England, U.S. look like class of Group C

Editors note: This is the third of an eight-part series leading up to the kickoff of the World Cup in South Africa on June 11. Each day, a Deseret News writer will break down one of the eight groups of the first stage of the 32-team tournament.

When the original draw for the World Cup was revealed in December, nobody looked at Group C and entertained any thoughts that it was the notorious "Group of Death." During each competition, there is always one group that experts look at and determine is the toughest to move on to the second round. That certainly wasn't the case with these four teams.

England is the only squad in the group that has won the Cup before, but that was in 1966. The United States advanced to the semifinals way back in 1930, but made it to the quarterfinals as recently as 2002. Algeria is making its third appearance, and Slovenia its second, but neither has ever advanced past the group stage.

ALGERIA: When this team qualified by beating Egypt, it was a huge upset. The Egyptians were ranked No. 12 in the world, while at the time the Algerians were No. 42. Since the victory, the team moved up to No. 30.

Midfielder Yazid Mansouri, the captain who plays for Lorient in France, and midfielder Karim Matmour of Moenchengladbach of the German Bundesliga are the catalysts for the squad. A quick-passing, possession team, Algeria will need to find a way to the put the ball in the net for any hope of advancing. That task will lie mainly with forwards Rafik Djebbour and Abdelkader Ghezzal.

ENGLAND: The Three Lions must have been salivating when the draw came out. The English are certainly the favorites in this group and have been knocked out in the quarterfinals in the past two Cups.

Getting the tournament started well against the U.S. might be important for the psyche of this team, but even more so for its fans. There might be a full-on country-wide melt down should the English not find a way to beat the Americans.

With one of the top-form strikers in the world right now in Wayne Rooney of Manchester United, and with midfielders Frank Lampard (Chelsea) and Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), the English are stacked with capable playmakers. John Terry (Chelsea) will lead the backline, but the English took a serious hit at the back when captain Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United) went down in training this week with a knee injury and will be out for the rest of the tournament.

SLOVENIA: This team got in by beating Russia in a play-in series, another upset as the Russians were ranked in the top 10. The Slovenians enter the tournament ranked No. 25 based on their defeat of the Russians.