It’s a process that shouldn’t take more than half an hour, but FIFA managed to find a way to stretch it into three hours. To put things in perspective, we could’ve used those three hours to watch two whole football matches, half-time break aside.
There was the glamor, there were cameras and of course a completely irrelevant figure in the world of football drawing balls. Early rehearsing of the event saw Charlize Theron embarrassingly calling out Ireland’s name instead of France in a cheeky protest of the elimination of the Irish.
That was not the case this time around and the draw went off without any hiccups.
Some sighed huge sighs of relief while others smacked their foreheads in disgust of what came their way.
Here is how things looked at the end of the draw:
Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece
Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana,
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d’Ivoire, Portugal
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile
Hosts South Africa got placed into a rather unpredictable group (more on that in just a bit). Meanwhile, Groups C and G see former colonial powers take on former territories, as England face the USA and Portugal square-off against Brazil.
As always the media took it upon itself to find the supposed ‘Group of Death.’ Many point to Group G in this respect with Brazil, Portugal and the Ivory Coast battling for the two spots. North Korea are by all means, looking from the outside in and will be rather fortunate to advance. Ivory Coast are no strangers to tough groups having been drawn with Holland, Argentina and Serbia in the previous World Cup. Brazil and Portugal are the clear favorites to advance in this group, though many are questioning Portugal’s ability to compete given their largely unimpressive World Cup Qualifying campaign. Despite that, there are reasons to believe that Portugal could do well in the tournament. They got into the tournament playing their last three games without one of the world’s best footballers in Cristiano Ronaldo. Another favorable aspect is that Carlos Queiroz previously managed South Africa and will be aware of any special requirements necessary in fine-tuning the training regiment of the squad.
I, on the other hand, believe that Group D is worthy of the dubbing. Featuring the likes of Germany, Ghana, Australia and Serbia, it has far and away the biggest assortment of talent in its ranks. Three of the four teams in this group were present in the last 16 of the previous edition of the World Cup (more than in any other group), and while Serbia weren’t lucky enough to go that far, this could be because they were in one of the two groups of death, having drawn the short straw and being matched up against Argentina, Holland and the Ivory Coast. Ghana who also feature in the group, were in the other group of death which consisted of the Czech Republic, USA and Italy. Who will make it out alive is anyone’s guess, as it is for any group, but in particular in this group there will surely be an intense shock value.
Others are pointing at Group A as the death-ridden one. However, it would be more appropriate to call it the ‘Group of Uncertainties’. Even though they reached the final in 2006, question-marks will inevitably linger around France who qualified in controversial style. Uruguay boast some talent in their ranks, but have failed to come close to the glories of earlier days. Mexico qualified rather easily and are considered one of the favorites to go through. Then we come to South Africa. Having qualified via fact of being the host nation, the only foresights we can create are based on their performance in the Confederations Cup and the friendlies played since then. South Africa got off to a shaky start drawing against Iraq, but a win against New Zealand was enough to make sure that a loss to Spain proved irrelevant. Against eventual winners Brazil, South Africa performed well enough to only lose by a one goal-margin, which setup a rematch with Spain which again, the South Africans would go on to lose by a one goal margin. Their record in friendlies however is largely alarming as they managed only one win, coming against low-ranked Madagascar. Their other matches culminated in five losses and two draws, two losses and a draw coming at the hands of World Cup participants. South Africa’s chances at advancing will need some miraculous turn of events to be considered good by any means.
In viewing over the other groups, it would seem that the top seeds have been handed rather straight-forward draws, barring any major upsets.
For the most part, Brazil, Spain, England, Germany and last edition’s winners Italy are the favorites to win the trophy. While I fancy everyone’s chances, I’ll stick my neck out and say that this tournament could result in a second star on England’s shirt. Despite their embarrassing failure to qualify for EURO 2008, they present a rejuvenated team as well as a competent coach this time around. I’m also of the opinion that the mild climate that will be found in South Africa will be suitable to the Premier League players found in England’s squad who know how to keep their performances at top notch in such conditions. Should they fail to win, I’m sure there will be plenty of people to point the finger at, but for the sake of avoiding repetitiveness, let’s hope it’s not someone Portuguese.
Part of the suspense has now subsided as the teams all recognize their opponents, but it remains in the form of a ‘to be continued.’
Paulo Pincaro is an up and coming football analyst who previously wrote for the LusoAmericano newspaper based in Newark, New Jersey and can be contacted via email at: PauloNewYorker@yahoo.com. You may also become a fan and keep up to date with the newest headlines on FaceBook at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Paulo-Pincaro/199479401891?ref=ts
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