After 12 years of absence from major tournaments, Belgium managed to return to the World Cup with a strong squad. Dubbed the "golden generation", the young Belgians are eager to prove their worth in Brazil this summer.

Belgium possess a vast talent pool that any coach would envy. In recent seasons, signing a Belgian international appears to become a fashion for European giants, especially the big-spending English Premier League clubs.

The newly crowned Man City have Vincent Kompany. Simon Mignolet has been a regular starting keeper for the runners-up Liverpool. Chelsea signed Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku. The Gunners have Thomas Vermaelen. And Everton have Kevin Mirallas, let alone Manchester United's Marouane Fellaini and Tottenham's Moussa Dembele and Jan Vertonghen.

The top seven finishers in Premier League all have players from Belgium and the list is still expanding as Man United's promising winger Adnan Januzaj chose to play for Belgium last month.

In other leagues Belgian players also have already established themselves as senior figures. Thibaut Courtois and Toby Alderweireld helped Atletico Madrid reach the Champions League final. Daniel Van Buyten claimed back-to-back Bundesliga title as well as the Champions League title last season with German giants Bayern Munich.

A strong squad does not guarantee good results, indeed. But Belgium have already proved themselves on their way to Brazil.

In a strong group which also included Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Wales and Scotland, Belgium only conceded four goals in 10 games and qualified for the finals with an unbeaten record.

Marc Wilmots' side has been drawn into a relatively easy group, together with Algeria, South Korea and Russia. Securing a last-16 berth seems out of question for the "Diables Rouges" (Red Devils), but topping the Group to avoid a clash with highly favored Germany in the round of 16 should be their target.

The biggest threat may be the Russians.

Russian manager Fabio Capello has already made it clear that his team's minimum objective in Brazil would be reaching the quarterfinals. That means Russia will also have to go all out for the top position in Group H.

"We want to reach the quarterfinals in Brazil but sometimes if you play really well and surprises are possible," said an ambitious Capello. "Just remember that nobody expected us to finish top of our qualifying group but we did it."

Capello was right. His side have already proved their capability to stun the group favorites and they will not mind doing it again.

In the qualifiers Russia was pooled with Portugal, Israel, Azerbaijan, Northern Ireland and Luxembourg in Group F. They earned direct passage to Brazil 2014 thanks to their 1-0 home victory over Portugal spearheaded by the talisman Cristiano Ronaldo.

"Russia's players are completely focused on the World Cup," Capello said. "After 12 years of absence at the world football feast they want to perform at their best, to win something. And they are ready to show their best to achieve a top-class result in Brazil."

Unlike the Belgian squad that contains players from different leagues in Europe, Capello's squad mainly consists of players from local clubs. Big names such as former Arsenal forward Andrei Arshavin or former Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko are both left out from the squad.

The last time Belgium and Russia meet each other in World Cup was in 2002 when Belgium win 3-2 in the final group match to send the Russians home. Now Russia have the chance to revenge. The second round group match between Belgium and Russia on June 22 in Rio's Maracana stadium may decide which team can sit atop.

However, neither South Korea nor Algeria could be taken for granted as minnows that will provide easy points.

Being Asia's most frequent visitors to World Cup, South Korea won their first match at the finals in the 2002 edition as the co-hosts en route to their surprising fourth-place finish. Since then, the South Koreans have been much more confident in World Cup, beating Togo 2-0 and tying 1-1 with France in Germany 2006 while winning 2-0 over Greece and drawing 2-2 to Nigeria before losing 2-1 to Uruguay in the last 16.

Paced by a host of high level players in Bundesliga clubs including the fast-progressing Son Heung-Min of Bayer Leverkuson and Mainz 05 striker Koo Ja-Cheol, South Korea are well prepared to grab more victories in their eighth consecutive trip to the soccer showpiece event.

It will be Algeria's fourth appearance in the World Cup finals but their last victory dated back to more than three decades ago. Algeria was narrowly eliminated on goal difference in the group stage of 1982 World Cup and suffered two defeats and one draw both in 1986 and 2010 editions.

Now boosted by a series of Europe based players such as Valencia's attacking midfielder Sofiane Feghouli, Getafe's regular defensive midfielder Medhi Lacen and Sporting Lisbon's forward Islam Slimani, Algeria are keen to reach the knockout stage for the first time in history.