World Cup 2010 - Rankings: England posers

1 (1) - Spain - Fernando Llorente headed a last-minute winner for Spain in a 3-2 victory over Saudi Arabia as the European champions made a sluggish start to their preparations. "I'm not happy with everything. We are a little behind because we have these 15 days without playing but we have to remain optimistic," said coach Vicente del Bosque.

2 (2) - Brazil - Julio Cesar is horrified by the ball which will be used at the World Cup, likening it to a cheap one bought from a supermarket.

3 (3) - Netherlands - Arjen Robben says that his international team-mate Rafael van der Vaart wants to join him at Bayern Munich next season - happy families..

4 (4) - Argentina - Argentina forward Lionel Mess has picked out Brazil, Spain and England as their main rivals.

5 (5) - Italy - Italy can finally concentrate on the defence of their title after the issue of coach Marcello Lippi's successor was cleared up. Cescare Prandelli will take over the Azzurri after the World Cup, putting to bed an issue that had threatened to overshadow the upcoming tournament.

6 (7) - Germany - Germany crushed hosts Hungary 3-0 in a friendly, a makeshift midfield looked strong with Sami Khedira in impressive form.

7 (6) - England - Yet more questions arose from the game against Japan, which saw Fabio Capello's side win 2-1 thanks to two Japanese own goals. Are John Terry and Rio Ferdinand dependable anymore? Can Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard play together in the middle? Is Joe Cole England's wildcard? Are they over-reliant on Wayne Rooney? And will Capello still be boss in a few months' time?

8 (8) - Portugal - They say there are no easy matches in international football, but questions will be asked after the team ranked third by FIFA were held to a goalless draw by the 117th-ranked Cape Verde Islands.

9 (9) - France - William Gallas was on target to give Les Bleus a battling 1-1 draw against Tunisia, the Arsenal defender going a long way to proving his fitness in the process. But doubts still remain over Raymond Domenech's side on the eve of the tournament.

10 (11) - USA - Jose Torres and Robbie Findley made a late bid for World Cup starting roles for the US after coming off the bench to inspire the 2-1 comeback win over Turkey.

11 (12) - Mexico - Javier Aguirre's side bounced back from two defeats in a week with a 5-1 thumping of Gambia, new Manchester United signing Javi Hernandez grabbing a brace.

12 (11) - Ivory Coast - Sven-Goran Eriksson was denied a debut win in charge of the Elephants after Paraguay scored twice in the last 15 minutes to secure a 2-2 draw.

13 (14) - Ghana - Ghana will need a tactical rethink for the World Cup after losing Michael Essien, described by coach Milovan Rajevac as arguably the best player in the world in his position.

14 (15) - Chile - Chile continued their preparations with two wins in a day - a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland, Esteban Paredes getting the only goal of the game, and a 3-0 victory over Israel, Humberto Suazo, Alexis Sanchez and Rodrigo Tello on the mark.

15 (14) - Serbia - Nemanja Vidic had to appeal for calm over the microphone as his country's fans rioted during the second-half of a 1-0 World Cup warm-up defeat by New Zealand - an experimental Serbia line-up was bereft of pace and ideas.

16 (16) - Australia - Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer expects to remain at Fulham despite speculation linking him with Arsenal. It show his class though that he is being linked with the Gunners.

17 (17) - Cameroon - The Lions named uncapped Gaetan Bong and Eric Choupo-Moting in their 23-man World Cup squad even though the pair have yet to receive FIFA approval to play.

18 (18) - Uruguay - All 16 players in the matchday squad got a run-out as Uruguay beat Israel 4-1.

19 (19) - Paraguay - The Albirroja recovered from their defeat to the Republic of Ireland in Dublin by coming from behind to grab a 2-2 draw with Ivory Coast.

20 (20) - South Africa -. Unbeaten in their last 10 matches, South Africa have now been tipped to reach the second round by FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

21 (22) - Denmark - Coach Morten Olsen was surprised by the cool temperatures as his side touched down in South Africa and is confident they can play a high-tempo game.

22 (21) - South Korea - Park Ji-sung and his team-mates slipped to a 1-0 defeat to Belarus, while defender Kwak Tae-hwi has been ruled out of the World Cup finals after suffering a knee injury during the game.

23 (23) - Greece - A 2-2 draw against North Korea doesn't bode well for the 2004 European champions, who face South Korea, Nigeria and Argentina in their group.

24 (24) - Slovenia - Slovenian Ego TV has voted their national team's kit the worst at the World Cup. At least they are not the worst team!

25 (25) - Nigeria - Nigeria's preparations took them to the unlikely destination of Milton Keynes, where they played out a 1-1 draw with Colombia, Haruna Lukman getting the Super Eagles' goal.

26 (26) - Switzerland - Striker Marco Streller had to pull out of the squad with a hamstring injury. Manager Ottmar Hitzfeld has called up Nuernburg striker Albert Bunjaku as a replacement.

27 (27) - Slovakia - Slovakia held Cameroon to a 1-1 draw in a friendly in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt. Kamil Kopunek's first goal for the national side gave Slovakia the lead in the sixth minute.

28 (28) - Japan - Three goals against England in Graz should have put Japan in high spirits. Unfortunately, two of them were put past their own keeper and Takeshi Okada's side slipped to a 2-1 defeat.

29 (32) - New Zealand - The 78th-ranked New Zealanders shocked Serbia 1-0 in a friendly in Austria despite the absence of vice-captain Tim Brown, who underwent surgery on a fractured shoulder last week, and key striker Chris Killen, who was getting married. "For us it's a fantastic result, it's the best we've ever had in the history of the game, to beat a team at that level," coach Ricki Herbert said.

30 (29) - North Korea - A 0-0 draw against Congo in Le Mans is hardly enough to convince you that the Koreans can survive in the group of death.

31 (30) - Honduras - Striker David Suazo has now fully recovered from a leg muscle injury and is expected to partner Carlos Pavon up front.

32 (31) - Algeria - Algeria's 3-0 defeat in Dublin to Republic of Ireland has failed to convince doubters that the Africans will be anything other than whipping boys.

HOW IT WORKS

We conducted a poll of Eurosport-Yahoo! writers, asking them to rank each team based on their expected performance if the World Cup were to start tomorrow.

We then took an average mark from the poll results to create this list. The tournament draw is not taken into account - it is an assessment of performance level, not likelihood of success.

We will publish revised rankings every day until the end of the World Cup, with countries moving up and down based on friendly results, injuries, scandals and other factors.