Italy are bidding to become the first team since Brazil in 1962 to retain the World Cup. They arrive in South Africa as the world’s fourth ranked team and qualification group winners, so their prospects appear good when it comes to World Cup Betting, although there is a strong suspicion that the Azzurri lack the star quality to take them all the way.

The same accusation was of course levelled at them in 2006. World Cups are not always won by the most talented and stylish teams – think Netherlands 1974 – and Italy are the experts at succeeding with substance over style.

They have the benefit of a decent draw, with Denmark perhaps waiting in the last 16 should they progress top of a group that contains Slovakia, Paraguay and New Zealand. Marcello Lippi’s outfit, unbeaten since their poor showing at the 2009 Confederations Cup, should have no problem in doing so.

New Zealand are appearing in their second World Cup and start as rank outsiders – claiming their first point at a finals will be classified as a success. The All Whites qualified via a play-off win over Bahrain, but an earlier defeat to Fiji does not bode well.

Paraguay are making their fourth consecutive finals appearance, which says much about their strength. They qualified above Argentina, who they beat and drew with, whilst Brazil were also beaten at home. They drew 0-0 with Netherlands in November and the best world cup football betting odds suggest that they might well edge out Slovakia to advance to round two.

Slovakia are appearing in their first finals as an independent state and their relative strength compared with neighbours Czech Republic will come as a surprise to many – they lack the big names of their bitter rivals, but their qualification at the Republic’s expense tells its own story.

Vladimir Weiss’ outfit scored in every match in qualification, but a leaky defence might prove their undoing. They lost 2-1 to Chile last time out and cannot afford to lose to fellow South Americans Paraguay in their pivotal group match.