2010 World Cup draw: Top 10 conclusions

Ollie Irish

5th, December 2009

20 Comments

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1. Charlize Theron won’t be invited back by Fifa anytime soon. What was she on – a mixture of valium and gin? She looked great and flirted with everyone on the stage, but boy did she talk a lot of shit.

2. David Beckham’s haircut will be great when it’s finished.

3. Haile Gebrselassie is tiny, like an Action Man, but happier.

4. Crappy draw for Africa. Ivory Coast – Africa’s best team – must find a way to get one good result from games against Brazil and Portugal, while Ghana are stuck with two very strong European nations – Germany and Serbia – plus the plucky Australians. For hosts South Africa too, the draw was unkind – France and Mexico stand in their way, and there’s a good chance Bafana Bafana won’t escape from their group, which would be bad news all round for the tournament. Nigeria might be the African team to watch instead, as I expect them to qualify alongside Argentina at the expense of South Korea and Greece. Overall though, not good for the home continent.

5. Good draw for England, even better draw for the USA. Fabio Capello will be confident that his team can win its group, but the real winners are the States, who got as good a draw as they could have hoped for (they drew three of the weakest teams in their respective pots) – and about time too. If Fifa wanted to contrive helpful conditions for its most important expanding market, Sepp just got his wish. There’s every chance Landon, T-Ho and co. can win what must be one of the weakest World Cup groups in recent times.

6. There is no authentic Group of Death. On second glance, most of the groups look very competitive and well-balanced. I don’t see a stand-out GoD, although Portugal and Ivory Coast won’t be happy to be in the same quartet as Brazil.

7. D is for Deepest. Germany, Serbia, Ghana, Australia. That’s one deep group: everyone can beat everyone else. Your head tells you it’ll be Germany +1, but the Germans will rightly be nervous about the prospect of an early exit. Still, I’d probably take Germany and Ghana to qualify here, but Serbia and the Aussies will fight to the end. A fascinating quartet, whatever happens.

8. Europe 1-0 The Rest of the World. Italy, Spain, Holland and England all got sweet groups. Now I wouldn’t bet against six European nations making it to the last eight, which would rather turn the tournament into Euro 2010. Shame if that happens. Would love to see some new teams go far, like Chile for example, who looked very tasty in their qualifiers.

9. Long-range prediction, based on the draw: Spain to beat England in the final.

10. I’m excited. Very excited – six months is too long to wait though, and way too many “England can roar to victory” headlines to endure, not to mention metatarsal injuries.

What did you make of it all? Thoughts please…

Posted in Featured, Top 10s & lists, World Cup

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20 Comments

  1. Philando Torres says:

    The captain of the SA Women’s team is stunning.

  2. Kriste says:

    Man, I’m sure,that England won’t go further than quarter final. and with such draw it has already become Euro2010,I think.

  3. Rich says:

    You could add France to conclusion #8; what a draw for the blues

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  5. norm says:

    This time, it will be the Netherlands who will win the cup!

  6. Victor Estrada says:

    That’s no the captain of the S.A. women’s team that’s Charlize Theron, who happens to be South African.

  7. africalovafrumengland says:

    dude im sure ghana can qualify! if they can beat czech republic they can sure as heck beat serbia!!! such haters man!

  8. Gregg says:

    im hoping that THE USA SOCCER TEAM DO really WELL in the 2010 world cup, but we gonna need a very solid defence and a explosif counterattack. I think USA soccer team play to slow and careless.Ms Bod Bradley should work on that. we should not take this tournamemt likely because everybody in each corner of the world going to watch this magnificent event. We gonna go to South Africa as a world class footbal team or (soccer)to knock everybody OUT on our path to prove the world that we don’t just play AMERICAN FOOTBAL, BASEBALL or ICE HOCKEY we also can be the world class leader in soccer futhurmore we will make history this summer in South Africa.

  9. Gregg says:

    im hoping that THE USA SOCCER TEAM DO really WELL in the 2010 world cup, but we gonna need a very solid defence and a explosif counterattack. I think USA soccer team play to slow and careless.Ms Bod Bradley should work on that. we should not take this tournamemt likely because everybody in each corner of the world going to watch this magnificent event. We gonna go to South Africa as a world class footbal team or (soccer)to knock everybody OUT on our path to prove the world that we don’t just play AMERICAN FOOTBAL, BASEBALL or ICE HOCKEY we also can be the world class leader in soccer game futhurmore we will make history this summer in South Africa.

  10. Squelch says:

    All depends if England can keep their first team fit from the opening game to their last. Beyond their first eleven, they’re pretty crap.

  11. spectator says:

    with England’s luck, they’ll top their group but Germany will come second in theirs. then you’ll lose on penalties in the first knock out phase. i hope that doesn’t happen though.

  12. Rodrigo says:

    Spain, Brazil, Holland and england are the favorites. I just hope mexico makes it to semi finals. VIVA MEXICO! good luck to england and holland

  13. whoateallthepies says:

    England should win their group, setting up a tasty second round match with Australia. The Aussies would love nothing more than to give it to the “mother country” even though most of the Socceroos’ roots are more continental than the UK.

  14. kaya says:

    Most are pretty self-evident conclusions…
    Charlize was embarassingly bad. You could tell the french dude felt like kicking her at couple points.
    I’m worried about this being a repeat of 2002: Germany v Brazil final.
    A very long 6 months coming indeed.

  15. Peter says:

    Great show, Charlize was great, and the winner is: Italy

  16. Neal Collins says:

    So no section on how the draw was fixed? How we all knew England were going to get Group C and that first game in Rustenburg, where their training camp has been booked for months? http://www.nealcollins.co.uk/blog and see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26B6civ-8qk

  17. Erica says:

    Charlize Theron was an absolute moron! I wish I could have just muted her. I kept throwing things at the TV. The French guy was making snarky comments at her, too. Like when she kept saying, oh that’s a good one, that’s a good ball, he said to her, “They’re all the same, Charlize.” She was the worst part of it.

    I put England to the semi-finals, at least, if they don’t muck it up. Fingers crossed that it doesn’t go to penalties.

    And France are very very lucky cheaters.

  18. Davy says:

    I couldnt believe the crap Charlize came out with, continually asking David Beckham if he was sure that was the ball he wanted?? Embarrasing man…. We have to be well pleased with our draw though, USA are the only team who “could” cause us any problems but I think we “should” win the group without too many problems

  19. Abdelcrime says:

    I’m confident Algeria can beat England and the USA. Their back four is not the safest, but they can score goals ! They have a good team spirit, skillful players and a great coach. They can definitely be the shock winners of group C

  20. little lord fauntleroy says:

    what’s going on here?

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