WITH less than 100 days to go until the big kick-off in South Africa, we rank the contenders from one to 32. 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 each week, with countries moving up and down based on friendly results, injuries, scandals and other factors.

WORLD CUP POWER RANKINGS – Top 16:

1- Spain – The European champions had a brilliant qualifying campaign and looked mightily impressive in brushing France aside on Wednesday.

2- Brazil – Took their time to get going against Ireland, but eventually found their stride to score a brilliant second goal. Doubts remain at the back.

3- England – The best of the rest, with a big drop after Spain and Brazil. They have the players and the manager; they also have a history of underachievement.

4- Italy – The Azzurri have had some troubled times but let’s not forget a) They are the defending champions; b) They still have Marcello Lippi in charge.

5- Holland – Bert van Marwijk has the Dutch playing with added steel, but many of the current crop lack the technical excellence of previous sides.

6- Argentina – Wednesday’s win in Germany has got Diego Maradona’s boys back on track. Clearly they remain unpredictable, but they boast quality in abundance.

7- Germany – A great qualifying campaign has been undermined by the Robert Enke tragedy, Jogi Loew’s contract wrangling and a poor defeat to Argentina.

8- France – Well beaten by Spain, France continue to look stilted, uncertain and unhappy. But they went into 2006 similarly out-of-sorts and look what happened.

9- Portugal – Learned little from a 2-0 win over China in midweek. Portugal struggled through qualifying and are obviously reliant on Cristiano Ronaldo.

10- USA – You know you will get fight, endeavour and organisation from Bob Bradley’s boys, and the Confederations Cup showed what they are capable of.

11- Ivory Coast – A sobering African Cup of Nations called into question their status as Africa’s de facto contender. But that Didier Drogba’s a useful player.

12- Mexico – Saved from a Sven-inspired nightmare by the eminently sensible Javier Aguirre, the Mexicans have every chance in the relatively weak Group A.

13- Serbia – Will be keen to make amends for a horror show in 2006. The likes of Nemanja Vidic, Dejan Stankovic and Nikola Zigic make them tough opponents.

14- Ghana – A young Black Stars side surprised many by reaching the African Cup of Nations final, and they will have Michael Essien back in South Africa.

15- Chile – Finished just a point behind Brazil in qualifying and will have plenty of neutral support following the country’s tragic earthquake.

16- Paraguay – The South Americans will be playing for striker Salvador Cabanas, who is making a remarkable recovery after being shot in the head.

AND THE REST:

17- Australia, 18- Cameroon, 19- Uruguay, 20- Denmark, 21- Greece, 22- South Korea, 23- Switzerland, 24- Nigeria, 25- South Africa, 26- Slovenia, 27- Japan, 28- Slovakia, 29- Algeria, 30- Honduras, 31- North Korea, 32- New Zealand.