What's the world cup draw you ask? Well ladies, the world cup draw took place in South Africa this past Friday. The draw decides which countries will face each other in the opening group stages of the greatest sporting event on earth! From the groups the top two teams advance to the knock out stage, and then it gets a little confusing... refer to this chart from 2006 for a visual. The top two teams from each group advance and they play against the top teams from the other groups. At that point 16 teams should be left, loser goes home. From there, the 8 winners advance to the quarter final and it's do or die to the end.
World Cup 2010 group tables & fixtures
FIFA World Cup : Group A TableFriday, 4 December 2009 19:22 UK
P W D L F A GD PTS 1 France 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Mexico 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 South Africa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Uruguay 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Head butting and hand balls aside, I think France will be in first in this group, not sure who will be second of this group. Let's cheer for the host team. France 1, South Africa 2.
FIFA World Cup : Group B TableFriday, 4 December 2009 19:23 UK
P W D L F A GD PTS 1 Argentina 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Greece 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Nigeria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 South Korea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Doesn't seem Argentina has consistently performed on the international stage. South Korea might be their only formidable opponents, they've been in the final four before but that was in 2002.... lines up's have changed and one word: Messi. This one goes to Argentina, I think they've been handed a group they can walk out of on top. Argentina 1, South Korea 2.
*Rubs hands together* Here we go! USA's world cup hopes start June 12 against England! Let the name calling begin! The Yanks v. the Limey's! The Patriots v. the London Silly Nannies! This will be like watching two long lost relatives fight each other. Maybe like two siblings (both of them girls) swinging and pulling hair...we don't really mean to hurt each other, do we? Hell yea we do! Watch out Beckham, we might ruffle your perfect hair, Rooney protect yer bullocks! Terry, um... Chelsea sucks!... So the big question.... Does the US stand a chance against England? I say YES , we can! I believe we have a good fighting chance against one of footballs powerhouse nations... don't believe me? Don't forget this:
FIFA World Cup : Group C TableFriday, 4 December 2009 19:23 UK
P W D L F A GD PTS 1 Algeria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 England 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Slovenia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 USA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Yeah that would be the USA defeating Spain w/ Carles Puyol Saforcada (FC Barcelona), Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Fernando Torres (Liverpool). Top players playing for top teams, and we beat them.If our top players stay fit (as England's top players get older and put on a show of big names), I think we have a good chance of making it out of the group stages.
Let's look at some FIFA stats:
England top scorers:
Wayne ROONEY 760 Minutes 9 Goals Peter CROUCH 279 4 Frank LAMPARD 890 4
USA top scorers:
Jozy ALTIDORE 755 Minutes 6 Goals Michael BRADLEY 1326 5 Landon DONOVAN 1340 5 Clint DEMPSEY 1072 5 Brian CHING 747 4
Less time more goals or more players scoring... Altidore and Rooney are pretty equally matched in my opinion. USA have had more goals scored, but also had more goals scored against them... it's a toss up. I'm still undecided who will be 1 and 2 for this group. I can't wait to see it all unfold next summer!
FIFA World Cup : Group D TableFriday, 4 December 2009 19:24 UK
P W D L F A GD PTS 1 Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Germany 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Ghana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Serbia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Duh Germany... 3rd place in the world cup 2006, 2nd place in Euro 2008. Unless
Ballack, Lahm, Klose, Schweinsteiger, and Podolski all get injured I don't think Germany is going down. Germany 1, Australia 2 (possibly Ghana 2).
FIFA World Cup : Group E Table
Friday, 4 December 2009 19:24 UK
P W D L F A GD PTS 1 Cameroon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Denmark 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Japan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Netherlands almost seemed unstoppable in Euro 2008 but they fell apart and lost to Russia in the Quarter finals. I don't know enough about any of the other teams to comment. But I'd like to see the Netherlands go on. Netherlands 1, Japan 2.
FIFA World Cup : Group F Table
Friday, 4 December 2009 19:24 UK
P W D L F A GD PTS 1 Italy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 New Zealand 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Paraguay 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Slovakia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Talk about being handed a cake walk in the group stages. Italy will ultimately be #1. I don't know enough about NZ, Paraguay and Slovakia to decide who will be #2.
FIFA World Cup : Group G Table
Friday, 4 December 2009 19:24 UK
P W D L F A GD PTS 1 Brazil 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Ivory Coast 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Korea DPR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Portugal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Brazil or Portugal. I can't decide which of these teams will be one and two.
If top ranked Spain falls in the group stages I'll be very very surprised. Than again stranger things have happened. (Like getting defeated by the USA!). Spain 1, Honduras 2.
FIFA World Cup : Group H Table
Friday, 4 December 2009 19:25 UK
P W D L F A GD PTS 1 Chile 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Honduras 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Spain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Switzerland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
(source for fancy charts: BBC SPORTS)
SO there's my thoughts on the world cup draw, come on Summer 2010!
Rob, you and your three lions are going down!! **
Ah, the limited powers of paint!
======
** We American's will pretend to care up until the point where we lose, in which case we state that we didn't care about soccer in the first place and will go back to our normal pre-season behavior of preparing our NFL fantasy drafts.
No comments:
Post a Comment