Thetownend.com

The draw for the 2010 World Cup is a few weeks away, provided they use the same method as in 2006 this is what the four pot's of countries will look like:

Pot 1 (seeds) : Spain #1, Brazil #2, Italy #4, Portugal #5, Germany #6, Argentina #8, England #9, South Africa #86.
Pot 2 (South America, Africa) : Cameroon #11, Ivory Coast #16, Chile #17, Uruguay #19, Nigeria #22, Algeria #28, Paraguay #30, Ghana #37.
Pot 3 (rest of Europe) : Holland #3, France #7, Greece #12, Switzerland #18, Serbia #20, Denmark #26, Slovenia #33, Slovakia #34.
Pot 4 (rest of World) : USA #14, Mexico #15, Australia #21, Honduras #38, Japan #43, South Korea #52, New Zealand #77, North Korea #84.

The customary group of death would be; Spain #1, Holland #3, Cameroon #11, USA #14. Obviously England could take the place of Spain in the same grouping, which would be our nightmare scenario.

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I can't help but wonder if FIFA will make some subtle alterations to the seeding procedure which will see France and Holland move to pot 1 at the expense of England and Portugal.

*EDIT* Updated to include current FIFA rankings.

Ivory Coast, Holland and Australia would be a tough group

Algeria, Switzerland and New Zealand would not.

Algeria, Slovenia and Honduras would surley mean we would qulaify

No ireland? ;)

Ivory coast holland mexico, we might as well go home.

that would be cool  :soapy tit wank:. although there is a disadvantage to having an easy group ie. you come out of it not used to playing tight, intense games.

For all the Sweaties, bleating about how hard it is for small countries to qualify, look at Switzerland, Denmark, Slovakia and Slovenia in that pot 3.

what Sweaties would that be then?

Most of the ones I know

S'cuse me for being a bit thick this morning but why would the French & Dutch be in pot 3, not pot 1 at our expense. Is it to do with current form? (In which case why are portugal currently there ?

Personally I think those that get their via the play offs should NOT be seeded at all.

Provided its done the same as last time, the seeding for the World Cup draw is based on performances at the last two World Cups and the FIFA rankings over the last 3 years. This gives you the top 8 seeds who go in to pot 1 (though the hosts automatically get put in this pot, so it will be South Africa plus the top 7 seeds).

The other pots are just selected geographically, so the countries are spread out and to avoid more than 2 UEFA countries ending up in the same group. Not sure this is necessary, I'd prefer it all just based on seeding, but its the way FIFA have always done it.

If you didn't qualify for one of the last two World Cups, you ain't got much chance of being one of the top seeds - hence why Holland aren't.

Well I want the Argies to be with the French. We'd have a hat ful of goals scored from hand balls

When is the draw?

4th december according to the FIFA website.

most of the Scots I know think we should be able to qualify if the likes of those teams can. You must be hanging around with alot of the union loving "we're too wee" brigade!!! soapy tit wank

I was only joking, I tend to avoid speaking to Scots about football as they generally don't have a clue.

:D

Similar to most other football fans then!

Scotland moaned so hard they actually managed to get UEFA to expand the European Championships.

how long before Cuthbert and/or Ferry get a call up?

must be better than some of the shite that usually plays.

On that, I would have to agree. I hope we get promoted fairly soon or those too will be offskis

Unsurprisingly FIFA decided to change the seeding criteria, going with the FIFA rankings for October instead, though the only difference it makes is Holland being seeded instead of Portugal. If they'd gone with the November rankings we'd have been fucked with us and Argentina being replaced by France and Portugal.

Other than that my list was correct, so here it is again with the one change:

Pot 1 (seeds) : Spain #1, Brazil #2, Holland #3, Italy #4, Germany #6, Argentina #8, England #9, South Africa #86.
Pot 2 (Rest of World) : USA #14, Mexico #15, Australia #21, Honduras #38, Japan #43, South Korea #52, New Zealand #77, North Korea #84.
Pot 3 (Africa, South America) : Cameroon #11, Ivory Coast #16, Chile #17, Uruguay #19, Nigeria #22, Algeria #28, Paraguay #30, Ghana #37.
Pot 4 (Europe) : Portugal #5, France #7, Greece #12, Switzerland #18, Serbia #20, Denmark #26, Slovenia #33, Slovakia #34.

Whilst everyone goes on about the group of death, I really can't see a nightmare scenario for us. Portugal and France have both been playing shit recently and shouldn't cause us problems. And if we can't been Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mexico, USA etc then we shouldn't bother turning up in the first place.

