A Closer Look at the 2010 World Cup Draw

By : Mark Stockton 29 or more times read

Friday December 4th was the date for the draw for the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa and - for once - England didn't get drawn in what is often called the 'Group of Death'.

Every World Cup has one group consisting of four extremely strong teams and, for obvious reasons, this Group is referred to as the 'Group of Death'.

This time, however, it seems there are two Groups of Death for the South African finals.

The first, and most obvious, is Group G. This consists of Brazil (FIFA Ranking #2), Portugal (FIFA Ranking #5), Ivory Coast (FIFA Ranking #16) and North Korea (FIFA Ranking #84).

OK, so, maybe we can rule out North Korea qualifying from this group but Korea aside, this is a tough test for all three of the other teams. The Ivory Coast will probably be the most disappointed to be drawn alongside Brazil and Portugal as they were the African nation most commentators expected to progress to the latter stages of the competition.

However, with Portugal hardly covering themselves with glory in the qualifying campaign, don't be too surprised if they are the side to go out in the Group stages.

The other 'Group of Death' is Germany's group : C. Although both Serbia and Australia are ranked below the World's top twenty teams and Ghana is a lowly 37th, this is one of the times that the FIFA rankings don't do justice to the quality of the teams involved.

Ghana, for example, were the first African country to qualify for the 2010 finals and they did so at a canter, led by an impressive Michael Essien.

Australia have proven quality Premiership players in abundance, and Serbia are not lacking in high profile performers either. Germany will do well to win this group and I suspect there will be one or two surprises along the way.

Elsewhere, favorites Spain in Group H and Italy in Group F should have no problems getting through their group. Nor, indeed, should England in Group C, despite a tasty looking opening match against the United States of America.

In fact, the runners up places of these Groups look more interesting, with Chile and Honduras in Group H and Paraguay or Slovakia in Group F being the most likely to progess to the Second Round.

The Dutch in Group E would do well to look out for Cameroon, who are the highest ranked African nation and a personal tip to do well in the competition. Denmark, too, are always solid and were impressive in qualifying, so they too might pose a problem for the Dutch. Nevertheless, you would expect the Netherlands to qualify from this group.

But who knows what will happen in Groups A and B, where the frankly terrible France and equally poor Argentina are the favorites to qualify. If I was a betting man, it's these groups I would look at for the best value outsider bets.

Still, at a World Cup, anything can happen, so - for now - this is all just speculation. Roll on the 2010 Finals. Enjoy the World Cup as it happens and get all the news, results, stories and more at http://www.worldcupnow.co.uk

Enjoy the World Cup as it happens and get all the news, results, stories and more at http://www.worldcupnow.co.uk