England’s World Cup Group of Death?

Ollie Irish

19th, November 2009

30 Comments

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With the World Cup draw only a couple of weeks away (4th December), and all 32 teams now qualified, Pies thought it would be interesting to imagine how the draw might work out for F-Cap’s England.

Goal.com has drawn up a list of the possible four seeding sections, which they think will look something like this:

POT 1 (top seeds): South Africa (hosts), Brazil, Spain, Argentina, ENGLAND, Italy, France, Germany

POT 2 (UEFA pot): Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia, Slovenia

POT 3: Mexico, USA, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Honduras, New Zealand, North Korea

POT 4: Paraguay, Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Uruguay, Algeria, Chile

Just typing out that list has got me excited. Anyway, assuming the pots are divided up in this way, what’s the worst possible draw England could get?

May I suggest this Group of Death:

England, Netherlands, Mexico, Ghana

Ouch, that would be horribly difficult, for all teams concerned – a bit like at the 2006 World Cup, when the draw threw up not one, but two Groups of Death: Italy, Ghana, Czech Republic, USA / Netherlands, Argentina, Ivory Coast, Serbia & Montenegro

At the other end of the scale, what’s the easiest, peasiest group Capello’s boys could find themself in?

I suggest:

England, Greece, New Zealand, Algeria

Yes yeeees yeeeeeeees – that looks a hell of a lot more friendly.

What do you think is the worst/best draw for England?

Posted in Featured, International football, World Cup

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30 Comments

  1. Paul says:

    Worst draw for England would be Portugal, Ivory Coast and Australia

  2. Ollie says:

    I see what you mean about Portugal (imagine the horrible Ronaldo-based build-up) and the old enemy Australia. Nasty group you have there.

  3. Adolfo Maier says:

    You shouldn’t wish drawing Algeria in your group, they would kick your ass.
    There is no easy draw anyway (Should I remind you of who won the euros in 2004 ?)

  4. Dom says:

    England
    Netherlands
    USA
    Ivory Coast

    The Dutch usually just about manage to hold off their iminent implosion until after the group stages, the USA have proven their ability to beat the best (alright, it WAS the Confederations Cup) and the Ivory Coast have some real world class quality.

  5. Kipp says:

    England, Ireland, Mexico, Ivory Coast

  6. that was rather amusing says:

    new zealand should be in pot 4.

  7. Davy says:

    Kipp, Ireland aint qualified thanks to Thierry Henry’s hand so that would be a canny exceptional group

  8. Ollie says:

    @ Davy: Knowing Kipp, I’m pretty sure he was making an ironic comment there.

  9. syndex says:

    worst –England
    Portugal
    Autralia
    paraguay

    best — England
    slovenia
    Honduras
    Algeria
    Is it just me or does Pot 4 look much more painful than pot 3 with only algeria and chile looking weak.

  10. kalezu says:

    Whichever way you wanted to look at it, England won’t survive the first round…if they do it will be ‘by the skin of their teeth’ as you Brits would love to call it…

  11. kalezu says:

    ..and as your pot, putting almost all the Africans (except the host) in Pot 4 shows your lack of respect, knowledge and a sense of hmmm…for the lack of a better word, utter arrogance…well, what do you expect from a Brit!

  12. Davy says:

    Apologies Kipp…….

  13. jamjam says:

    Best for england would be , England ,Germany,Brazil ,Argantina
    this way they will fight the best in the group stages .. and the rest should be gravey ! remember england choke in the quarter finals against big teams.

  14. Kipp says:

    Oh davy, it wasn’t Ironic. Just wait and see, The fai and the Department of Justice will not allow this to pass.

  15. Anonymous says:

    @kalezu:
    LOL, you berk. The pots aren’t organised by seedings, only pot A. The rest are allocated by their regions. So take your lack of respect, knowledge and a sense of hmmm…for the lack of a better word, utter arrogance back to your hole.
    Also, anyone thinking that New Zealand wouldn’t be in England’s best possible group has got some problems because they are awful!