Paraguay are my dark horses. did well in qualifying, only just finished behind brazil and that was without santa cruz for the most part.

There are no pushovers in the World Cup Finals any more, all teams have done well to qualify and I think the days of Yugos 9-0 Zaire (74), Hungary 9-0 Korea (54), Hungary 10-1 El Salvador (82) are long gone from World Cup Final stages.

I would hazard a guess that all of these teams that have qualified can put out a sterling backs to the wall performance against bigger teams and maybe even nick a goal on the break.

Every game will be tough at the Finals.

Ivory Coast could easily beat England. 

Yeah, IC are decent... but we're actually looking a good side these days. I expect us to beat anyone outside the top 4 in the world.

I agree totally, I also think we can raise our game a lot more than we have and can give any of the top 4 ot 5 teams a damn good run for the money too.

This is a great chance for us to go there and actually win the WC, which I havent felt we could do since '90.

out in the quarters on pens

That's a bit dismissive jonny, there is no way that we will have no problems against Portugal or France - both squads have world class players in them, and Portugal may also have a psychological edge on us.  Many wrote off France in 2006 and they made the final.  The Ivory Coast have terrific potential and one of the best strikers in the world at the moment.

I'm not saying I don't like our chances, but writing off the likes of France, Portugal and the Ivory Coast is crazy and dangerous.

For the record, I think the toughest group we could face is USA, Ivory Coast and Portugal.  I think we would get through it, but it would be very tough.

This, and with a strong possibility of us having a player sent off.

I've got a sneaky feeling that we'll draw the Aussies.

It's a pity that the US can't be drawn against North Korea, a bit like in '98 when the US played Iran.

Plenty of talk about not dismissing any of the teams that have qualified (rightly so) but it does my head in that some readily dismiss ours when this likely to be as even a world cup as we've had for years.



It's a pity for Iran they're not in it, they're Revolutionary Guard could arrest and hold anyone who strayed into their half for the duration of the tournament ! They'd piss it then !

and still can't qualify ( althuogh we don't have bragging rights last time around). I wont forget the Jocko wankers from 74 and 78.

I want us to be drawn in the group of death, if of course it materialises, because then we can have a proper battle to get further and perhaps get our heads ready for whatever else we may face.

Like in 2002?

England
Australia - I just think they'd be well up for this.
Ivory Coast - Best African team around at the moment.
Portugal/France - Simply because they're marginally better than us.

We're not going to win the World Cup so I don't mind what draw we get, in a way I'd much rather see us have three tough fixtures.

Or it would be good if all the decent got each other so as many as possible could be eliminated

I'm actually getting excited by the draw - I don't know whether to leave work early to get home to watch it, or leave a bit late and listen to the whole thing on the radio on the way home. 

How many gallons of diseased semen have you had gushing over your facial orifices? I think you might have brain herpes. Leave early, get home, have beer.

Only a few - I just had a shower.


Quite possible - I'll get it checked out.


OK.

Nintndo are bringing out a game where you can cheat your way to the world cup final

Its called Thierry on Wii

We'd have won it that year if David Seamen wasn't such a cunting useless bellend

Heres hoping the dates for the games are on my days off..

what channel is it on and what time? I can't see to find it anywhere

5pm BBC2

cheers dmr

17.45 GMT

My baby is due right slap bang in the middle of the world cup! All I can say is thak god for Paternity Leave :)

Was that deliberate? If so, its a great idea - get the missus knocked up so she drops just before the World Cup then you're guaranteed to get the time off. Genius.

I know its all worked out quite nice, unfortunately their are flaws in my plan...I will probably be knee high in baby poo while watching the final!

I hope we get NZ. Would be nice to see Rory up against Terry et al.

Nessun dorma - goosebumps every time.

i'm quite looking forward to this, i've had a few beers in preperation for the draw!!

Watching the build up, look like a fair bit of work to do on that stadium and Beckhams new haircut is a bit shit.

You can't help but start to get overawed by the whole thing. I really wanna go now. How long would it take to drive to South Africa? I would love to do that as a proper week long adventure.

Charlize Theron. Corrr Blimey!

the drive there woouldn't be to bad as you would be excitied about the whole thing, imagine driving back after losing in the quarters on penalties, that would be fucking draining!!

That's true. It'd be horrid.

Is it just me or does the draw feel like the Eurovision Song Contest? It's uncomfortably bad.

This is brilliant.

I think we are going to win it all you know.

