Portugal's forward Cristiano Ronaldo warms up during a training session at the team's base camp in Campinas, Brazil on Tuesday (Brazilian time) during the 2014 World Cup. Photo: AFP

The opening stages of the World Cup conclude with the final games in Group G and Group H on Thursday.

Group G was expected to be a G for Germany but the most bona fide Group of Death at the tournament has also been the most shocking. The USA were pinching themselves after finally overcoming Ghana at a World Cup but then were left kicking themselves after allowing the Portuguese to equalize at the death after an even more impressive performance.

It will be interesting to see how the Americans react to the dismay of not having already secured qualification to the knockouts against a German side that annihilated Portugal but stuttered to a draw with the Black Stars.

Germany versus the heavily ­Germanic USA team will decide the group winners but a friendly draw takes both sides through.

In the other game, both Ghana and Portugal hold on to the hope that they can win heavily while either Germany or the US also win by a big margin. That is the scenario needed for the group to be tipped on its head and it should provide two captivating ­matches. As much as it would invigorate the tournament, it's unlikely that Germany will miss out, but the USA and Ghana ­qualifying ahead of the Europeans would be historic.

Belgium's latest golden generation has not set Group H alight but they ­improved immeasurably after a frustrating comeback win against Algeria. The Eden Hazard-led Red Devils should be too much for a South Korean side that displayed none of their renowned fighting spirit against Russia and too little, too late against the North Africans. Another Belgian win will make the world take a little more note of a young side that could go far.

South Korea can hope for little out of their last game but showing some of the spirit they exhibited after going 3-0 down to Algeria will stand them in good stead. The memory of their tilt at the 2002 World Cup seems distant when watching this year's team.

Russia versus Algeria is the game to watch. Either team could go through in the kind of winner-takes-all match that you hope the final group game serves up.

Russia should have the edge on ­paper but soccer is not played on paper and Algeria have been impressive in both games.

Capello's Russia are hard to break down, as their game against the Belgians showed, but offer little of merit in the opposition half. The Algerians will look to take the game to the ­Russians and ­deserve to join Belgium in the knockouts.