2010 will be their 5th appearance on the bounce at the finals (10, 06, 02, 98 & 94) and the Mexicans have also progressed to the knockout stages in their last 5 world cup appearances (06, 02, 98, 94 & 86).  They have 14 of their 23 man squad who play their football in the Mexican leagues the other 9 play in Europe.  Since qualifying Mexico have been defeat off England (3-1) & Holland (2-1) but then beat Gambia (5-1) and then ITALY (2-1) in their final warm-up game.

One to Watch : One of their European based players is Andres Guardado who scored 3 times in qualification as has been in great form for Deportivo La Coruna.

How will they do : They may well make it 6 times in a row progressing to the knockout stages but as they did on the previous 4 occasions (06, 02, 98 & 94) I fear they will fall at the knockout stages.

Uruguay : Uruguay cut it fine in qualification grabbing the final play off place and then beating Costa Rica to book their place in the finals.  They've struggled in recent years and have qualified only twice over the course of the last 5 world cups.  Won both of their friendlies in the lead up to this world cup beating Switzerland (3-1) and Israel (4-1).

One to Watch : Diego Folan not only continues to impress in La Liga, Champions League / Europa League but also netted 7 times for Uruguay during qualification.

How will they do : They are very much reliant on Forlan and if anything happens to him (injury wise) or he doesn't fire for whatever reason then the will struggle to get out of this group.

South Africa : The hosts are the second lowest ranked team in the finals.  So far they have only qualified for 2 other world cups and managed only 1 win from their 6 games at the finals.  However, it is worth noting that NO host nation in a World Cup has failed to qualify from their group!  I think the Mexicans are going to need a lot of help from the FIFA assigned officials in their games to continue that run.  No qualification for South Africa required so they have been playing as many friendlies as possible, they are currently unbeaten in their last 11 games but they were against pretty poor opposition (Guatemala, Thailand, Jamaica, Zimbabwe etc.) it must be said.  However, Denmark (1-0) & Columbia (2-1) are in there so there may be some hope!

One to Watch : I think the South Africans will be relying on Steven Pienaar of Everton to inspire them.

How will they do : I fear there will be huge disappointment for FIFA and South Africa as the host nation fails to get to the knockout stages for the first time!