World Cup Player Profiles
Position: Striker
 Lionel Messi
(ARG/Barcelona)
They call him La Pulga "The Flea" because of his size but he can still sting. However, the 22-year-old World Player of the Year has never performed for Barcelona with the same panache he has for Barcelona. This could be his time to shine.
>> Full Lionel Messi Profile
Position: Winger
 Christiano Ronaldo (POR/Real Madrid)
Alongside Lionel Messi, he can claim to be the best and most exciting footballer in the world. The way he drove Manchester United to the Champions League in 2008 emphasised the claim that he is the best natural footballer Old Trafford had seen since George Best.
>> Full Christiano Ronaldo Profile
Position: Striker
 Wayne Rooney
(ENG/Manchester United)
At the age of 24, Rooney has developed into the single, most formidable striker in Europe. His energy and enthusiasm are sometimes unstoppable but he must be wary of trying too much.
>> Full Wayne Rooney Profile
Position: Striker
 Kaka
(BRA/Real Madrid)
His move from Milan to Madrid that at £68m was slightly cheaper than Ronaldo's transfer from Manchester United has been hampered by a hernia injury. By his standards Kaka disappointed in Germany four years ago but the Confederations Cup final showed him at his best.
>> Full Kaka Profile
Position: Striker
 Fernando Torres
(ESP/Liverpool)
His winning goal in the European Championship final against Germany demonstrated the qualities of vision and touch that have made him one of the world's finest strikers. However, this season he has been troubled by a persistent knee injury that ruled him out of Liverpool's final matches, although he expects to be fit for South Africa.
>> Full Fernando Torres Profile
Position: Striker
 Thierry Henry
(FRA/Barcelona)
There is nobody in this tournament who is coming to South Africa under more pressure. His handball that helped knock out Ireland, not to mention his attempts to explain it, have tarnished the reputation of one of football's great 'good guys'. Here is a chance for redemption.
>> Full Thierry Henry Profile
Position: Striker
 Samuel Etoo
(CAM/Inter Milan)
One of the greatest figures in African football who has scored for Barcelona in two Champions League finals; has scored more times in the Africa Cup of Nations than anyone else and yet has a relatively poor World Cup record. He made his debut in the competition in 1998 as a 17-year-old but has only scored once in the tournament, in 2002.
>> Full Samuel Eto Profile
Position: Striker
David Villa
(SPA)
Euro 2008 top-scorer, turned down an offer from Real Madrid and plays for Barcelona. The miners son from Asturias in Spains far north has come a long way. Together with Fernando Torres, David Villa forms one of the tournaments most fearful attacks.
>> Full David Villa Profile
Position: Striker
Carlos Tevez
(ARG/Manchester City)
When Maradona first saw Tevez he reminded him of himself. It is the work-rate, the sheer love of football and his eye for a goal that make Tevez something of a hero even to Maradona.
>> Full Carlos Tevez Profile
Position: Striker
Robinho
(BRA/Santos)
Gifted, mercurial and bloody-minded. On his day, Robinho is the essence of a Brazilian footballer; lithe graceful and full of skill. However, as he showed at Manchester City, before returning to Brazil, he can be selfish and demotivated. He said he needed to return to Santos to prove himself for the World Cup.
>> Full Robinho Profile
Position: Striker
 Didier Drogba
(CIV/Chelsea)
The Ivory Coast pack a heavy punch and the Chelsea striker with a boxer's build and an athlete's pace is the spearhead. As he showed when Chelsea were eliminated from the Champions League by Barcelona last year, his temper can be uncontrollable.
>> Full Didier Drogba Profile
Position: Striker
 Robin Van Persie
(NED/Arsenal)
He may not be properly match fit but is the single most exciting player in the group, the son of an artist who is a direct link to the great figures of Dutch football like Van Basten and Cruyff. This is a perfect opportunity to wash away memories of the dreadful ankle injury he sustained in November.
Position: Striker
 Niklas Bendtner (DEN/Arsenal)
Young, opinionated and talented, the 22-year-old striker is running into form just in time to make a major impact in South Africa. With the departure of Emmanuel Adebayor, with whom he did not get on, and the injury to Van Persie, Bendtner has seized the opportunity to show his talent in front of goal.
