Grant Wahl of SI picked Serbia as his surprise team of the tournament, predicting a deep run that will get them to the semifinals. Do the stats back it up? Let’s check out Group D:
| Ghana – Players in the top 5 European leagues | ||||||
| Name | Position | Team | League | OR | DR | TR |
| Sulley Muntari | Mid | Internazionale | Italy | +0.43 | +0.15 | +0.57 |
| John Mensah | Full | Sunderland | England | +0.18 | +0.31 | +0.48 |
| John Paintsil | Full | Fulham | England | +0.05 | +0.14 | +0.19 |
| Kwadwo Asamoah | Mid | Udinese | Italy | +0.19 | -0.15 | +0.04 |
| Asamoah Gyan | Fwd | Rennes | France | +0.24 | -0.28 | -0.04 |
| Isaac Vorsah | Full | Hoffenheim | Germany | -0.26 | +0.17 | -0.09 |
| Derek Boateng | Mid | Getafe | Spain | -0.14 | -0.01 | -0.15 |
| Kevin-Prince Boateng | Mid | Portsmouth | England | -0.14 | -0.05 | -0.19 |
| Andre Ayew* | Mid | Arles-Avignon | France | -0.06 | -0.15 | -0.22 |
| Richard Kingson* | Goal | Wigan | England | -0.23 | -0.23 | |
| Stephen Appiah* | Mid | Bologna | Italy | -0.48 | -0.23 | -0.71 |
| Hans Sarpei* | Full | Leverkusen | Germany | -0.82 | +0.04 | -0.77 |
| Prince Tagoe* | Fwd | Hoffenheim | Germany | -0.37 | -0.56 | -0.93 |
| Serbia – Players in the top 5 European leagues | ||||||
| Name | Position | Team | League | OR | DR | TR |
| Nemanja Vidic | Full | Man. United | England | +0.41 | +0.57 | +0.98 |
| Branislav Ivanovic | Full | Chelsea | England | +0.44 | +0.24 | +0.68 |
| Dejan Stankovic | Mid | Internazionale | Italy | +0.31 | +0.07 | +0.38 |
| Neven Subotic | Full | Dortmund | Germany | +0.20 | +0.14 | +0.34 |
| Nikola Zigic | Fwd | Valencia | Spain | +0.20 | +0.01 | +0.21 |
| Zdravko Kuzmanovic | Mid | Stuttgart | Germany | +0.11 | +0.04 | +0.14 |
| Nenad Milijas | Mid | Wolverhampton | England | -0.24 | +0.38 | +0.14 |
| Aleksandr Lukovic | Full | Udinese | Italy | +0.13 | -0.09 | +0.04 |
| Zoran Tosic* | Mid | Koln | Germany | +0.42 | -0.42 | +0.00 |
| Gojko Kacar | Mid | Hertha Berlin | Germany | +0.00 | -0.02 | -0.01 |
| Aleksandr Kolarov | Full | Lazio | Italy | -0.07 | +0.01 | -0.06 |
| Vladimir Stojkovic* | Goal | Wigan | England | -0.18 | -0.18 | |
| Ivan Obradovic* | Full | Zaragoza | Spain | -0.02 | -0.44 | -0.46 |
| Australia – Players in the top 5 European leagues | ||||||
| Name | Position | Team | League | OR | DR | TR |
| Tim Cahill | Mid | Everton | England | +0.16 | +0.17 | +0.33 |
| Mark Schwarzer | Goal | Fulham | England | +0.00 | +0.11 | +0.11 |
| Mark Bresciano | Mid | Palermo | Italy | +0.12 | -0.10 | +0.02 |
| Vince Grella | Mid | Blackburn | England | -0.16 | +0.15 | -0.02 |
| Brad Jones | Goal | Middlesbrough | England | -0.19 | -0.19 | |
| Brett Emerton | Mid | Blackburn | England | -0.09 | -0.18 | -0.27 |
| Richard Garcia | Mid | Hull City | England | -0.32 | -0.27 | -0.59 |
| Dario Vidosic* | Mid | Duisburg | Germany | -0.60 | -0.41 | -1.01 |
| Germany – Players in the top 5 European leagues | ||||||
| Name | Position | Team | League | OR | DR | TR |
| Thomas Muller | Fwd | Bayern Munich | Germany | +0.45 | +0.46 | +0.90 |
| Bastian Schweinsteiger | Mid | Bayern Munich | Germany | +0.51 | +0.23 | +0.73 |
| Holger Badstuber | Full | Bayern Munich | Germany | +0.30 | +0.27 | +0.57 |
| Philipp Lamm | Full | Bayern Munich | Germany | +0.36 | +0.16 | +0.52 |
| Stefan Kiessling | Fwd | Leverkusen | Germany | +0.31 | +0.21 | +0.52 |
| Toni Kroos | Mid | Leverkusen | Germany | +0.33 | +0.15 | +0.48 |
| Mesut Ozil | Mid | Werder Bremen | Germany | +0.49 | -0.02 | +0.47 |
| Per Mertesacker | Full | Werder Bremen | Germany | +0.27 | +0.18 | +0.45 |
| Sami Khedira | Mid | Stuttgart | Germany | +0.28 | +0.13 | +0.41 |
| Hans-Jorg Butt | Goal | Bayern Munich | Germany | +0.39 | +0.39 | |
| Mario Gomez | Fwd | Bayern Munich | Germany | +0.25 | +0.13 | +0.38 |
| Cacau | Fwd | Stuttgart | Germany | +0.37 | -0.03 | +0.34 |
| Manuel Neuer | Goal | Schalke | Germany | +0.33 | +0.33 | |
| Serdar Tasci | Full | Stuttgart | Germany | 0.21 | +0.10 | +0.31 |
| Miroslav Klose | Fwd | Bayern Munich | Germany | +0.14 | +0.09 | +0.23 |
| Dennis Aogo | Full | Hamburg | Germany | +0.11 | +0.10 | +0.21 |
| Jerome Boateng | Full | Hamburg | Germany | +0.10 | +0.04 | +0.14 |
| Marcell Jansen | Full | Hamburg | Germany | +0.04 | +0.08 | +0.12 |
| Piotr Trochowski | Mid | Hamburg | Germany | -0.01 | +0.06 | +0.06 |
| Marko Marin | Mid | Werder Bremen | Germany | +0.22 | -0.17 | +0.06 |
| Tim Wiese | Goal | Werder Bremen | Germany | +0.02 | +0.02 | |
| Arne Friedrich | Full | Hertha Berlin | Germany | -0.01 | -0.05 | -0.05 |
| Lukas Podolski | Fwd | Koln | Germany | -0.15 | -0.03 | -0.18 |
*Limited minutes – Take these ratings with a grain of salt.
Though it’s true that Ghana has comparable numbers of players in the top European leagues, Serbia has several top quality performers from these leagues, led by Manchester United star fullback Nemanja Vidic. Australia relies on two fine EPL players in particular: goaltender Mark Schwarzer of Fulham and midfielder Tim Cahill of Everton. What’s consider to be a somewhat weaker German squad than usual still looks awfully stacked.