The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, soccer’s most hallowed tournament, begins on Friday and AnnArbor.com will provide a daily guide to coverage from around the world.

The intricacies of the tournament and spectacular details of its history may be well known to soccer fans, but we realize that many people still have much to learn about the Cup. Friday marks the beginning of the group stages, which is eight, four-team round-robin tournaments. The top two teams from each group emerge to make up a 16-team single elimination bracket.

The positives to this: Every team is guaranteed at least three games and every goal, even in blowouts or losses, carries huge implications. This is because in the event that two teams have the same group record, the first tiebreaker is goal differential.

So even if a team is ahead comfortably, both are still clawing for more goals.

The one glaring negative to the group stage: Ties.

After the jump, you'll find a breakdown of each group with some details that even the soccer haters might enjoy.

GROUP A

Teams: Uruguay, France, South Africa, Mexico
Who will advance: France, despite its struggles in qualifying, is the odds on favorite to win this group, followed by Mexico, then Uruguay. I like Mexico to win because of its play since Javier Aguirre took over as manager, and Uruguay because, with its proud history and electric striker tandem of Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez, La Celeste is a sexy sleeper pick.
Interesting soccer sub plot: The World Cup host nation has never failed to advance past the group stages in the 80-year history of the tournament. Bad news for South Africa: The mass consensus is that this is the year that streak ends, but hey, the same was said of the U.S. in 1994.
Story even a non-soccer fan will find interesting: A prominent South African white supremacist group has made multiple threats targeting the World Cup since their leader was murdered back in April. Exactly the type of thing South Africa doesn’t need while under the spotlight.

GROUP B

Teams: Argentina, Greece, Nigeria, South Korea
Who will advance: Argentina has the best player in the world in Lionel Messi, one of the proudest histories in all of soccer and it would take a string of major upsets (or manager Diego Maradona throwing games to pay off old debts) for Albiceleste not to advance. The rest of the group is up for grabs. Greece’s defensive style, which aided them to the 2004 European Championship, has been complemented by the scoring of Theofanis Gekas, Nigeria is loaded with top tier talent but hasn’t proven able to put it together as a team, while South Korea’s always superior conditioning could prove a secret weapon in the high altitudes of South Africa.
Interesting soccer subplot: Messi is the reigning European Footballer of the Year, but the pressure is on for him to produce for the national team.
Story even a non-soccer fan will find interesting: One word: Maradona. Arguably the best and inarguably the most controversial player ever. Despite next-to-zero managerial experience, many battles with drug addiction and owing the Italian government millions, he was given the reigns to the national team. The guy is a quote machine, and no story line with his name attached should ever be a surprise.

GROUP C

Teams: United States, England, Slovenia, Algeria
Who will advance: England and the United States are favorites to advance, with the star studded Brits projected to take the top spot. But don’t count the U.S. out. An American side has never been comprised of so many international stars, as Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley and Tim Howard have all proven that American players can stack up in the world’s best leagues. And if it comes down to a rap battle, Dempsey will definitely give the American’s the edge.
Interesting soccer subplot: The English are having trouble fielding a captain. First, John Terry was relieved of his duties after it was revealed he was sleeping with a teammate’s baby momma (a situation the American team actually has experience dealing with.) Terry’s philandering also cost the team a defender as lovesick Wayne Bridge withdrew himself from the team. Second choice for captaincy, Rio Ferdinand was injured in the weeks leading up to the Cup, making the armband seem like a kiss of death for the Three Lions.
Story even a non-soccer fan will find interesting: Fun fact about the Algerian team: Hardly any of the players were born in Algeria. Only six of the Dessert Foxes hail from the country they will represent, while 17 were born in France . This explains why the country was paramount in removing age restrictions for players to decide which country they want to represent at the international level. According to FIFA rules, players may choose to represent their own country or the country of their parents’ birth.

GROUP D

Teams: Australia, Germany, Serbia, Ghana
Who will advance: Germany is the safest bet to advance as there is in the World Cup. There have only been four instances where this didn't happen. In 1930 and 1950 when Germany wasn't invited to participate, in 1978 when the format only allowed four teams to emerge from the group stages, and in 1938 when Hitler intervened in team selection, demanding that five Austrians be included on the squad. Ghana and Australia will duke it out for the No. 2 slot, but without captain Michael Essien in the lineup Ghana's chances look grim. By the way, no group perpetuates stereotypes quite like Group D. The Germans are robotically consistent, Ghana’s nickname is the Black Stars, Australia’s the Socceroos, and Serbia is an Eastern European nation which has flown three separate flags (Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro and Serbia) at its past three World Cups.
Interesting soccer subplot: German-born half brothers Jerome Boateng and Kevin-Prince Boateng will actually square off against each other, as Jerome will suit up for Germany and Kevin-Prince for their father’s homeland, Ghana. Adding even more spice to this unique situation, it was Kevin-Prince’s tackle of German captain Michael Ballack, which caused the injury which will keep Ballack out of the tournament.
Story even a non-soccer fan will find interesting: South Africa will be Serbian captain Dejan Stankovic’s third World Cup, and he’s had to sing a different national anthem at every one.

