Mexico

Having hosted the FIFA World Cup twice and participated in 12, Mexico are the best footballing nation among the CONCACAF nations.

Their route to Germany 2006 was easy with a draw against Panama and the loss to USA being just two small roadblocks.

The final phase of El Tricolor's qualifying campaign got off to a great start with and they booked their ticket to Germany by a five-goal rout of Panama on home soil.

Coach Ricardo Lavolpe had said that he would take his side through to Germany "at a canter" and he kept his promise.

Mexico have been in very good form recently and they even beat world champions Brazil at the FIFA Confederations Cup Germany 2005 and lost to Argentina in the semi-finals on penalities.

Known for their fighting spirit Mexico have been in the top ten of the FIFA Coca-Cola World Ranking for several years now and in 2005 reached the top five.

The players to watch out for would be Rafael Marquez, Oswaldo Sanchez, Carlos Salcido and Francisco Fonseca.