Get the fuckin french cunt off. He's pissing me off

well its 1 day and 1 hour solid driving to gibratlar, google maps can't tell me about the best way to drive from North Morocco to Cape town

They have asked Charlize to ask really retarded questions to the frog whilst he explains the system. It should be the other way around.

confused.com

It was bad enough doing that from Germany... having spent £350 to be Dieter Schwarz for the day.

I'm not really listening to this bit.

I just want to know what group we are in.

Just draw the Fucking Teams!!!!!!!

That'd be the worst part as well. You'd clearly have to avoid the lawlessness that is Nigeria and I can imagine that many of the African borders are very tough to cross.

How much to hire a luxury yacht? :)

With or without Champagne, whores and coke?

With, naturally...

south africa is the first ball!! FIX!! :D

God this is boring................

Group C

FYI, Mexico were one of my Group-Of-Death permutations.

We have avoided that one.

SA Vs Mexico to open.... Glamour tie!

We have USA!

Beckham v USA.

Interesting.

That'd be embarrassing if they beat us...

this is sooo boring.

Thats our first game too.

Result, we can't meet Brazil, Italy, Spain or Holland until the semi-finals at the earliest.

Charlize Theron should be quiet.

we didn't want USA, got a feeling they could turn us over in one of those "freaky" result things

Good banter from Charlize.

She adds a wonderful light touch in these ever-so-tense moments.

We avoided the Ivory Coast and got Algeria, that's not a bad result.

Algeria isnt too bad - Brazil got Ivory Coast, hard game

Very happy with Algeria.  Isn't that Hameur Bouzza's team?

whats with all this conflict business, who gives a fuck....just put all 32 teams in 1 hat and be done with it, it takes the fun out of it, all this seeding business

Algeria, nice. Was sure we'd get Cote D'Ivoire or Ghana.

I gave up watching because it's like watching paint dry. Not good paint drying in an organised manner, no slapped on manky paint on a damp half pulled off wall paper, a messy mess of paint drying.

Good to see Matthew shuffling the two remaining balls then.

He is being very thorough.

Fuck me just wrap it up... so far so good though...

Group A looks tasty.

Easy group for France...

I'll take that for a group!

Excellent!

Pleased with that.

Piece of piss

ooooh, hello group G...

I'm not so sure. Think that's a tricky group with Algeria and the Yanks.

Behave yourself

group G the group of death.

USA could be tricky, they beat Spain. Should be ok though, although slovenia played well against us at wembley. can see us winning one and drawing two.

Spot on. Group G looks a bit tricky.

I'm just saying. Everyone seems to think it's an easy group. All 3 of those teams aren't too bad actually. As has been said the Yanks beat Spain in the summer and they've beaten a few of the better teams in the past.

It's the World Cup. There are no useless teams in it IOB, the point is we drew 3 of the weakest. Stop fuckin moaning for once, we could have had Ivory Coast and France and Serbia or something.

Pretty simple group compared to what we could have got, USA are the best of the three and they really shouldn't cause us any problems. But even better is that after the group stage we'll only have Argentina, France and Germany between us and the semi finals.

That's a piss easy group and if we don't spank it for 9 points we shouldn't be there.

I'm not moaning at all. Just think we could fuck it up because let's be honest we always do.

If we don't top that group I would be worried.

We haven't really fucked it up against shit teams though have we?

Last 3 World Cups we've gone out on penalties twice and a dodgy keeper once, against Argentina, Brazil and Portugal. I'd hardly call any of those results fucking it up.

Like Jonny72 said, and we whooped better sides in our group to qualify than these 3.

I'll be putting money on us to finish top with 9 points. We really should manage that.

Agreed!

Right now the draws been done.

If you had to pick the 23 players to go to South Africa now who would you pick?

Green, James, Hart

Cole, Johnson, Terry, Upson, Brown, Ferdinand, Cahill

Cole, Barry, Lennon, Lampard, Gerrard, Beckham, SWP, Milner

Rooney, Defoe, Crouch, Cole, Walcott

Joe Hart
Robert Green
David James

Glen Johnson
John Terry
Rio Ferdinand
Ashley Cole
Joleon Lescott
Wayne Bridge
Matthew Upson

Steven Gerrard
Frank Lampard
David Beckham
Joe Cole
Gareth Barry
Aaron Lennon
Theo Walcott
James Milner

Wayne Rooney
Jermaine Defoe
Michael Owen
Peter Crouch
Emile Heskey

Kirkland

Johnson
Terry
Rio
Cole A

Young/Lennon
Gerrard
Super Frank
Cole J

Rooney
Abonglahor

Just scare the shit out of teams with pace, sorted. Usual suspects to make the squad up.

