World Cup 2010 - Power Rankings: Torres boost

As the countdown continues to the big kick-off in South Africa, we rank the contenders from one to 32.

HOW IT WORKS

We conducted a poll of Eurosport-Yahoo! writers, asking them to rank each team based on their expected performance if the World Cup were to start tomorrow. We then took an average mark from the poll results to create this list. The tournament draw is not taken into account - it is an assessment of performance level, not likelihood of success.

We will publish revised rankings every day until the end of the World Cup, with countries moving up and down based on friendly results, injuries, scandals and other factors.

WORLD CUP POWER RANKINGS

1 (1) - Spain - Fernando Torres has joined the rest of the squad in full training for the first time after having knee surgery last month.

2 (2) - Brazil - Dunga's side will travel to Harare next Wednesday for a match against Zimbabwe for a match that will be player 1,500m above sea level.

3 (3) - Netherlands - Defenders Ron Vlaar and Vurnon Anita, midfielder Orlando Engelaar and winger Jeremain Lens failed to make the cut as Bert van Marwijk reduced his squad to the final 23 men.

4 (4) - Argentina - Maxi Rodriguez (2), Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez and Angel di Maria were all on target as Diego Maradona's side recorded a morale-boosting 5-0 win over Canada.

5 (5) - Italy - Defender Giorgio Chiellini insists that the champions' squad is not too old: "There are nine of us in the squad that won the World Cup four years ago, that's a good ratio. The current squad is a mix of youth who are enthusiastic to show what they can do and experienced players who want to do just as well, and win the World Cup in the process."

6 (6) - England - Fabio Capello will be relieved to see Steven Gerrard return to full training a day after limping out with a calf injury, and the manager is confident that Gareth Barry will be fit by the time he announces his squad.

7 (8) - Germany - Joachim Loew is set to announce his new captain and third-choice goalkeeper on Friday. The German newspaper Bild reports that it will be Bayern Munich skipper Phillip Lahm and Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer who will fill the two roles.

8 (7) - Portugal - They say there are no easy matches in international football, but questions will be asked after the team ranked third by FIFA were held to a goalless draw by the 117th-ranked Cape Verde Islands.

9 (9) - France - It took an own goal and a late strike from Mathieu Valbuena for an unconvincing France to scrape a win over Costa Rica.

10 (10) - Ivory Coast - Striker Aruna Dindane has agreed a move to Qatari club Al-Shorti, so any worries over his wages from Portsmouth during the World Cup can now be put to one side.

11 (11) - USA - Bolton midfielder Stuart Holden insists he has fully recovered from the fractured fibula sustained in March, on the day coach Bob Bradley is set to announce his final squad.

12 (12) - Mexico - Javier Aguirre's side have now lost twice in a week, but there is reason for hope in their performances against England and Holland.

13 (14) - Serbia - Striker Nikola Zigic, all 6'8" of him, goes into the tournament with his future secure after sealing a £6m move to Birmingham City.

14 (13) - Ghana - It may not be a surprise considering he's only played 45 minutes of football in 2010, but Michael Essien being ruled out of the tournament is a major blow for the Black Stars.

15 (15) - Cameroon - Without captain and star striker Samuel Eto'o, the Indomitable Lions were held to a goalless draw by Georgia.

16 (16) - Chile - Highly-rated Alexis Sanchez came off the bench to score twice in La Roja's 3-0 win over Zambia.

17 (17) - Australia -The Socceroos were the first squad to land in South Africa, over two weeks before the start of the tournament.

18 (18) - Uruguay - All 16 players in the matchday squad got a run-out as Uruguay beat Israel 4-1.

19 (19) - Paraguay - The Albirroja lost 2-1 to the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, but a debut goal for Argentine-born Lucas Barrios will provide a boost for their Group F hopes.

20 (20) - South Africa - Despite starting with Premier League trio Steven Pienaar, Benni McCarthy and Kagiso Dikgacoi on the bench, the hosts sealed a 2-1 victory over Colombia on their first match at Soccer City. They are now unbeaten in their last 10 matches.

21 (21) - South Korea - Striker Lee Dong-gook will discover on Sunday if he has recovered sufficiently from a hamstring strain in time to make the final squad.

22 (22) - Denmark - The Danes beat Senegal 2-0 in Aalborg, but the win potentially came at a cost, as star defender Simon Kjaer was stretchered off with nine minutes remaining. However, he has been included in Morten Olsen's final 23-man squad, with goalkeeper Kim Christensen, midfield duo Michael Silberbauer and Michael Krohn-Dehli and striker Morten Rasmussen all sent home.

23 (23) - Greece - A 2-2 draw against North Korea doesn't bode well for the 2004 European champions, who face South Korea, Nigeria and Argentina in their group.

24 (24) - Slovenia

25 (25) - Switzerland - Striker Marco Streller had had to pull out of the squad with a hamstring injury. Manager Ottmar Hitzfeld has called up Nuernburg striker Albert Bunjaku as a replacement.

26 (26) - Nigeria - Held to a stale 0-0 draw by Saudi Arabia, who failed to qualify. Not the best way to prepare for their opening match against Argentina.

27 (27) - Slovakia

28 (28) - Japan - Former Arsenal and Fulham midfielder Junichi Inamoto is fit to face England on Sunday after missing the morale-sapping 2-0 defeat to South Korea with a hamstring pull.

29 (29) - North Korea - Drawing 2-2 with Greece in Austria is, on the face of it, an encouraging result for the team from the Democratic People's Republic.

30 (30) - Algeria - Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra will sit out of Friday night's friendly against Ireland, but has declared he will be fit for the final warm-up match against UAE in a week's time.

31 (31) - Honduras - An unconvincing performance saw them fall 2-1 behind against Belarus, 82nd in the latest FIFA rankings, before Georgie Welcome struck to salvage a 2-2 draw in Austria.

32 (32) - New Zealand - Doctors announce that surgery on vice-captain Tim Brown's fractured shoulder has been a success. Forward Chris Killen will miss Saturday's testing friendly against Serbia because he is flying to England to get married.