North Korea got lucky in qualification. They finished ahead of Saudi Arabia on goal difference by holding them to a 0-0 draw in the final qualifying match. And they both ended up only one point in front of Iran. They've played 18 friendlies with a record of 6-6-6 since qualifying. How's that for symbolic? All the losses came this year and the wins have all come against teams like Guam, Myanmar and Taiwan. These are not the teams you want to be defeating before going up against Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast in the World Cup. The losses have come at the hands of second tier teams such as Nigeria, Paraguay, Mexico and Iran. I don't expect them to take a single point from this group.
Ivory Coast is a bit of a wild card. They were probably the most talked about side that didn't advance out of the group 4 years ago, but their star forward, winner of the Premier League's Golden Boot, Didier Drogba may or may not have a fractured arm and may or may not be ready at some point during the first round. They'll put up a good fight against Brazil and Portugal and may even take a point off Portugal if they come out with pistons pumping in the opener.
Portugal are not what they once were (back when the USA knocked them down in the 2002 opener). They don't have much of a record this year. Since European qualifying finished in October, Portugal have only played 3 friendlies, all of them in the last 2 weeks. They've managed convincing defeats of Mozambique (3-0) and Cameroon (3-1) and a 0-0 draw with the Cape Verde Islands, football powerhouse that they are. They've still got the veterans Deco and Simao anchoring the midfield and of course Cristiano Ronaldo up front hammering away at goal. Additionally there's Hugo Almeida up front. He just scored two in the Mozambique friendly and he's a regular scorer for his club Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. The Ivory Coast match will be key for both teams.
Brazil will of course continue to be Brazil. I expect nothing less than 3 victories for 9 points to win the group here. Okay, so they faltered a little bit early on in qualifying. That's typical of Brazil. They do as well as they need to in order to make it to the final tournament, where they clean up. So second place in the group will come down to the very first Group G match - Ivory Coast vs. Portugal on 15 June.
I would like to note that my predictions are mainly about the top two teams in the group. If I'm wrong on the points, I don't really care. I'm saying here that I think Portugal and Ivory Coast will draw with each other and each lose to Brazil and defeat North Korea, but Portugal will advance on goal difference or total goals scored. But should Portugal defeat Ivory Coast and they go through with 6 points, I will still consider my prediction accurate.
Brazil 9
Portugal 4
Ivory Coast 4
North Korea 0
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