GROUP E

Teams: Cameroon, Denmark, Japan, Netherlands
Who will advance: The Netherlands (or is it Holland?) is widely regarded as the best team to never win the World Cup. An optimist would say that based on the size of the country and how far and often its managed to advance despite this, the Dutch are historical overachievers. Pessimists, however, have labeled the Dutch underachievers for their failure to capture the ultimate prize despite being the inventors of how the modern game is played. Either way, they’ll advance. Cameroon should fill the No. 2 slot simply because Indomitable Lions striker Samuel Eto’o is just too good for them not to.
Interesting soccer subplot: The Dutch aren’t just good, they’re the Unofficial Football World Champions, which takes a boxing approach to crowning its champion.
Story even a non-soccer fan will find interesting: Cameroonian star Samuel Eto’o has long been the victim of the racism that has plagued the game overseas, and he hopes the World Cup being on African soil can help end it.

GROUP F

Teams: Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia
Who will advance: Defending World Cup champions Italy couldn’t have been given an easier path to the elimination rounds, so expect to see the Azzurri (and their annoyingly arrogant fans) advance to the elimination rounds, and possibly deep into the tournament. New Zealand is awful, pretty much a “we’re happy just to be here” team. I like Slovakia to advance despite being young and inexperienced. Slovakia touts some electric stars, such as 22-year old captain Marek Hamsi, who has beat out even his Italian counterparts for Group F’s most spectacularly ridiculous hairdo.
Interesting soccer subplot: One of the best American-born players in the world, Giuseppe Rossi, doesn’t even play for the U.S. Despite growing up in New Jersey, Rossi opted to represent the Italy on the world’s largest stage. The Italians didn’t reciprocate, cutting Rossi at the last turn. On the bright side Benedict Arnold…er, Giuseppe, will have all summer to concentrate on the latest "Jersey Shore" drama.
Story even a non-soccer fan will find interesting: Paraguay’s chances of advancement took a serious blow when one of its top strikers, Salvador Cabanas, was shot in the head in a crowded Mexico City nightclub.

GROUP G

Teams: Brazil, North Korea, Portugal, Ivory Coast
Who will advance: Brazil is the favorite every time it steps on to the field, and even positioned in the so-called “Group of Death” this is still the case. One of the country’s main exports is professional soccer players, and the team has such an embarrassment of riches that Ronaldinho didn’t make the final cut. Ivory Coast has the potential to be the feel-good story of the tournament as Africa’s best team and with an entire continent of support, but without Didier Drogba at 100 percent, and facing a Christiano Ronaldo-led Portugal team right out of the gate, advancement will be a tall order.
Interesting soccer subplot: Will Didier Drogba be effective after breaking his arm in a warm-up game versus Japan? He is one of the world’s best players and scores goals that literally brings wars to a halt, but will he be able to play his abusive brand of soccer effectively with a cast on his arm?
Story even a non-soccer fan will find interesting: North Korea has already tried to sneak illegal arms into the tournament and according to some defectors, full games aren’t shown in the country, only select clips and highlights - which in this group will likely be limited to the opening and ending whistles.

GROUP H

Teams: Chile, Honduras, Spain, Switzerland
Who will advance: Spain shares the co-tournament favorite distinction with Brazil, but is in a class by itself in terms of choking on the biggest stage. Though I like to think of Spain as the Kansas Jayhawks of international soccer, it would take three Northern Iowa-type upsets in a row to prevent the 2008 European Champions from advancing. Chile, Honduras, and Switzerland are all respectable, but not great. I’d give the edge to Chile, a southern hemisphere country familiar with playing conditions, weather and elevation similar to South Africa.
Interesting soccer subplot: For all of Spain’s skill and depth, the biggest question out if its camp has been the health of Fernando Torres and whether or not he’ll be ready after undergoing knee surgery in April.
Story even a non-soccer fan will find interesting: Probably the most bizarre moment in soccer history happened in a World Cup qualifier involving Chile in 1989. Think players taking dives is bad? Against Brazil, Chilean goalie Roberto Rojas acted as though he had been struck with a firework and cut himself with a scalpel he had hidden in his gloves in an attempt to get Brazil disqualified. Chile was banned from the ensuing two World Cups.

PLAY ALONG

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Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2565. Follow him on Twitter@petcunningham.