We come to the final group in our tour of the South African World Cup this summer and in Group H we have the favourites and current European Champions Spain, alongside Honduras, Chile and Switzerland. On the face of it this is a straightforward little group, with Spain the standouts and the other 3 battling for 2nd spot in the group and that battle actually makes it a very interesting and complex group.

Group H

Honduras  -  Los Catrachos,  FIFA ranked  36,  Price to win group  40.0

Chile  -  La Roja,  FIFA ranked  13,  Price to win group  6.0

Spain  -  La Furia Roja,  FIFA ranked  1,  Price to win group  1.3

Switzerland  -  Schweizer Nati,  FIFA ranked  20,  Price to win group  14.0

Honduras

Honduras are the dark horses of this group, little is known about them but they are coming to the fore at just the right time. This is their 2nd World Cup, the first being in Spain in 1982, when they finished bottom of their group but did only lose one match. They showed their credentials by beating USA in America by 3-1 in January this year.

They do have a very experienced International team but it has to be said they are not of the highest quality. The vast majority play their football in the Honduran league but there are a number that are dotted around Europe, including Figueroa and Thomas at Wigan and Palacios at Spurs. This is probably the best team they have ever had and they may shock a few teams in their group.

They play Chile first, then Spain and finally Switzerland. As always the first game is the important one, they would need to beat Chile to have hopes of going through and it is really a question of whether this competition has come just a little too early for them. Chile and Switzerland are not top drawer but they are decent sides who will be difficult to beat.

Honduras do have 3 more friendlies before the real action starts. They are due to play Belarus, Azerbaijan and Romania and after that we should know more about them and be able to better gauge their hopes for this competition.

More on World Cup 2010 – The Greatest Show on Earth VIII