Pretty much what I'd go with, except Foster instead of Hart.

Except you've got five wide midfielders which is over kill and only one defensive midfielder. So I reckon you need to replace one of the wide midfielders or one of the strikers with Carrick or Hargreaves. Personally I'd probably drop Milner as being short of strikers was part of our downfall last time round.

I reckon Capello is fucking about with Owen's head at the moment. Showing a complete lack of interest in an attempt to kick start Owen's form, whilst always planning to bring him in to the final squad.

I have never understood why Bent wasn't given a chance over the course of the last year or two.....bit late now possibly.

James
Green

Johnson
Brown
Ferdinand
Terry
Upson
Lescott
Cole

Beckham
Milner
Gerrard
Lampard
Barry
Carrick
Cole
Lennon
Young

Rooney
Heskey
Defoe
Crouch
Owen

That would be because he's gash, don't be fooled by the goals tally. If Sunderland had someone who could actually finish they'd be bloody top!

Why take Heskey or Owen? Waste of a squad space like Theo Walcott was last time.

yeah definitely not take owen. Take another midfielder instead.

We'll end up playing an effective 4-6-0 or 4-5-1 anyway, just with Rooney and co as attacking mids.

I'd rather take Owen than Defoe, assuming he'd had a good run in the United first team. Which isn't going to happen.

Michael Owen is Michael Owen. He's a natural goal scorer.

He'll still out score at least 3 of the strikers Capello takes to the WC.

I want to change my squad already. I'll take Gabby Agbonlahor and drop Peter Crouch.

You could use the same logic to keep Crouch that you've just used to keep Owen.

when has Crouch ever been a natural goal scorer?

When he scores loads playing for England.

Owen is shit and past it. I may have said that 3 or 4 times in previous years, but I really mean it this time.

We might as well take Ian Wright.

better yet Alan Shearer.

I think that out and out strikers are a waste of space in the modern top-level game. With the talent of  players now, there's no reason that the strikers shouldn't  be playing as midfielders when not on a break. It's not that much further than being offside when you're building play anyway. With the fitness of professionals they should be able to cope with the running, they should also be able to read the game enough to know where they should be.

In a way it's how the great players have always played, but I think it's shifted even further recently.

I normally hate your Scholes love. But I'd say he's the best retired call up possibility.

Do you mean this seasons goal tally or the the fact he has been a goalscorer for 5 years? Yet you would rather play that fast cunt from Villa.

Defoe > Owen

Their goal scoring records over the last 3 years arent that different.

In the league Bent has scored 12, 6 and 13

Gabby has scored 12, 11 and 9

This season Bent has 8 and Gabby has 7

Great draw.  Easy passage into the next round but i expect us to fuck it up, probably during the first game.

For the supporters I predict, muggings a plenty, maybe a murder or two, the occasional rape accusation and probably a kidnap situation.

Why play out such an important event in such a desperate country? 

gabby has a better song

piss easy group.will qualify for the latter stages and then will go out.
as for the the defoe owen debate, i'd take defoe.
apart from rooney he is the best english striker easily.like owen he is a natural goal scorer but he's faster and fitter than owen.his 5 goal tally the other week were all great goals.
dunno if he will play well with rooney though,infact i doubt it.

Defoe = club player

You should check Crouch's goal scoring record for England, no one comes close to his goals per game ratio and a lot of his goals are of an out and out striker nature. The only problem is that having him alongside Rooney doesn't work very well, especially compared to Heskey who goes from donkey to world class once he pulls on an England shirt and stands next to him.

crouch has never scored an international goal against a team that can actually kick a ball in a straight line.

three against chris gayle's reggae boys, one against brian lara's mates, three against powerhouse andorra, couple more against belarus. real top notch

Croatia?  But overall you are more right than wrong.

We're in group C yeah?  if we win the group which runner up do we play?

Group D - so Germany, Australia, Serbia or Ghana.  I think we need to hope Germany win the group - don't fancy them in second round.

I do, fucking Germans can't wait to do em 5-0.

Wanting something doesn't mean it would happen - face it, their tournament record is much, much better than ours.

That shouls be Australia or Serbia in the second round then? quaterfinals here we come.

I have a sneaking suspicion it might be Ghana in the second round.  Essien and Appiah - very, very good.  We should still win that though.

A lot of that is down to the fact that he hasn't played many minutes against the better countries, he normally comes on as a sub in those games. If he doesn't play he can't score can he. I haven't checked the stats but I'm sure you'll find that Owen's and Rooney's records against lesser opposition isn't anywhere near as good as Crouch's.