>> Full Nicklas Bendtner Profile
Position: Striker
 Alberto Gilardino
(ITA/Fiorentina)
As those who saw him score the stoppage-time winner at Anfield in this season's Champions League can confirm, Gilardino has a habit of scoring late. It was his 89th-minute equaliser against Ireland that confirmed Italy would be going to South Africa and he topped it off with a hat-trick in the last 13 minutes against Cyprus.
Position: Striker
 Diego Forlan
(URG/ Atletico Madrid)
His trials at Manchester United are long behind him and at first Villarreal and then Atletico Madrid, Forlan has allied the form in front of goal to the work rate that so impressed Sir Alex Ferguson.
Position: Striker
 Obafemi Martins
(NGA/Wolfsburg)
Brilliant but mercurial. It was his goal late in the game that overcame Kenya in Nairobi and ensured that Nigeria would qualify. He has not been a regular performer for his current club, Wolfsburg but he remains a wonderful impact player.
Position: Striker
 Alexander Frei
(SUI/Basel)
It may not be coincidence that the revival of Swiss football coincided with the career of the man who has scored more international goals for them than any other. He is not quick, he is not tall but Frei, who has returned to his first club, Basel, after a spell in the Bundesliga, has an instinctive positional sense.
Position: Striker
 Milivoje Novakovic
(SVN/Cologne)
With five goals in qualification, nobody did more to ensure than a team seeded fifth in its group reached South Africa. Nevertheless, Novakovic's desire to stay and celebrate rather than return to the Bundesliga saw him stripped of the Cologne captaincy.
Position: Striker
 Miroslav Klose
(GER/Bayern Munich)
He will just have turned 32 when the tournament opens but Klose, who was Germany's dominant figure in two previous World Cups is capable of adding to his tally of 11 tournament goals.
Position: Midfielder
 Tim Cahill
(AUS/Everton)
He is as much a heartbeat for this Australian side as his Everton team-mate Steven Pienaar is for South Africa. In a side lacking true attacking class Cahill has the priceless ability to score goals from midfield when it matters. His brace against Japan in 2006 were Australia's first in the tournament.
Position: Striker
 Marko Pantelic
(SRB/Ajax)
By the time he was 24, Pantelic had played in Greece, France, Switzerland, Spain and Austria without ever suggesting the form many thought him capable of. It was only when returning to Serbia, especially with Red Star Belgrade, that he began scoring regularly.
Position: Striker
 Roque Santa Cruz
(PAR/Manchester City)
Paraguay's most famous footballer and this will be his third World Cup, although he would hope for better results than in 2002 or 2006. The highlight of his career was winning the Champions League with Bayern Munich in 2001, but he has spent the last four seasons in England.
Position: Striker
 Robert Vittek
(SVK/Ankaragucu)
n one stunning spell in early 2006 when he scored a goal a game in 16 matches for Nuremberg, Vittek became one of the Bundesliga's most sought-after strikers. However, he has never recaptured that kind of form and a move to Lille finished with him being sent on loan to the Turkish capital.
Position: Striker
 Humberto Suazo
(CHI/Real Zaragoza)
Nobody scored more goals in the South American qualifying group than Suazo's 10. Because of injuries and a poor attitude, he broke late into the big time - at 22 he was scoring a goal a game but in the Chilean Third Division. A transfer to Monterrey in Mexico was troubled and he moved to La Liga in January.
Position: Striker
Luis Fabiano
(BRA/Sevilla)
An uncompromising forward, whose occasional lack of discipline is matched by exceptional ability in front of goal - as proved by his five goals in the Confederations Cup and his two goals against Argentina in Lionel Messi's home city of Rosario.
Position: Striker
Gonzalo Higuain
(ARG)
The French-born Argentine footballer spearheads the attack in Real Madrid. He finished the season in La Liga with 27 goals, second only to countryman Messi. Any defence should fear Higuain in his current form.
