Well after much deliberation and debate as to who the various favourites would get in their groups in the 2010 World Cup, today’s draw in Cape Town answered that question – and in doing so presented many more.
Firstly England have been drawn to face the United States, Algeria and Slovenia in the group stage of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Fabio Capello's men will play the United States in Rustenburg on 12 June, Algeria in Cape Town on 18 June and Slovenia in Port Elizabeth on 23 June. Now on the face of it, it looks an easy draw for Capello’s men, playing America up first will mean that England will have to start professionally.
America have good players in Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Alitdore and Landon Donovan so shouldn’t be taken lightly. England should be good enough to beat them. Another factor here worth mentioning is that Capello is wanting to base the team in Rustenberg, where of course this game will be played. This will hopefully be of benefit to the team as they can train in altitude ahead of the game in the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, which is at an altitude of around 1500m high.
Next up for the Three Lions is Algeria, the weakest african nation to qualify if you believe what the skeptics are saying. However Algeria dont look a bad team, they finished top with their qualifying group along with Egypt and had to face a one-off game in Sudan againgst the Egyptian’s to qualify for the finals. With alot more than sport on the line but politics as well, Rabah Saadane’s men pulled of a famous victory over their rivals, thanks to a splendid goal from Antar Yahia of German outfit Bochum.
Egypt by no means are a bad team and on reflection will feel that they should have won their qualifying group, after all they have won the last two African Cup of Nations. With that fact in mind, it’s useful for Capello and the FA to arrange a friendly with the Pharaoh’s as they should be a good test to play against. There’s also the fact that the friendly at Wembley should be a good opportunity to promote England’s 2018 World Cup bid and there’s no doubt that the Egyptian vote will be a welcome one.
There’s no doubt Capello and the various coaches will have a look at footage of Algeria’s as although they have a few players that British fans will know about. In Nadir Belhaj from Portsmouth, Hameur Bouazza from Blackpool, Majid Bougherra from Rangers and Hull's Kamel Ghilas, they have some decent players who will have come against the likes of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard before in Premeriship competition. However England should be have too much for the Algerian’s and hopefully would have sealed their place for the second round heading into their final group game.
That final group game of course comes up against unfancied Slovenia, who finished ahead of Czech Republic and Northern Ireland to grab the runners up spot behind Slovakia in Group 3 in the European section. After drawing Russia in the play-offs the odds were against the former Yugoslav state. However after nicking a goal late on in Moscow whilst 2-0 down – they put in a good performance in Maribor grabbing a goal from Zlatko Dedič and defending well to earn themselves a place in South Africa. Technically they’re a good team with players playing across the top European leagues, Robert Koren is their captain and the West Brom man will be the creative spark for them to watch out for. Although the fact that they beat Hiddink’s Russia to qualify shouldn’t be forgotten, England have recent history on their side with a 2-1 victory over Slovenia at Wembley this season. Ideally Capello will be looking at this game for an opportunity to give a few of the squad players a chance to play as qualification for the second round should be wrapped up.
Now the way the draw has worked, provided England win the group they will probably face Serbia, Australia or Ghana in the next round who should finish behind Germany. I say ‘should’ because the last thing we’d want is to play the Germans in the second round, after all if there’s a team who can win ugly and go to the later stages of a tournament – it’s them. All the three sides that I’ve mentioned above have their good points. Serbia are a good technical European team, Ghana are a physical unit and Australia are a team that shouldn’t be underestimated with the players that they have in their squad.
However England should be able to beat those teams, although i’m sure it won’t be plain sailing just like their second round match versus Ecuador was like going back to the last World Cup. Thankfully on that day we scrappd through thanks to a David Beckham freekick and heroic blocks from Ashley Cole and Rio Ferdiannd.
Providing we reach the quarters, our prospected opponents should be the French, who lets face it were bloody lucky to qualify for the finals. Firstly they looked far from convicing in their qualifying group when they finished runners up behind Serbia. Then of course they met Ireland in the play offs and although they won 1-0 at Croke Park, it was far from an inspiring performance and their goal scored by Nicolas Anelka shot only came about via a lucky deflection of Sean St Ledger.
