CHRIS BEAN'S GROUP G PREVIEW

FRANCE

The winners of the 1998 World Cup have somewhat been in a period of transition ever since their disaster in the 2002 tournament when they only managed one point, failed to score and suffered an embarrassing defeat to Senegal. The French struggled to qualify for this year's event in Germany as there were three other teams competing for the top spot in group four going into the last match. They managed to overhaul Cyprus 4-0 to win the group by two points, but it left the French press foaming at the mouths.

France are listed among the favourites to win the World Cup this year at 12/1 with Ladbrokes, and they have the class and quality to succeed with the likes of Zidane, Makelele, Henry and Trezeguet in the squad, but even with the ability of these players their main problem is not scoring enough goals. In their qualifying group they mustered five draws; three of which were goalless. They will need to find more goals if they are going to do well this year, but if not a possibility of an early exit in the group stages could occur for the second tournament in succession and Paddy Power are offering 6/1 for a premature elimination. And even if they do find the goals they could find themselves with a very tricky route to the final.

As I have mentioned already, the French team are lacking goals at the moment, but do have the potential there. If any of the strikers are to find their scoring boots then it would be most likely Arsenal hitman Thierry Henry. His current price for top scorer is 16/1 with Betfred. France are most probably going to play a lone striker which explains Trezeguet's odds of 25/1 with Total Bet, but if Henry gets an injury early doors, the Juventus striker will be included in the first team straight away.

My tip - each way bet on Henry finishing top scorer at 16/1 with Betfred.

KOREA

The last hosts of the World Cup are still riding high from their success in the 2002 competition. They became the first ever team from outside Europe and South America to qualify for the semi-final and the road to the last four was not the easiest. They had to overcome Italy and Spain to get there, however before their success four years ago they had not won a single game in the World Cup finals. It is unlikely that the team from the Far East can repeat their feat from the last competition, but Bet 365 are giving odds of 25/1 for them to reach the Semis. Korea qualified after finishing second in group one in the AFC, being edged out by Saudi Arabia. They have had a positive warm up campaign only suffering one defeat in five matches, with the loss coming from Ghana.

I am pretty sure the ambition of the Korean camp was to just get into the knockout stages before the World Cup draw was made, and they could not have asked for an easier group. France has been in a period of transition, Togo are very inexperienced at this level, and Switzerland have never been world beaters. So the 9/1 odds that Victor Chandler are offering for Korea to win the group is well worth pondering over. Another thing you have to bear in mind is that a lot of their players have been hugely successful at European teams; Ji Sung Park of Manchester United and Lee Young Pyo of Tottenham to name just two.

My tip - Korea I feel are a dead cert to finish third.

TOGO

Togo shocked all of Africa when they qualified for this year's World Cup as they prevented the last tournament's star team from Africa - Senegal - from qualifying. They finished above the Senegalese by two points and Togo beat the West African team 3-1 and drew 2-2 in their qualifying fixtures.

Togo only has one player who is recognised by the British public and that is Emanuel Adebayor who plays for Arsenal. Unfortunately he is no more than a reserve striker to Henry and Van Persie. It is very unlikely for Togo to get a point, never mind a chance to qualify unfortunately.

My tip - basically, do not bet on Togo.

SWITZERLAND

This will be the Swiss' first appearance in the World Cup finals after an absence of twelve years. They qualified via the playoffs as they finished runners-up to fellow group F rivals France in group four. In their playoff match they beat Turkey on the away goals rule after an ill-tempered match. Turkey won 4-2 on the night, and the score was 4-4 on aggregate. Pandemonium ensued after the match as a brawl took place in the tunnel which hospitalized Stephane Grichting.

Switzerland have a good record from previous tournaments on progressing to the next round, but you need to bear in mind that prior to the 94 World Cup their last appearance was at England 66. The Swiss are second favourites to qualify for the last sixteen, but if they go one step further and are eliminated at the quarter final stage, you could net odds of 9/2 with Paddy Power.

The Swiss and French have similar problems that they struggle to find the net, so it is very unlikely for a player from Switzerland to finish as top scorer. If anyone can do it, it would be Alexander Frei; he has scored 25 goals in 45 games, and really is the only source of goals in the Swiss team. If they have a good tournament it will be thanks to the Rennes striker, and he currently has odds of 150/1 to win the Golden Boot.

My tip - The Swiss to exit in the last eight at 9/2 with Paddy Power

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