Tactically Bielsa believes in spreading the field and playing very high line

Gelson Fernandes, the former U-19 and Man City star, will hold the midfield and depend on Johan Vonlathen, Alexander Frei, and Marco Streller for the goals. Philippe Senderos is a reliable centre back, very quick, and good in the air, but the real star, despite his advancing years, is Hakan Yakin.This son of foreign settlers loves the ball at his feet and dictates play, and is one of the best players in his adopted countrys history Look out for his freekicks as well Gokhan Inler will be an important player for them, as well. Blaise NKofu led them in scoring in the qualifiers but the main man will be Frei, who despite his advancing years, is still their most potent striker.They are indeed well led by the hugely experienced and wily Ottmar Hitzfield, of Bayern Munich fame, and now he will look to work his magic on the international stage.Today, the Swiss are in a similar position to the one they were in four years ago ahead of the 2006 World Cup: easily dismissed as a team of non-stars and relative no-names. With any kind of cutting edge on offense, that 2006 squad could have sprung a big surprise.Prediction: Defence is their strength, and they will be looking to nick the odd goal here or there to eke out a victory or two and get to the knockout stages, where anything can happen. Not much is known about Honduras. Everyone knows Inter striker David Suazo, who will add a bit of class to an otherwise average team. They finished third in the Central American/Caribbean zone, edging out Costa Rica for the final berth in the region, scoring 17 and conceding 11 in their 10 games. Defence is certainly is not their forte, and that does not bode well for them, given how freescoring Spain and Chile are.Look out for the ironically-named forward Carlos Costly to make an impact in South Africa.

Goalkeeper John Bodden will have a lot of saves to make, and Wilson Palacios, who has been performing so well breaking down attacks for Spurs, will be pivotal acting as a line of defence in front of his back four. His lung-bursting runs will be vital, especially late in the game when opposition legs will be tired. The Hondurans have a host of Palacioses in their squad and should make for some hilarious naming wordplay, if nothing else.Prediction: They will not be pushovers but dont expect them to light up the stage, because they wont.. When it was announced that Argentina's former manager Marcelo Bielsa had been appointed Chile's new manager in August 2007, it received a less-than-enthusiastic response from Chileans. A strong disciplinarian, known as "The Madman" for his obsessive attention to detail, Bielsa had not coached anywhere since quitting the Argentina job in 2004, and most Chileans were not enamored of reaching across the Andes Mountains to bring in an Argentine to run their team. What a difference a great World Cup qualifying campaign makes: Bielsa is now a national hero in Chile.

Bielsa got those results by casting aside underachieving veterans and giving youth a chance. Chile finished third at the 2007 U-20 World Cup, and some of the stars of that teamAlexis Sanchez, Gary Medel, Carlos Carmona, and Mauricio Islahave injected new energy into La Roja. Bielsa has added his legendary discipline to the mix and also instilled a new belief in Chile's players and a new winning attitude.Tactically, Bielsa believes in spreading the field and playing very high line. This team doesn't have such a potent cutting edge, but it doesn't lack for offensive talent, either.The diminutive Humberto Suazo was the leading scorer in South American qualifying with 10 goals, and the Monterrey hit man will lead the line in South Africa At 28, he is the old man of this young team. Supplying the crosses from out wide on the left will be South Africa-born Mark Gonzalez He provides speed, as well as width to the attack.