The second leg of course was going great for the Irish who took the lead in Paris through a Robbie Keane strike and had chances missed to double that lead from Keane and Damien Duff to stop the game going into extra time. Of course sadly a place at the finals was taken away from them, before they even had the chance to take penalties when a cruel handball from Thierry Henry set up William Gallas to score and send the French through after extra time. To win a World Cup you have to beat the best teams and this is a game that we should really find out whether or not Capello’s men are up to it, if England play half as well as Ireland then i fancy they should nick a victory.
That should set them up with a semi-final tie against either Holland or Brazil, two of the best footballing teams to watch in terms of style, pace and entertainment. Holland v Brazil should be a good quarter final but you’d fancy Brazil to win, but then again no one thought France would beat Brazil in the 2006 quarter finals. Anyway if England do reach the semi’s, this is where the likes of Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney and co need to put in the performances of their life if we’re going to reach a second ever world cup final. I’d like to think we can do it, but i think we may just be edged out in extra time via a moment of brilliance from Kaka or Luis Fabiano or knocked out on penalties – that great tradition we have in recent tournaments. Though who knows it could be our chance to win a shootout eventually, i mean it's about time isn't it?
Overall though the Draw gave some interesting results. It was really noticeable to my brother, dad and i that aside from maybe New Zealand, North Korea and Honduras their are not too many easy teams to beat. That hopefully should be good for the tournament and will make sure we see alot of close games. As for the other favorites, Spain should easily emerge from their group as should Italy who should finish ahead of Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia in Group F.
Aside from Germany’s group which i’ve mentioned above in this article, the one group that should be fascinating to watch is Group G. This will be the so-called ‘Group of Death’ in the media with Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast and North Korea making the numbers up. If you were to give me £5 to say who would finish behind Brazil in the runners-up position, i think Ivory Coast will do it. They are a team full of confidence at the moment and in Didier Drogba, the two Toure brothers, Salamon Kalou and Emmaneul Eboue have stars who any team in Europe would want.
Although Portugal managed under Carlos Quieroz have the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Simao and Deco – i do wonder if they can actually play ugly when it matters and i think they will finish third in this group. The game between Ivory Coast and Portugal on the Tuesday 15th June for me is one of the games that I won’t want to miss out on. For those interested it’s a 3 o’clock kick off, so for those going to work that day – start early and get your work done!!! Or watch it on the BBC I Player online!
In conclusion, I can’t wait for the tournament to start. It’s only 185 days away but everyone’s already talking about the permutations and drama that is going to happen. It’s probably too close to call as to who the favourite is with nothing seperating Spain and Brazil for me. England have given a fair draw and now it’s up to the players and staff to remain in-form over the current season and get in shape for the World Cup. Hopefully the final few weeks of the season will be kind to all the footballers who have a chance of going to the World Cup.
The last thing that we want, although I think some aspects of the media would want is another Metatarsal escapade that has haunted David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and of course Wayne Rooney over the last decade or so. As for top scorer at the tournament favourite it’s probably going to be Luis Fabiano or David Villa but watch out for Wayne Rooney who i boldly predict will score four times in the tournament! Providing he's there of course. Best player of the tournament always goes to a player that makes the World Cup final, and judging by the way they're playing at the moment Xavi looks a good bet for that title.
Thanks to Chris Onderstall for the photos that haave been used in this article, for more information and news on the World Cup check out his great website:
http://www.shine2010.co.za/community/ which looks at the tournament from a South African perspective.
Posted by Adam Dennehey - SportTrades Report Manager
As you're know the Chelmsford Chieftains had a dissapointing couple of results last week, losing to the Bracknell Hornets before following that with an 'ok' draw againgst the Streatham Redskins. Last Sunday Dean Birrell's team bounced back and kept the smiles going for their festive fans with a win for them over Christmas.
