World Cup Draw

[UNHWildCats]

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/2986/wcdraw.png

[UNHWildCats]

The United States will play England in its opener at next year’s World Cup.

The teams will meet in Rustenburg on June 12, their first World Cup matchup since the Americans’ 1-0 upset victory at the 1950 tournament in Brazil.

[Dane96]

DREAM DRAW as they come.

[NHwildEcat]

If they can start out with a win against England...they could end up going pretty far. A top spot in the group gets the the number 2 in Group D...chances are Germany will win their group so this may be very important.

[saccat]

There is normally a "Death Group", but this time around I don't really see one that jumps out at me.

[89Hen]

There is normally a "Death Group", but this time around I don't really see one that jumps out at me.
You might want to look at G again. xnodx

[SuperJon]

I was so scared we were getting set up for the group of death after the first two draws. I was still scared we were going to get France or Portugal. Thankfully we didn't.

[Fear the Bird]

I don't think we could have asked for a better scenario

[Fear the Bird]

You might want to look at G again. xnodx

Absolutely - you must not realize how good Ivory Coast is

[UNHWildCats]

You might want to look at G again. xnodx
Agreed, aside from North Korea those are VERY good teams in group g

[UNHWildCats]

I don't think we could have asked for a better scenario
agreed... this is about as good as you could hope for.

[GannonFan]

Agreed, aside from North Korea those are VERY good teams in group g

Group A ain't bad either - host team normally gets a little boost playing at home, and then you have Mexico and Hand Ball France.

[89Hen]

Group A ain't bad either - host team normally gets a little boost playing at home, and then you have Mexico and Hand Ball France.
They need more than a "little" boost. xsmiley_wix

[T-Dog]

North Korea players will be figuratively killed on the field, then literally killed when they return home by the government.

And State TV will still say they won all their games 1-0.

[UNHWildCats]

Group A ain't bad either - host team normally gets a little boost playing at home, and then you have Mexico and Hand Ball France.
South Africa is the 4th best team in its group... Theres a reason everyone wanted to land there.... home field or not, it will take a superhuman effort for them to get more then 1 point, let alone advance.

[OhioHen]

Group D may turn out to be the most competitive within the group. Germany looks like the class of the group, but the others are all fairly evenly matched and all could give Germany a run.

[GannonFan]

South Africa is the 4th best team in its group... Theres a reason everyone wanted to land there.... home field or not, it will take a superhuman effort for them to get more then 1 point, let alone advance.

I think you're overstimating Mexico and Uruguay there a bit. Neither are overwhelming sides and history has shown that home teams fare pretty well in World Cups. When was the last time a home side didn't make it out of the group stage? Heck, South Korea, Japan, and the US all made it through when they were hosts and outside of maybe Korea the other two weren't much better than SA is now at the time.

[MSUDuo]

South Africa is placing the worst team by a host nation by far. They won't get a win, let alone a point somehow.

[SuperJon]

We must get six points.

Seven points is definitely possible.

If we get nine I'll be ecstatic.

[89Hen]

Group D may turn out to be the most competitive within the group. Germany looks like the class of the group, but the others are all fairly evenly matched and all could give Germany a run.
I think H moreso. Once you get past Spain the other three are dead even in my book.

BTW, can we just merge the two WC threads? xcoolx

[GannonFan]

Good article from Grant Wahl at SI.com - US has played at all 3 venues they are scheduled to play in the World Cup when they played there last summer in the Confed Cup, all 3 games are at altitude, and all three locations are no more than a 2 hour bus ride away from their headquarters in Pretoria (where they happen to play one of the games).

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/grant_wahl/12/04/wcup.draw/index.html?eref=sihp

[MSUDuo]

Good article from Grant Wahl at SI.com - US has played at all 3 venues they are scheduled to play in the World Cup when they played there last summer in the Confed Cup, all 3 games are at altitude, and all three locations are no more than a 2 hour bus ride away from their headquarters in Pretoria (where they happen to play one of the games).

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/grant_wahl/12/04/wcup.draw/index.html?eref=sihp

Most fans may not realize it but that just makes it better. I've heard there are some pretty bad venues in terms of safety and violence. Don't know how these are in terms of those but it is always a good thing when they are close, familiar, and at altitude.

[LacesOut]

Yeah buddy!

I like it! The only sucky part is that we have to wait 6 more months.

[TheValleyRaider]

For the US: 2nd Round, no excuses

Algeria isn't bad, and Slovenia qualified by beating Russia in a playoff, which is mildly impressive. Still, if we have any real pretentions about being a player on the big stage, the USA must reach the knockout stages, end of story

As for that Group of Death, some interesting candidates
B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece
This is a very interesting group. My initial reaction would be to favor Argentina and Nigeria, but both are liable to internal meltdowns (well, in Argentina's case it would be top-down from the Manager...). Both South Korea and Greece have experience going deep in big tournaments, I'm very intrigued to see how it plays out

D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Probably a second-tier "Group of Death," fairly even throughout. Germany will be the one to get through, and probably Australia or Ghana for the 2nd spot

E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Similar to D, though Japan is a clearer weak link

G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal
Probably the deadliest, though I hesitate for 2 reasons: first, because I don't think anyone really has any clue how good North Korea really is, and second, because I think Portugal is overrated. Plus, if Brazil has their heads on straight, they'll collect 9 points

Initial thoughts on qualifiers:
A: France, South Africa (they're really not good, but I'll pick the home side for now)
B: Argentina, Greece
C: England, United States
D: Germany, Ghana
E: Netherlands, Cameroon
F: Italy, Paraguay
G: Brazil, Ivory Coast
H: Spain, Switzerland

[MSUDuo]

Average World Cup ranking of each group

A- 31.75, South Africa is 86
B- 23.5
C- 21, USA group
D- 21
E- 20.75
F- 36.25, Italy will coast in this group
G- 26.25, there will be 2 dozen goals scored in this group. All against North Korea more than likely
H- 18.5, most balanced group by far.

[OhioHen]

Group D may turn out to be the most competitive within the group. Germany looks like the class of the group, but the others are all fairly evenly matched and all could give Germany a run.


I think H moreso. Once you get past Spain the other three are dead even in my book.

BTW, can we just merge the two WC threads? xcoolx

Therein lies the difference. Spain is hugely favored and the others are all the same. Germany is a favorite, but not prohibitive like Spain.

[EPJr]

THE TRASH TALKING BEGINS

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2009/Dec/Week1/15491727.jpg

[NHwildEcat]

Oh England...idiots.

[LacesOut]

THE TRASH TALKING BEGINS

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2009/Dec/Week1/15491727.jpg

LOL

That's pretty good.

[UNCBears2010]

David Beckham isn't so confident. Look at his face when it was announced that the US would be England's first opponent.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k156/jas2781/1144266_full-lnd.jpg