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Our World Cup group-by-group feature this week focuses on former champions France and Group G.

It’s by no means the strongest group in the competition but should throw out some interesting matches. Here's how we think the four teams will fare.

Bermuda Sun prediction: 1. France; 2. Switzerland; 3. Togo; 4. South Korea

Togo

Overview: Emmanuel Adebayor is about the only Togolese player anyone outside Africa is likely to have heard of.

The Arsenal forward was a hero in his homeland even before he joined the Gunners.

Togo are rightly rank outsiders in the tournament but they knocked out 2002 quarter-finalists Senegal in qualifying which is no mean feat.

They lack star quality but play well together as a team and have been tipped to possibly surprise a few people in an unpredictable group.

They probably don't have enough European experience to do well here, though, and are by no means a major player on the African football scene. They've yet to make it past round one in the Cup of Nations.

Controversy has marred their preparations for the tournament with another Cup of Nations failure leading to the sacking of Nigerian coach Stephen Keshi, to be replaced by interim boss Otto Pfister - a German national who has done the rounds in African football.

Coach: Otto Pfister

Star Man: Emmanuel Adebayor

Best World Cup: This is their first

Captain: Abalo Dosseh

All-time Great: Adebayor is the best player Togo has ever produced, but at 22 is struggling to fill the criteria of all-time great. In the absence of any other ideas we'll stick with the Arsenal striker, though.

Qualifying Record: Lost just one game in a tough group to pip Senegal and Zambia in the race to reach the finals.

Seahorses Odds: 300/1 to win World Cup. 14/1 to win group.

Verdict: Would be an achievement to win a game on their first trip to the finals.

Switzerland:

Overview: Virtual footballing non-entities it’s hard to find anyone who can get worked up one way or the other about Switzerland. Like in many other aspects of life, the attitude to the Swiss is distinctly neutral.

They have a talented crop of young players including Arsenal's improving centre-back Phillipe Senderos and Rennes' striker Alexander Frei, while AC Milan's Johann Vogel provides experience and know how in midfield.

They qualified from the same group as France, drawing with the erstwhile World Champions twice.

If they can repeat that when the teams renew rivalries in the group stage then they'll be well on their way to round two.

Coach: Jakob Kuhn.

Star Man: Phillipe Senderos (Arsenal)

Captain: Johann Vogel

All-time Great: Stéphane Chapuisat won more than 100 caps for Switzerland and was their key player throughout the nineties.

Best World Cup: Reached the quarter-finals in 1934, '38 and '54.

Qualifying Round: Struggled to second in a tough group involving France, Ireland and Israel and then beat Turkey on away goals in a play-off.

Seahorses Odds: 100/1 to win World Cup. 4/1 to win group.

Verdict: Should have just enough to make the second round. But that's the best they can hope for.

South Korea

Overview: Shocked the footballing world by reaching the semis in 2002, all-be-it with the assistance of manic home-support and some ludicrous refereeing decisions.

Far from the light-weights they once where, South Korea now have a host of name players familiar to those of us who follow European football.

Park Ji Sung, of Manchester United, and Lee Young Pyo of Spurs, have had tough seasons in the English Premiership but were class acts for PSV in Holland and are idolized in their homeland.

Much of the team, in fact, will be familiar with European conditions, and with an idiosyncratic group featuring an ageing France, a steady but unspectacular Switzerland and the unknown quantity of Togo, anything could happen.

On the downside they won't have the tactical genius of former coach Guss Hiddink to guide them and it's worth remembering that prior to '02 they'd failed to win a game in five World Cups.

Coach: Dick Advocaat

Star Man: Park Ji Sung (Manchester United)

Captain: Choi Jin-Cheul

All-time Great: Myung Bo Hong played in four World Cups and captained the team to the semis in ‘02

Best World Cup: Semi-finalists on home soil in 2002

Qualifying Record: Struggled to second behind Saudi Arabia in their group.

Seahorses Odds: 200/1 to win World Cup. 8/1 to win group.

Verdict: Will do well to get out of the group.

France

Overview: The last stand for France’s World Cup winners and the golden generation, which brought its country unprecedented success is beginning to lose its Jules Rimet shine.

With Laurent Blanc and Marcel Desailly already fading into memory and the presence of Claude Makelele and Lilian Thuram more a testament to the lack of adequate replacements than their enduring brilliance, the France 2006 model has less va va voom than we've come to expect.

They struggled through the group stages and were lucky to qualify. But with Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry in the team they still have quality in abundance.

The question marks will be over their creaking defence and how much their talisman Zinedine Zidane has got left in the tank.

Surely they will do better than 2002 when they exited in the First Round. But it's hard to see them repeating the success of eight years ago.

Coach: Raymond Domenech

Star Man: Thierry Henry (Arsenal)

Captain: Zinedine Zidane

All-time Great: Michel Platini —- European footballer of the year three times in a row in the early eighties. Led France to glory in European Cup 1984.

Best World Cup: Winners on home soil in 1998

Qualifying Record: Five wins, five draws, but France needed to beg Zidane, Thuram and Makelele to come back from retirement to make it happen. Even then it took a final-day win to get them to Germany.

Seahorses Odds: 9/1 to win World Cup. 2/5 to win group.

Verdict: The group is tougher than it looks at first glance, but they'll probably scrape through to face Spain or Ukraine in the second round, where another early exit could be in prospect.

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