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The World Cup 2010 Draw : The English Perspective (part two)

Published by Ian John on December 5, 2009

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6.25pm : Jerome explains that the first to African sides drawn out of Pot C will be placed into Argentina and Brazil’s groups, with the first South American side out of Pot C placed in South Africa’s group. I’m hoping to avoid the Ivory Coast and Ghana in particular from this group. Argentina and South Korea get Nigeria in group B, South Africa get Uruguay with them and Mexico in group A, which is now looking particularly difficult for the hosts. Next comes Ivory Coast! My insides do a horrible flip! Oh God, they are in with England! But no, I’d forgotten what Jerome said and laughed heartily when he placed them in Brazil and North Korea’s group G. That’s a tough draw for Brazil. Next up WILL be England’s opposition and I’m hoping for Algeria. It is! Possibly the best draw we could have got from Pot 3! Suddenly England and the USA’s task looks much less daunting with the Algerians and so happy am I with this I almost miss Germany being drawn another potentially difficult team in Ghana to add to Australia, Holland and Japan get Cameroon, Italy and New Zealand get Paraguay in what is shaping up to be the softest group and Spain and Honduras get Chile, which sounds a simple enough tie, but they did finish 2nd in South American qualifying and are no mugs. Still England can’t complain, out of Pot C I think we got the team most people would have wanted. Now if we can just get Slovenia or Slovakia from Pot D, I’ll be a very happy man!

6.35pm : Pot D is a very straightforward one with the eight European teams just being drawn into groups A-G. First up is South Africa and they get…France! You can almost hear the palpable sigh around the auditorium. The hosts will face Mexico, arguably the strongest team in Pot B, Uruguay who will give anyone a game and France, arguably the best team in Pot D. Poor Charleze isn’t looking best pleased. Argentina, Nigeria and South Korea draw…Greece. Pah! Another soft draw for the Argentinian’s. England are up next and along with the USA and Algeria we get…Slovenia! I do a little jig of delight. The group really could not worked out much better for England or the USA. Both will be confident of qualifying from the group. Germany, Australia and Ghana draw Serbia! Ouch! That looks like being a very, very tough group for all four teams. I would not like to call that one. Holland, Japan and Cameroon get Denmark, which will no doubt make the two European teams favourites to qualify from that section. Italy’s group looks very favourable for the Azzuri and joining them, Paraguay and New Zealand will be…Slovakia. Christ. I thought our group wasn’t too bad. The Italians could not have picked a better draw for them if they had been allowed to do it themselves. Brazil, N.Korea and Ivory Coast next. I bet they don’t want Portugal…But that is exactly who they have got! A sharp intake of breath… Brazil, Ivory Coast and Portugal! What a group! North Korea will be the also rans, but one of those three teams will not make the knockout stages! Spain are left with Switzerland joining Honduras and Chile in Group G. A nice draw for the Spaniards who will be clear favourites to go through.

On reflection, England, Italy, Spain Holland and Argentina, of the seeded teams, certainly got the most favourable draws. I don’t think any of these countries can complain about who they will face in their group games and all should be strong favourites now to progress in the tournament. South Africa have a very tough group and the addition of France as their final opponent from Pot D just made it a whole lot tougher. Germany’s group looks to have great strength in depth. Serbia, Australia and Ghana will not be pushovers at all and all will be confident that they can cause an upset and reach the second stage. But I think this world cup’s Group of Death is Brazil, North Korea apart, the Ivory Coast and Portugal will have been the two sides Dunga will have been keen to avoid in each pot. Still it will be nice to see Brazil tested so early in the competition.

With the fixtures now in place, fans can now start to whet their appetites for the summers finals and plot their sides potential course to the final and beyond and for now, in England at least, there are a few smiles about the place. If we cannot qualify from the group we have been drawn, then we do not even deserve to be at the finals. That is not under-estimating the opposition, merely stating that if England have ambitions to do well, then they should take advantage of the draw and have qualified before they play their final game against Slovenia. I fancy the USA to qualify with us too. I don’t foresee Algeria or Slovenia being strong enough to get a result against either the US or England.

But time will tell!

Image Courtesy of ***SA CocaCola *** at Flickr.com

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