Eye on South Africa: players to watch

 
Christian Eriksen (Denmark)
 
Eriksen only turned 18 in February and is the youngest player at the World Cup. Since breaking through to the Ajax first team in January, he has drawn comparisons with ex-Barcelona, Real Madrid and Denmark star Michael Laudrup.
 
His manager at club level Martin Jol has also compared his style to that of Dutch attacking midfielders Rafael van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder – players Eriksen could face in Denmark’s opening group game.
 
The wiry playmaker recently signed a new contract with Ajax, and we could get to see why if Danish manager Morten Olsen throws him into the action in South Africa.
 
Look out for Eriksen’s teammate Simon Kjaer as well, who should feature at centre back.
 
Marek Hamsik (Slovakia)
 
Slovakia were surprise qualifiers for the World Cup, having come through a tricky group that included the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia.
 
Hamsik was one of the main reasons they did so, and his 12 goals from midfield also helped Napoli finish sixth in Italy’s Serie A this season.
 
Praising Hamsik’s maturity, Slovakia manager Vladimir Weiss had no hesitation in naming the versatile 22-year-old as captain of his team.
 
With talk of a big-money move to England serving as an extra motivation, he could be key to Slovakia’s hopes of impressing at their first-ever World Cup.
 
Hugo Lloris (France)
 
After his rapid progress with Lyon in the past two years, it’s easy to forget that Lloris is still only 23-years-old.
 
But although he has just 11 caps for France, Lloris has already become an indispensable member of Raymond Domenech’s side.
 
Lloris helped his club reach the Champions League semi-finals this year and he also excelled in France’s play-off victory over Ireland in November.
 
Mature beyond his years, it’s only a matter of time before Lloris moves to a bigger club. A good performance in the World Cup might make that transfer happen sooner rather than later.
 
Mesut Ozil (Germany)
 
Ozil caught the eye in his club side Werder Bremen’s run to the UEFA Cup final in 2009 and he also scored the winner in the German Cup final that year.
 
This season the 21-year-old continued where he left off, finishing with nine league goals and 16 assists.
 
Ozil is not afraid to run at defenders and got his first international goal in a friendly against South Africa. He’s part of an exciting German midfield line-up so watch out for fellow youngsters Sami Khedira, Thomas Müller and Toni Kroos.
 
Luis Suarez (Uruguay)
 
After scoring the winner in the Europa League final and having played for Manchester United, Atletico Madrid’s Diego Forlan is the most familiar name in Uruguay’s squad.
 
Regularly on the scoresheet in Spain’s La Liga, Forlan will be joined in attack by the equally consistent Luis Suarez.
 
Top scorer in the Dutch league for the past two seasons, the 23-year-old was on the mark 35 times for Ajax this season.
 
Another player that could make an impact for the two-time World Cup winners’ is Nicolas Lodeiro. A clubmate of Suarez in the Netherlands, he impressed during his debut for Uruguay in their World Cup play-off victory over Costa Rica.