World Cup Draw Thread

Might have to do an all-nighter then sleep during the day before work at night

I think Terry might like to draw Greece. So let it be.

Yep, this. Rather Algeria than Ivory Coast, rather Slovenia than Portugal/France.

Anyhow, no need to hope and wonder much longer. Less than half an hour now until the draw...

Any chance they may actually get round to drawing the balls out of a hat and sorting the groups out, nobody cares about dancing and Sepp Blatter or Charlize Theron, well ok, maybe Charlize Theron....

Should have known there would be at least an hour of crap!  Up at 6 to watch a recital

Is Matthew Booth wearing a velvet suit?

Opening game is SA .v Mexico

Australia got Germany D:

we got italy

better than getting brazil or spain at least

Good! This is the team we held to 3-4 in South Africa, right?

paraguay

Paraguay! awesome

Ahahahah SA got France

Cmonnnnnnn slovenia

The group of life. Group C.

australia are farked

Aussie got serbia, rough

Woot we got slovakia! :D

I think that's about as sweet a group as we can hope for. Wouldn't wish Group B on my worst enemy, though.

Australia v Serbia? I think they should bring Mark Viduka back for that, just for the lulz.
Doloras2009-12-05 07:26:41

Its pretty good yeah, if only it was SA at the top though ;D

Group D and G are the Groups of Death.

Not too unhappy with our group.

Will give more detail later once i've woken up a bit more.

I do <3 Charlize though.
Buffon II2009-12-05 07:33:44

  could have been a lot worse

would have been better to get Italy first up, catch them in complacency

Poor draw for the Aussies, IMO it's the most competitive, but it's not even the group of death.

Brazil, Portugal and Cote d'Ivoire!! Poor Korea DPR, so could easily have been us.

I'm very happy with that draw, it came out pretty well for us, dodged the bullets at least.

England have a great draw. The Aussies definitely have it tough in their group though. (But if they get through, England v Australia will be a fun 2nd round match.)

Ireland will be even more upset now they see who France got...


 

Italy

Italy are current world champions. They have won the World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006). They have a fantastic pedigree and history within world football and are always among the favourites at any major tournament. Key players include world class goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, defender and golden ball winner in 2006 Fabio Cannavaro, cultured midfielder Andrea Pirlo and clinical striker Luca Toni.

Paraguay

Paraguay are one of the stronger nations in South America. Unfortunately they have enjoyed limited success on the global stage, with three second round appearances (1986, 1998, 2002) the height of their success. Key players are likely to be goalkeeper and captain Justo Villar, veteran full back Denis Caniza and the strike force of Nelson Valdez and Oscar Cardozo.

Slovakia

Slovakia are making their debut appearance at a FIFA World Cup since gaining independance from the former Czechoslovakia in 1993. They qualified top of a group that includes Slovenia, Czech Republic and Poland. Key players will be defender Martin Skrtel, midfielder and captain Marek Hamsik and striker Robert Vittek.

I love how blatantly Beckham was so stoked

Even Korea DPR could be tough

surprise package maybe?

Well we have a chance to get through the pool group.

Vs Slovakia - a must win first up. Must get the most goals we can in this game.

Vs Paraguay - definitely our most important need to upset them in any way. This is the team that we need to overtake into 2nd spot of the group.

Vs Italy - They will be more prepared this time round and we be looking to prevent them from scoring if that will help us in our goal difference should we go into the match after getting a draw and a win in the above matches. However I am backing that they would be weary knowing that they had conceded 3 goals against us and that they would be in cruise mode after expectedly beating both Paraguay and Slovakia.

[-> Does this group match order strategy look so much similar to the Australia's 2006 pool group?]

Group E looks just as tasty should we get through as runners-up. Netherlands is likely to be the winners and be second round opponents. Wish we have that friendly against Australia in preparation but we have our work cut out as it is. [Although Netherlands will have their work cut out with Cameroon, Japan and Denmark at bay to win that group]

Lucky we were not drawn in group D or G.

AWB match order is Slovakia, Italy, Paraguay. Italys last game is v  Slovakia.

What is this a scout report from 2006? Cannavaro will play for Italy but is a shadow of his former self. Really doesn't look anything like a top defender anymore. Luca Toni is also the same, playing for Bayern Munich II (albeit through injury), but still not a great player. Think De Rossi and Gilardino are more key.

Cannvaro still has plenty of experience and this will be key in South Africa next June. I agree Gilardino is quality but on his day Luca Toni is one of the most clinical strikers on the planet.

Ok. Got ya. For a moment there, I thought we were F4 spot not F3. I keeping visually thinking that we are at the bottom of the list when it was actually in the pot list not pool list and I got my wires crossed.

Note to Rory Fallon: if Materazzi says something about your sister, DON'T REACT. 

not a great draw for those travelling, no real great spots and the one place to be avoided - rustenberg

Maybe I am clutching at straws, but IMO there is some symmetry to Australia's path in 2006 to R2 and our path in 2010.

2006: Australia
Japan (most beatable team in Group) 
Brazil (defending champion, group favorite)
Croatia (team they needed a result off to make R2)

2010: New Zealand
Slovakia (arguably the most beatable team in Group) 
Brazil (defending champion, group favorite)
Paraguay (team they needed a result off to make R2)

I think you mean italy. Its pretty fair to say that most groups would be like that for unseeded teams. So yeah it is similar.