Shifty's World Cup Preivew: Group E

Despite uncertainty surrounding an injury to Arjen Robben, Holland are much-fancied to do well, and should progress from this group. They are unlikely to be challenged by any of ther other 3 teams in the group; a Cameroon side who seem over-reliant on Samuel Eto'o, Morten Olsen's Denmark and a Japan side looking to improve on a disappointing 2006 World Cup.

Holland
As they do at most tournaments, Holland go into this World Cup as one of the favourites, with an execptionally talented squad at their disposal. However, in previous tournaments, in-fighting and defensive liabilities (not so much liabilities as deciding not to bother with it) have cost them the chance to add to their 1 tournament triumph from Euro 88. Coach Bert van Marwijk has sought to address both of those failings- they won all 8 of their qualifying matches, conceding just 2 goals in the process- the players also talk of a much better team spirit within the camp. They have looked impressive in their build-up to the tournament, putting 4 past Ghana and 6 past Hungary, indeed the only negative from the Hungary match was an injury to Robben. Should Robben make it, then he is expected to line up on the left wing in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Wesley Sneijder and Dirk Kuyt also operating behind Robin van Persie. If not, then van Marwijk has a number of options- he could replace Robben on the left wing with Rafael van der Vaart, Eljero Elia, Ibrahim Afellay or Ryan Babel, or move van Persie to left-wing and bring in Klaas-Jan Huntelaar at centre-forward. Behind them, Mark van Bommel will kick most things that come his way, with Nigel de Jong alongside him, although van der Vaart could come into that position if van Marwijk is looking for extra creativity. In defence, Feyenoord's Giovanni van Bronckhorst is still an international-class left-back at the age of 35 (incidentally, he shares his birthday (albeit 10 years apart) with the man he could possibly be marking in the quarter-finals, Cristiano Ronaldo), while at right-back Ajax youngster Gregory van der Wiel has come in, allowing van Marwijk to shift Johnny Heitinga into central defence alongside Hamburg's Joris Mathijsen, while Maarten Stekelenburg has taken over from Edwin van der Sar in goals. All things considered, they have all they great attacking talent of previous great Dutch sides, with an improved defence and team spirit. They are very much a force to be reckoned with in South Africa

Cameroon
Paul Le Guen (remember him, Rangers fans?) took charge of a struggling Cameroon side last summer and turned the team's fortunes around to get them to South Africa, before a disappointing showing in the African Nations Cup in which they became over-reliant on Samuel Eto'o before being knocked out by Egypt in the quarter-finals. There's no doubting the qualities of Eto'o (to abbreviate that to "his qualities" would have resulted in apostrophe overload, however it's difficult to see where the service to him is going to come from- aside from Betis midfielder Achille Emana, there's no real creativity in the side. Defensively they are sound- Carlos Kameni is one of Africa's best keepers, in defence Monaco's Nicolas N'Koulou is a real talent capable of playing anywhere along the back 4, and Arsenal's Alex Song offers extra protection in defensive midfield, but, without anyone in attack to help out Eto'o, they'll do well to make it out of the group

Denmark
The Danes qualified impressively ahead of Portugal and Sweden, with a strong blend of youth and experience- talented youngsters such as Simon Kjaer in central defence and Nicklas Bendtner upfront have established themselves as key players in a side otherwise containing players the wrong side of 30, which could be both an asset and a liability. In goals, Thomas Sorensen has carried his club form with Stoke onto the international stage, while Christian Poulsen will anchor the midfield. However, on the flanks Olsen looks set to start with 2 from Jesper Gronkjaer, Martin Jorgensen and Dennis Rommedahl, all of whom are into their 30s, and have lost the best of their pace. Given that Olsen's sides have traditionally favoured attacking from the wings, and that the only natural playmaker in the squad, 18-year-old Christian Eriksen, is unlikely to be put in from the start, they may struggle to create chances for Bendtner and Soren Larsen in attack. They are unlikely to threaten an on-form Holland side, but may just have the edge over Cameroon and Japan to take them into round 2

Japan
This will be only Japan's 4th appearance at the World Cup- their 2006 showing was a real disappointment as they crashed out in the group stage, failing to push on from their 2002 showing on home soil, where they reached round 2. Coach Takeshi Okada (who has set his team a target of reaching the semi-finals) retook the reins of the national team from Ivica Osim in 2007, and has built a technically sound side, who keep the ball well- midfielders Keisuke Honda of CSKA Moscow and Makoto Hasebe of Wolfsburg add Champions League experience, and, as England found out in their recent warm-up match, centre-backs Yuji Nakazawa and naturalised Brazilian Marcus Tulio Tanaka are both a threat from set-pieces. They do, however, lack an out-and-out goalscorer to strike fear into the hearts of the Dutch, Cameroonian and Danish defences, a problem they also had in 2006. If they can find goals from elsewhere in the team, however, then they'll be in contention with Cameroon and Denmark to sneak into round 2

The bets for Group E:
Holland to score 10 or more goals: best price 17/10 with totesport
Cameroon top scorer Samuel Eto'o: best price 7/4 with Paddy Power
Denmark to win 4 group points: best price 3/1 with bet365
Japan to reach the semi-finals: best price 66/1 with bwin