Is there a more sneaky ‘exciting’ event than the World Cup draw? The draw pretty much determines everything. If you get an easy draw, you're all but guaranteed entry to the next round. Get drawn in the 'Group of Death', and you might as well start planning for 2014.
Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
You could hear the air get sucked out of the room when France was chosen to play in Group A alongside hosts, South Africa. Considering only the top two teams get in, the presence of Mexico and France all but guarantees that the host nation will not make it out of the first round.
The best part? Presenter, and South African Goddess Charlize Theron's confused face when everyone gasped at France and Mexico getting drawn into South Africa's group, as if to say, "what... did I do bad?"
Anyway, considering what France did to qualify, Karma could get the South Africans through.
Who I want to move on: South Africa, France
Who will move on: France, Mexico
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece
Interesting group... the Argentineans have first pretty much locked up, but it’s really anybody’s guess who comes in second. My money’s on the South Koreans, who boast the best player of the other three teams, and had one of the most inspiring runs in World Cup history when they made the semis in 2002. Any team that can eliminate Spain, Portugal, and Italy will be in my good graces for a while.
Who I want to move on: South Korea, Nigeria
Who will move on: Argentina, South Korea
Group C: England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia
You could almost feel David Beckham’s sense of relief as he saw England's draw. The only credible challengers are the Americans (who always falter under the big lights of the international stage anyway), and are going to be missing two of their best three players. You can hear the island's unrealistic hopes of winning from here.
Who I want to move on: England, US
Who will move on: England, US
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Some truths about football: the ball is round, a match lasts 90 minutes, and in the end Germany wins.
The rest of the draw are duds. Move on folks, nothing to see here...
Who I want to move on: Germany, Ghana
Who will move on: Germany, Serbia
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Holland was the only country with a perfect record during the qualification stage. Expect them to move on... the other three teams are all on the same level, but my money’s on the Cameroonians because... well, you got to put your money on somebody...
Who I want to move on: Netherlands, Japan
Who will move on: Netherlands, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Ugh.
Who I want to move on: Slovakia, Paraguay (I guess...)
Who will move on: Italy, and the team most likely to get wagered against by me in the next round.
Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal
Poor North Korea... life under a harsh dictator with no food, no freedom, and hours of this on television.
Somehow they manage to defy all odds and qualify for the World Cup, and what happens? They get drawn into this year’s ‘group of death’.
This group's world rankings..?
Brazil #2
Portugal #5
Ivory Coast #16
Ouch.
The most interesting sub-plot of this draw, BRAZIL v. PORTUGAL!
I live in a Portuguese neighbourhood, and for years my pet peeve has been Portuguese people pretending to be Brazilian as soon as their team gets eliminated. Oh man, does that annoy me. I’d like to think we’ll finally see where a lot of these people's loyalties lie, but more likely we’ll see Portuguese and Brazilian flags draped across the hoods of Honda Civics for weeks to come. I’m getting nauseous just thinking about it... I need to sit down.
Who I want to move on: Ivory Coast, North Korea
Who will move on: Brazil, Ivory Coast
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile
Ugh, part 2.
Who I want to move on: Switzerland, Chile
Who will move on: Spain, Chile
Anyway, in every World Cup, the faces change but the stories more or less stay the same. Expect Brazil and Germany to go far. England to go in with unrealistically high hopes only to crash and burn against a country that speaks Portuguese or Spanish, one big upset with an African side beating a heavily favoured European team, and one Cinderella story getting to the semis before getting crushed by one of the favourites.
My pick to win: BRAZIL
Biggest disappointment: ARGENTINA
Underdogs that will go far: IVORY COAST
English player most likely to screw-up: ROONEY
Highest # of defections from a team: NORTH KOREA
i'm picking Ivory Coast to be my underdog, lock of the week to not only get out of the group of death, but go far!
Ahhh. Musta missed that.
I share in your "ughness" with Italy and Spain....the two easiest groups by far. Don't be surprised to see Argentina choke under the tutelage of Maradona (I half expected him to crash the party today)...and yeah...their qualifying campaign was sub par. Paraguay will surprise a few...might even be a quarter-final run as they stacked up pretty well during qualifying. Portugal-Brazil will definitely be THE match of the first round.....expect them to shut down College and Ossington for a 24 hour period...hehe. The Portugal-Ivory Coast game though will decide who gets through with Brazil....and faces Spain of all teams. Either way...if you don't win Group G...you're screwed. As long as Italy doesn't win...I'm a happy camper.
Yes I've been anti-Italian soccer for as far back as I can remember. No offense and the worst soccer actors in history.
As for Ivory Coast, I was a huge fan in 2006 and having Drogba on your squad is always good. But without any midfield support for him they're fucked. Still rooting for them though
Why are u giving the African teams no love? Do you know how bad Argentina was is qualification? Ivory Coast and Ghana have top class sides playing on the best teams in Europe.
And North Korean's games will not be shown in that country. Gotta keep morale up you know