Position: Striker
Peter Crouch
(ENG/Tottenham)
At international level he remains one of the finest goalscorers England have ever had, finding the net every other game. In part it is down to his height - 6ft 7ins â?? but it is the way he uses the ball at his feet that is the real surprise to anyone marking him.
Position: Midfielder
Frank Lampard
(ENG)
Nominated on six successive occasions for the title of world player of the year. The only member of the England team to have attended public school, and with a fallback plan to become a translator should he not make it as a footballer. Its easy to forget just how god Lampard is, simply because of his laid-back and open attitude.
>> Full Frank Lampard Profile
Position: Midfielder
Franck Ribery
(FRA/Bayern Munich)
Perhaps the most exciting player in Domenech's side and a footballer who can torment defences. He was one of the stars of the 2006 campaign and his loss through injury darkened a dismal Euro 2008.
>> Full Franck Ribery Profile
Position: Midfielder
Steven Gerrard
(ENG)
One of the greatest midfielders in history: At least if you ask at Anfield where Gerrard has become nothing but a legend. Steven has blossomed as a creative midfielder with a high stamina, a powerful shot and an ability to score the crucial goals at crucial times.
Position: Striker
Daniel Guiza
(SPA)
Being quick and a powerfull runner, Guiza is at his most dangerous on the counter-attack. He seems to have an ability to loose his markers with shift and intelligent movements. Guiza has a colourful reputation off the field including a relationship with Spanish mode Nuria Bermudez.
Position: Winger
 Park Ji-Su
(KOR/Manchester United)
Tough, fast and powerful, Park is not your average Korean footballer and crucially he has experience of both Champions League finals and Koreas runs to the World Cup semis under Guus Hiddink.
Position: Striker
 Dimitris Salpigidis
(GRE/Panathinaikos)
If Greece are to win through they will have to take the rare chances that fall their way. The coolness with which Salpigidis seized on Georgios Samaras' pass to score the only goal in the play-off with Ukraine was the perfect example of how to do it.
Position: Winger
 Steven Pienaar
(RSA/Everton)
Every tournament host needs a footballer to inspire them especially when so many odds are stacked against them. Pienaar, brought up in a township outside Johannesburg could be that man.
Position: Midfielder
 Giovanni dos Santos
(MEX/Galatasaray)
He will only be 21 when the World Cup opens but the son of the Brazilian footballer, Zizinho. has plenty to prove, having failed to capitalise on his exceptional ability at first Barcelona and then Tottenham.
Position: Striker
 Landon Donovan
(USA/Los Angeles Galaxy)
David Beckham might be the most famous member of the LA Galaxy side but Donovan is a by a distance the most effective. He has scored more international goals and provided more assists than any other American.
Position: Midfielder
 Michael Essien
(GHA/Chelsea)
No man is more crucial to Ghana's success than Essien who is as vital to the Black Stars as Roy Keane was to Ireland. Having damaged his cruciate ligaments and then his knee in the past two years he needs careful treatment as Ghana are not the same without him.
Position: Midfielder
 Shunsuke Nakamura
(JAP/Yokohama)
With David Beckham injured, Nakamura may possess the best free-kick in the World Cup. Described as 'the soul of our midfield' by Japan's former manager, Zico, Nakamura is now back where he began at Yokohama after spells in Italy, Scotland and Spain.
Position: Striker
 Ryan Nelsen
(NZL/Blackburn)
Captaining the All Whites carries a different degree of expectation than skippering the All Blacks but Nelsen has acquitted himself admirably. A rugged central defender, he made his name in the United States, before signing for Blackburn in 2005, where he was quickly handed the captain's armband.
Position: Striker
 Hong Yong-jo
(PRK/Rostov)
As the captain and the only member of North Korea's squad to play in Europe, Hong carries a significant burden especially when you consider he is a striker in a squad in which goals have not been plentiful. He found the net four times in qualification.
Position: Midfielder
 Wilson Palacios
(HON/Tottenham)
The £1m fee Birmingham paid Olimpia to take this wonderfully combative holding midfielder to the Premier League seems a bargain. He followed his manager Steve Bruce to Wigan and then signed for Tottenham for £16m. His football last year was completely overshadowed by the murder of his brother, Edwin.
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