At first glance Group F looks like a one-horse race, with Lionel Messi leading Argentina and a competitive challenge for second place.
Argentina have by far the best pedigree with Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero and Angel di Maria forming one of the most feared attacks.
If anyone can challenge Brazil, it is surely their neighbors, who have won the World Cup twice.
Photo: EPA
They dominated South American qualifying leading up to the tournament in Brazil and Messi has now replaced Diego Maradona as his country’s leading scorer.
Argentina’s defense can let them down, the team have not reached the semi-finals since 1990 and World Cups have a habit of uncovering sudden pot-holes, but it would be a major surprise if Alejandro Sabella’s team does not win Group F.
In their wake, the likes of Nigeria, Iran and debutants Bosnia and Herzegovina can all realistically dream of making the knockout stages.
In terms of ability and recent form, Bosnia would appear to be their prime challengers, boosted by the likes of Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko and AS Roma playmaker Miralem Pjanic, but it is unchartered territory for the former Yugoslav republic, who are competing in their first ever major championships.
However, they had been getting mighty close over the past few years, losing a two-legged playoff to Portugal for both the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.
Now they have finally made it to a major tournament, Bosnia have the players to reach the knockout stages. However, the true question is whether or not they have the experience, confidence and cool heads needed to get a result against Nigeria and Iran.
Nigeria are the most experienced of the trio having qualified for the World Cup all but once (in 2006) since making their bow in 1994 in the US, where they helped eliminate Argentina in the group stage, before exiting in the round-of-16. That was their best-ever performance alongside a similar showing in France four years later.
Like Bosnia, they can count on several players from top European leagues, including English Premier League quintet Victor Moses, Peter Odemwingie, John Obi Mikel, Joseph Yobo and Shola Ameobi.
Coach Stephen Keshi has stamped his authority on a Nigeria squad long riven by personality clashes.
Iran must be viewed as the outsiders, as in three previous appearances they have never made it out of the group stages and have won only one out of nine matches.
Coach Carlos Queiroz has also turned to expatriates in European leagues.
Ashkan Dejagah last month suffered relegation from the English Premier League with Fulham.
Iranian-born, but brought up in Germany, Dejagah won the German Bundesliga with VfL Wolfsburg in 2008-2009.
The Iran forward line also includes Reza Ghoochannejhad of Charlton Athletic in England, Alireza Jahanbakhsh of Dutch side NEC and Masoud Shojaei of Las Palmas in Spain.
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