Five small teams that could play at the 2014 WC

# 1 – Montenegro – UEFA (Europe)

History – Montenegro detached itself from Serbia only after the 2006 World Cup and are one of the youngest nations in the overall qualification process. They were not eligible for the 2008 Euros and failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. But now they have a great chance to qualify to the Brazil World Cup.

Format of qualification - UEFA qualification is a complex process. There will be eight groups of six teams and only one group with five teams. The winners of these nine groups will gain direct entry.

Now, there will be nine 2nd placed teams one from each group, but one group had only five teams. So, after all matches get over, the results that these second placed teams obtained against the last placed team in their group will be eliminated (to bring a balance between all teams). After this, the best eight teams from the nine groups will be taken into the next round play-offs.

In the play-offs, four two-legged knockout matches will take place, and the winners of these knockouts will move to the finals at Brazil.

How Montenegro can qualify - Montenegro has a chance to qualify directly as the winner of the group without having to go through all the above explained complications. They are in Group H along and England, and Ukraine are their strongest competition. Montenegro have 14 points from 7 games while England and Ukraine have 12 and 11 points with a game in hand.

However, England and Ukraine have a match against each other, which could be a plus to Montenegro. Then, Montenegro have a match against England and if they win in that match, they would pretty much guarantee themselves a spot in the finals. With England and Ukraine having four more matches and Montenegro having to play 3 more matches, this could be one of the most open groups in the qualification process.

If Montenegro qualify directly, it would be a mammoth achievement for this team.

And as of now, England are the worst second placed team amongst all groups (after eliminating their result against the bottom placed team in the group). So, if the draws were made today, England would not qualify for the World Cup.

Players to watch out - Montenegro’s success is because of their striking prowess. Their forward line is led by the pairing of Juventus striker Mirko Vucinic and Fiorentina’s Stevan Jovetic. Both of them are deadly with great skills, and on their day, they could take down any team.