Well done speedpop, great thread
That group is very difficult. Italy and Czech are favourties, but Ghana are a team you cant underestimate. African teams are physically stong and veery fast. USA haver proved that they can do quite well in world cups, but i dont see them getting past the group stages either.
Czech have a very strong team. They might only have a few world class players such as nedved, cech, rosicky and baros but they play excellently as a team.
Italy are going to struggle a little but they'll make it. The previous cup competitions havent seen them do too well, they got knocked out of the 2nd round in the last world cup and they didnt even progress through the group stages at euro 2004. not only that but Italian football is going to hell at the moment after the match fixing scandal. They'll progress through the group stage though, they have too much talent and they've got a world class coach so it shouldnt be a problem.