Emerging talent: largely unheard of Milivoje Novakovic will be a real threat to any defender in South Africa

Caps: 36
Goals: 13
World Cup appearances: None
World Cup 2010 qualification: 12 appearances/5 goals

Club: Cologne, Germany
Age: 30
Position: Striker

Slovenia's roll call of world-class players has traditionally begun and ended with Zlatkio Zahovic. But an outstanding performance against Russia on November 18 has threatened to propel Novakovic, Slovenia’s leading striker, into the same rarefied orbit.

Novakovic was in scintillating form as Slovenia overturned a 2-1 first-leg deficit to qualify for their second World Cup with a 1-0 win. The 6ft 4in striker scored five goals in qualifying, including both goals in a vital 2-1 win over Slovakia, and next summer will be one of the lynchpins of a side low on star quality but high on graft.

Although still relatively unknown in this country, Novakovic has played for a host of clubs in Slovenia, Austria, Bulgaria and Germany, where he has lived for the last three years.

He has become a firm favourite at Cologne, scoring 20 goals to help the team win promotion to the Bundesliga in 2008, and was appointed captain by manager Christoph Daum.

Last season he scored another 16 goals, thriving alongside new strike partner Lukas Podolski, as Cologne finished in 12th place.