With all Australian eyes watching the recovery of Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill from their injuries the 2010 World Cup has quickly become a case of who is still fit and able to play with a pile of star players watching the match from the sidelines.
The English team have been one of the hardest hit by the injury toll with England Captain Rio Ferdinand suffering knee ligament damage in a training session, and the talismanic David Beckham out of contention since March after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon injury playing for AC Milan.
Manchester City's Wayne Bridge was counted out of the squad after the much publicised rift with John Terry over the former captain's affair with the mother of Bridge's child.
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Chelsea players most affected
The injury cloud looms large over English Premier League title holders Chelsea, with the champions having four World Cup ending injuries.
German captain Michael Ballack was ruled out of his third World Cup after playing the FA Cup final, injuring his ankle in a horror tackle by Group D opponent German born Kevin Prince Boateng who will be lining up for Ghana in the cup.
While Ghanaian superstar Michael Essien was never considered for the 'Black Stars' after failing to recover in time from a medial ligament tear in his left knee suffered ahead of the African Nations Cup in January.
Essien's Chelsea team mate John Obi Mikel of Nigeria was left out of the Nigerian squad because he did not want to aggravate a knee injury and Jose Bosingwa was ruled out of the Portugal squad after a knee injury.
Diarra hampered by intestinal injury
In one of the more bizarre injuries Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra has been hampered by an intestinal problem contracted while scaling a glacier with French team mates at a pre-World Cup training base in the French Alps.
In more positive injury news for Chelsea, the West London clubs star striker Didier Drogba has had successful surgery on a broken arm suffered against Japan and will be able to resume his position as Ivory Coast captain if his recovery continues as planned.
Like Drogba there are a lot of stars testing the depth of their sides with some of Europe's best talent fighting to be fit for the Cup.
Robben fights for fitness
Dutch Winger Arjen Robben will miss the match against Denmark after suffering a thigh injury in last a 6-1 warm-up win over Hungary, while Liverpool's Fernando Torres has recovered from a knee operation in April scoring on his return in the friendly win over Poland.
Playmakers Andrea Pirlo and the mercurial Andres Iniesta are doubtful for their respective openers with Iniesta picking up a bruised leg, and all of this before the first match.
