Argentina's last World Cup championship came in 1986, and it hasn't advanced past the quarterfinals since 1990, when it lost in the final to Germany. The Netherlands is seeking redemption after missing the 2002 World Cup. The Ivory Coast and Serbia & Montenegro are two intriguing teams that hope to cause problems for the group favorites.

ARGENTINA
Nothing much has gone right for Argentina at the World Cup since Diego Maradona was ejected from the 1994 tournament in the United States, after he failed a drug test. This time the Argentine players are entering the tourney with a different attitude, under new coach Jose Pekerman, the architect of the nation's well-structured youth program. "We have to use 2002 as a learning experience," team captain Juan Pablo Sorin told FourFourTwo magazine. "The reality is that, right now, the favorites are other nations." Midfielder Hernan Crespo is now one of the team's veterans at age 30, and Pekerman will be counting on contributions from World Cup first-timers Juan Roman Riquelme and Lionel Messi.
FIFA world ranking: No. 9.
Player to watch:
Lionel Messi, forward. The 18-year-old says he has recovered from a muscle tear suffered in a Champions League match against Chelsea. He burst onto the European scene during the past season with Barcelona, although his injury forced him to sit out Barca's victory over Arsenal in the Champions League final. Messi is an incredibly gifted player who quickly has made the jump from the youth ranks to the full national team. Nicknamed "El Pulga" (The Flea), Messi led Argentina to the FIFA World Youth Championship in 2005.

NETHERLANDS
Former Dutch star Marco van Basten has pointed the Oranjes in the right direction since his appointment as coach, leading a 10-0-2 European qualifying campaign that included two victories over the Czech Republic. He opted for youth when picking his final roster, leaving off veterans Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf and Roy Makaay. Among the stars on the Dutch team are defender Giovanni van Bronckhorst and midfielder Mark van Bommel, who both play for Barcelona; forward Arjen Robben (Chelsea), midfielder Philip Cocu (PSV Eindhoven) and goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United).
FIFA world ranking: No. 3.
Player to watch:
Ruud van Nistelrooy, forward. Van Nistelrooy missed the 2002 World Cup thanks to the Netherlands' strange absence, and this could be his first and last chance to star for his country on the world's biggest stage. A prolific goal scorer, he had 62 goals in 67 matches with PSV Eindhoven before moving on to Manchester United in 2002. He recently had a well-publicized disagreement with Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson, after being left out of the starting lineup for an important match. The 29-year-old striker could be a strong contender for the Golden Shoe award that goes to the World Cup's top goal scorer.

IVORY COAST
The team nobody expected to be in the tournament has to be the Cote d'Ivoire. Cameroon needed a home-field victory in its last qualifying match to move on to Germany, but a late penalty kick hit the post, leaving Cameroon with a 1-1 draw against Egypt. Instead, the Elephants from the war-torn Ivory Coast would make their first World Cup appearance. French coach Henri Michel leads his fourth team into the World Cup; previously he has coached France, Cameroon and Tunisia. The Elephants are led by the partnership of strikers Didier Drogba (Chelsea) and Aruna Dindane (Lens), who scored nine and six goals, respectively, in African qualifying.
FIFA world ranking: No. 32.
Player to watch:
Kolo Toure, defender. The 25-year-old Arsenal back gained plenty of international exposure while marking Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto'o in the Champions League final. The athletic defender came up through the youth ranks in his country, making his debut for ASEC Abidjan in 1999, at age 17. He played his first full international match for Ivory Coast in 2002. His 23-year-old brother, Yaya Toure, a midfielder for Olympiakos in Greece, also will be on the Elephants' World Cup roster.

SERBIA & MONTENEGRO
Montenegro voters narrowly supported independence in a referendum held this week, signaling the final breakup of the six republics that once formed Yugoslavia. The European Union said it would recognize a new country if 55% of the voters favored independence, and preliminary results showed that 55.4% of Montenegrins voted to separate from much larger Serbia. How the political situation will affect the Serbo-Montenegrin team at the World Cup is hard to determine, but it already has stunned the experts. Coach Ilija Petkovic has done wonders with the squad, leading it to first place in its qualifying group (which included Spain) with a record of six victories and four draws, without a defeat. A back line led by Schalke's Mladen Krstajic allowed only one goal in the 10 qualifying matches, conceded in a 1-1 draw with Spain in Madrid.
FIFA world ranking: No. 44.
Player to watch:
Mateja Kezman, forward. The 27-year-old believes other teams in the group will be wary of Serbia & Montenegro. He scored five goals in seven qualifying matches, including one against Bosnia-Herzegovina that clinched his country's berth in the World Cup. Kezman was a star at PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands before moving on to Chelsea for one year and landing last season at Atletico Madrid.

GROUP SCHEDULE
June 10 - Argentina vs. Ivory Coast, 2 p.m. (Milwaukee time) at Hamburg.

June 11 - Serbia & Montenegro vs. Netherlands, 8 a.m. at Leipzig.

June 16 - Argentina vs. Serbia & Montenegro, 8 a.m. at Gelsenkirchen; Netherlands vs. Ivory Coast, 11 a.m. at Stuttgart.

June 21 - Netherlands vs. Argentina, 2 p.m. at Frankfurt.; Ivory Coast vs. Serbia & Montenegro, 2 p.m. at Munich.