  16. Bishop says:

    @kalezu
    LOL, you berk. The pots aren’t organised by seedings apart from pot A, the other teams are allocated into each pot by their regions. So take yer lack of respect, knowledge and a sense of hmmm…for the lack of a better word, utter arrogance back to yer hole.

  17. Adolfo Maier says:

    @kalezu: I’m with you on this one, the english are so arrogant …
    I hope they will fly back to europe after 3 games, that’s all they deserve. They criticize Henry for a mere handball, whereas their Marlon King has done really worse than that… They should really watch their foul mouths.

  18. Bishop says:

    @Adolfo Maier: oh.. so we’re parading Marlon King on the streets are we?? Saying he’s a great guy are we? Alright then son……

  19. Adolfo Maier says:

    @Bishop: The french are ashamed of Henry as well, but he is still french. And Marlon King is still english, whether you like it or not

  20. Ben says:

    @ Adolfo: I think you’ll find he’s Jamaican.

    Just kidding…

  21. TuncaySanli says:

    Does Marlon King not play for Jamaica?

  22. Joe says:

    Holland always get the group of death (Euro 2000: Czech Rep, Denmark, France; 2004: Germany, Czech Rep; 2008: Italy, France; World Cup 2006:), so it’ll be us, Spain/Brazil, USA, Ivory Coast. England will probably get a soft-ish one: Denmark, South Korea, Uruguay.

  23. Joshua says:

    @Joe

    Denmark and South Korea shouldn’t be considered “soft.” If you want soft, try North Korea and Slovenia

  24. Bruce says:

    Bring them all on!

  25. d says:

    dont matter spainll win

  26. Jack Stapleton says:

    gutted that ireland didn’t get through there should be a replay.
    @ adolfo marlon king has been arrested and prosecuted.
    before you comment on something get your facts right and marlon king played for jamaica.

  27. Aidan says:

    New Zealend are absolute rubbish, dont be surprised if in thier short campaign they take part in one of the biggest losses in world cup history
    We over here in Australia have been routinely wipping them for years
    Although it helps us tremendously i still thinks its a little rediculous that Australia is now part of Asia but New zealend isnt, if they were going to put is in Asia they should have just put the whole of Oceania in asia, none of the crappy islands would pose a threat anyway and New zealend would have to play more than one match to get in (cone on you guys know playing against pacific islands are not matches)

  28. peegeeNZ says:

    But ya didn’t whip NZ in ’82 Aidan did ya? If I recall, we did you 2-0 at your place, setting a few records along the way in qualifying for Spain. Sure, we’re the poor relations down here, but why did Aussie decamp to Asia? Because they didn’t want to face a fifth place South American team presumably.
    This is the World Cup, and while Oceania is vastly inferior quality-wise to the rest of the confederations, policy dictates that they qualify for representation at the latter levels of the comp. I think it would be fairer to have NZ enter the second round-robin phase in Asia if they won Oceania, and would probably help lift our standards. However, we remain in Oceania as we need the rewards that come from representation in such events as the Confederations Cup – we simply don’t have the money that’s thrown into Aussie football.
    Anyway Aidan, we’re your nearest neighbours, you should be with us. I was at last weeks game against Bahrain, and you wouldn’t have got a better atmosphere anywhere!

  29. Greg says:

    Er… anyone else think that England will be VERY lucky to be one of the seeded teams?

    I’m pretty sure that the 3 previous major tournaments are usually taken into account, as well as FIFA’s ranking system, which would leave them behind Portugal and Holland and in pot 2 – especially after non-qualification for Euro 2008.

    Of course, there’s always a chance that FIFA could change things around to suit the more ‘marketable’ nations…

  30. Sebastien says:

    Group of Death for me will be

    Brazilor Spain
    Mexico
    Netherlands
    Ivory Coast

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