Being from England, I’ve never been keen on our own national anthem. Sure, God Save the Queen will still get me excited, but I’d prefer it if Land Of Hope And Glory was our personal national anthem, and this mainly stems from the fact some countries have great national anthems. You may find national anthems boring, but no doubt you will not be able to deny that in an important game for your country, they can make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I’m no expert on national anthems, I don’t even know the words to my own countries one, but I decided to have a little review of all the national anthems at this summer’s World Cup and come up with my five favourite. I would love to hear what your favourite national anthem at this World Cup is – it’s very important you know!

5. Germany:

A football team with more fierce rivals than any other nation in the world most likely, yet they win me over with their great anthem. It just sounds noble and epic, I’d definitely be proud to see my players singing this one. On another note, short and sweet. Recently England took on Sri Lanka in a game of cricket at the World Cup and Sri Lanka’s anthem went on for about five minutes whereas England’s lasted 30 seconds. We sang God Save the Queen and got one with it, good to see the Germans not over doing it.

4. Chile:

Listening to this makes me want to go to Chile, or at least meet some people from there; it sounds vibrant. What an intro that is! Then at the half way point it mixes things up and keeps up the liveliness, it’s a great tune that really represents the country well.

3. France:

I’m surprised how many people don’t realise this song is the official national anthem of France. I don’t know about you, but I hear quite a lot of people recognise the song when it’s played and admit they didn’t know it was the country’s song. It’s a famous tune and deserves to be in there, and is synonymous with the French nation. They may be one of the most frustrating footballing nations to watch, but their anthem certainly provides a bit of entertainment.

2. Brazil:

We hear it all the time at every World Cup, and if you haven’t heard it before get ready to be familiarised with it. The world’s greatest footballing nation backed by a great and vibrant anthem, this song must really fire up the Brazilians before they start the match. Although I usually love Brazil, their great anthem will not stop my 2010 World Cup boycott of them, as Dunga has broke my (and probably yours) heart by dropping Ronaldinho for the South African tournament. Give the people what they want Dunga, I want to hear some of Ronaldinho’s fantastic singing on that anthem.

1. Italy:

I’ve always been a big fan of Italian football, it used to be shown on Channel four when I was young, and as I didn’t have Sky it was my only outlet for football. I still follow Italian football a lot, and most of my favourite players are the big names that graced Serie A in the 90′s and early 00′s. So I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the Italian national team (although Totti, Toni and Del Piero will tell you when they’re not worthy of a call up, Lippi – not the other way around!) and I just love their anthem. If you ever get a chance to read the lyrics to the song as well, they’re going on about making someone Rome’s slave or something and dominating the world. Got to love those Italians.

For me, Group H in the 2010 World Cup is the one I’m looking forward to the most. You can three of the most exciting teams in the world: Spain, Chile and Honduras. And Switzerland shouldn’t be underestimated either.

Which two teams do you think will advance from Group H in the 2010 World Cup? Cast your vote and click the comments link below to share your opinion.