The DRAW!!

Yes, finally the draw for the World Cup is out. The tournament will last for one month, with the first match on 11 June, 2009 and the finals to be played on 11 July, 2009.

Here are the groups in which the teams were drawn yesterday at the draw ceremony, the draw was held by South African actor Charlize Theron. She was helped by David Beckham, Makhaya Ntni, Haile Gebresselasie, Mathew Booth, John Smit and Simphiwe Dludlu.

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

The "group of death" seems to be the second last group, Group G. The group has Brazil and their european cousins Portugal. Ivory Coast, who are one of the strongest teams in Africa are also drawn in Group G. North Korea completes the group. Adding to that, the team finishing second in the group will have to potenially face Spain in the second-round.

The other tough group is Group D. Germany, three-time winners, are drawn with Serbia, Australia and the black stars, Ghana. All the four teams played in the previous world cup. Serbia managed to finish first in their qualification group ahead of France. Also, Australia and Ghana gave a good account of themselves in 2006.

Italy are drawn in an easy group. With one of the weakest teams in the tournament-New Zealand in their group. The other teams are Paraguay, Slovakia.

France, who were seeded in Pot 4 were lucky to avoid any superpower, as they were handed a relatively easy draw, having Mexico, hosts South Africa and Uruguay in group A.

England have USA, Algeria and Slovenia in group C. It isn't a very tough group and England will be expected to qualify in pole position. Their first game with USA may decide whether they finish the group in first place or not.

Group E is a competitive group as well. The four teams are one of the stronger teams at the international circuit.

Argentina and Spain will have no complaints for the draw handed to them. While Argentina have Nigeria, South Korea and Greece, Spain have Switzerland, Chile and Honduras. Both teams are expected to qualify easily from their group.

Kick-Off

This Blog is dedicated to the FIFA WorldCup 2010 to be held in South Africa. The blog has been created on the eve of the draw for the tournament.

So lets have a look at the seedings for the tournament.

32 teams will be playing in the tournament, Ireland's request to be the 33rd team has been rejected.

Teams are:

1. Asia : Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.(5 teams)

2. Africa : South Africa, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Algeria, Nigeria and Ghana.(6 teams)

3. Europe : Slovakia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Germany, Slovenia, Portugal, Greece, Switzerland, Denmark and Serbia.(13 teams)

4. South America : Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile.(5 teams)

5. North America : USA, Honduras and Mexico.(3 teams)

The draw will be held at Cape Town on 4 December, 2009.

The above 32 teams have been divided into 4 different pots. One team from each pot will be drawn for each group.

Pot 1 (seeds): South Africa, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain, England, Argentina, Holland.

Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania and North/Central America) : Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Mexico, Honduras.

Pot 3 (Africa and South America): Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay.

Pot 4 (Europe): France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia.