2010 World Cup Finals Draw & Reaction: Groups, Gripes & Gaiety

In case you weren’t already aware, the draw for the 2010 World Cup finals took place in Cape Town a matter of hours ago. Here are the groups it conjured up:

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

My only real reaction now is commiserations to Côte d’Ivoire, Africa’s finest handed a desperately tough draw for the second World Cup running. Last time they were thrown in with Argentina and the Netherlands. This time they face Brazil, Portugal and the unknown quantity that is North Korea, an extremely tough group that will be very very difficult to get out of. Meanwhile Italy, Spain and England will be very happy with their draws, in particular the world champions Italy who look to have an easily navigable group.

The intricacies of Fifa’s seeding system meant that Africa’s first two teams out of the hat were guaranteed to be put into groups with Brazil and Argentina. Sometimes I wonder about FIFA and it’s methods. We’ve spoken about Fifa’s seedings on here before, but at times I cannot help but avoid the uneasy feeling that these draws are orchestrated as best they can to help facilitate the paths of the bigger, more valuable nations. Or maybe I’m just being bitter. Either way, anyone hoping to see an African team lift the World Cup for the first time ever, on African soil, has seen those hopes take a huge hit with this draw in Cape Town. Cameroon too are in a far harder group than first glance may suggest bearing in mind they must face both Holland and a strong Denmark team that cruised to the top of a tricky qualifying group above both Sweden and Portugal.

Putting to one side Africa’s chances for a moment, one thing you can definitely take from the draw in Cape Town is just how tantalisingly brilliant the 2010 World Cup is shaping up to be. Already there are some fantastic looking fixtures in the group stages in South Africa, and in terms of entertainment value groups A, D, E, G and H all look like setting the pulse racing.

Some games I’m really looking forward to already: all of group A (it is a really well matched group I feel, with all teams diverse in nature but attacking in style), England v USA, Germany v Ghana, Netherlands v Cameroon, Denmark v Cameroon, Brazil v Côte d’Ivoire, Côte d’Ivoire v Portugal, Brazil v Portugal and Spain v Chile (a dark horse in my opinion).

What are your reactions to the draw? Which games are you most looking forward to? With 187 days to go to the opening game (South Africa vs Mexico) there’s a lot of discussion to be had.

World Cup 2010