The Managers (Groups A-D)

Group A

France – Raymond Domenech

The eccentric former Lyon full back may never win over the French public even if he wins the World Cup. He admitted astrology is used when making team selections and proposed, live on TV, to his girlfriend after France’s disappointing Euro 2008 campaign The 58 year old has been at the helm for 6 years now.

Mexico – Javier Aguirre “El Vasco” is in charge of the national team for a second time, he took over mid campaign, from Sven-Goran Eriksson, and guided them to a fifth consecutive finals. A feisty character, he kicked a Panama player as he ran down the touchline at last years Gold Cup. They went on to win the tournament, with their first win over the USA outside of Mexico for ten years.

South Africa – Carlos Alberto Parreira is at a sixth world cup as a manager and this is his second spell in charge of South Africa. A winner in 1994 with Brazil

He first led Kuwait in 1982 and the United Arab Emirates at Italia 90. That win in 94 was Brazil’s first for 24 years. At France 98 he was in the Saudi Arabian dugout and took charge of his home nation, Brazil, for one last time four years ago.

Uruguay – Oscar Tabarez has been at the helm for four years in this, his second spell as manager of his national team. The former teacher, known as “El Maestro”, first lead the team as far back as 1990 when reaching the second phase, but fell to the hosts Italy.

Group B

Argentina – Diego Maradona divides opinion, those who claim he was the greatest talent to grace football fields, face the argument that his memory is tarnished with a failed drug test for ephedrine at USA 94, cocaine addiction throughout the eighties and nineties and oh, did I forget to mention the hand of god? As a manager his track record prior to taking over the national job was 3 top flight wins in 23 games! He called up more than 100 players during qualification and squeezed through with an 84^th minute winner againsy Uruguay on the final day of qualification, in 5^th place.

Greece – Otto Rehhagel is unique in that he played and managed in 1000 Bundesliga games during his career. The 71 year old will be the oldest coach this time around and the second longest serving after Denmark’s Morten Olsen. This is his first world cup, but he led Greece to an unlikely victory at the European Championships of 2004 in Portugal.

Nigeria – Lars Lagerback spent 11 years as Sweden manager, leading them to five consecutive major tournaments but it was his failure to guide them to South Africa that saw him resigning. He only took over the Nigerians in February following their third place at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.

South Korea – Huh Jung-moo played for some years at PSV in Holland and was nicknamed the hunter dog. He has coached the national side twice before this stint, but he was unfortunate that didn’t include the World Cup of 2002 when Guus Hiddink led the co-hosts as far as the semi finals. As a player he finished with 29 international goals (4^th highest) from 84 games.

Group C

Algeria – Rabah Saadane will be the only African coach at this world cup. In his fifth spell in charge of the national team. He has been on the coaching staff at all three world cup tournaments Algeria have been at. This is the second in sole charge. His playing career ended aged 27 following a car accident.

England – Fabio Capello played in, and scored for Italy in the 1974 world cup in Germany, but went out early in the group stages, these proved to be his only appearances as a player. As a manager he has won the domestic league title of every club he has managed. Seven championships in Italy and two in Spain plus a Champions League win with AC Milan. In qualification he had a record of nine wins and only one defeat which maybe suggest he is worth his £6m a year salary.

Slovenia – Matjaz Kek as a player he won 3 Slovenian titles with Maribor but was only capped once by his country. He proved an unpopular choice as national coach in 2007 when promoted from the under 16’s. But all of that was forgotten when he took them to South Africa.

USA - Bob Bradley finally stepped out of the shadow of his friend and former mentor Bruce Arena since replacing him as national coach in December 2006. His first success was the 2007 Gold Cup and he took them to the Confederations Cup Final in South Africa last year.

Group D

Australia – Pim Verbeek spent most of his career in his native Netherlands. He worked as Guus Hiddink’s assistant when taking South Korea to the semi finals in 2002. He took over in sole charge after the world cup but could only mange 3^rd place at the Asian Cup in 2007. After a six month break he took the Aussie job. When questioned about his knowledge of the Australian national anthem he vowed to sing it live on TV if the Socceroos qualified.

Germany – Joachim Low was an attacking midfielder who spent the majority of his playing career at Freiburg. After an unspectacular coaching career he found himself as assistant to Jurgen Klinsmann at the world cup in Germany in 2006. He then took over the semi finalists and reached the final of Euro 2008 where they lost to Spain. Speculation is rife that German FA's technical director Matthias Sammer will succeed him this summer.

Ghana – Milovan Rajevac will face his native Serbians in Ghana’s opening game. He is, in fact, the third Serbian to lead Ghana. He took them all the way to the final before losing to Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Serbia – Radomir Antic will be best remembered in the UK for the goal that kept Luton Town in the first division in 1983. He hit the winner, four minutes from the time and relegated opponents Manchester City. This led to David Pleat’s infamous jig on the pitch. As a manager, he is one of only two men to manage both Real Madrid and Barcelona. He also won the domestic double with Athletico Madrid. Hired only two weeks before qualifying started they suffered only two defeats and topped their group.