Veteran coach offers his picks, pans and surprises

	Didier Drogba is the most well-known player on Ivory Coast, a team whose players have gained experience in European leagues. AP
	RELATED • POWER RANKINGS: 32 teams, top to bottom • GALLERY: 10 potential breakout stars

Thomas Rongen is a former Dutch national-team player, but he made his name as a go-to coach in America. His resume includes stops at four Major League Soccer franchises and as head coach of the U.S. Under-20 national team from 2001-05. Rongen will be in Germany for the World Cup and will provide periodic analysis for SI.com.

Matchups I'm most looking forward to

There are two games I'm really excited about in the group stage, and they come from the two toughest groups in the draw. First, the United States vs. Italy on June 17.

Italy, of course, is a notorious soccer nation. We know all the big names who have played for the Azzurri over the past decade and Italy is up there with Brazil and Argentina as one of the world's most heralded teams in soccer history. This will also be the second game for both teams, and, depending on the results from their first matches, could be crucial .

Outside of Group E, I'm really looking forward to Argentina vs. Holland on June 21. These are two teams that perfectly illustrate how open this tournament is.  The Netherlands is my native country, so I'm very interested in this one. This team is young, and that could be their downfall. At the same time, they have the talent to win the whole thing, as does Argentina.

This may be the last match of Group C, but I don't believe it will be decided by then. It's going to go right down to the wire.

Surprise team: Ivory Coast

One of the Group C favorites won't move on, and it could come at the hands of the Ivoirians. They're the best team coming out of Africa, and you can credit that to the fact that a lot of their players are doing very well with European clubs.

The focal point of the Elephants' offense is a well-known name -- Chelsea striker Didier Drogba -- but I also really like Arouna Koné, who is doing very well in the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven. That twosome has unbelievable power, but this team is also defensively very solid. This past year we saw the breakouts of their two primary defenders, Emmanuel Eboué and Kolo Touré, at Arsenal.

Because so many of these guys are with clubs in Europe, they play with a tactical discipline that African nations traditionally don't demonstrate. Their coach, Frenchman Henri Michel, has turned this group into an organized, disciplined unit.