World Cup Draw breakdown

What was I saying out loud over and over again as the third member of Group C , Argentina's Group, was to be selected? "Not Holland Not Holland!"

Holland it is!

First lets look at the bright side.... The Holland vs. Argentina match is the marquee match of the Group Phase this World Cup. It will be the final game for both teams which means it is highly likely the game will determine the Group outcome... Argentina must defeat both Ivory Coast and Serbia with a reasonably good goal differential and come into that match with 6 points.. anything less is suicide....

Is Group C the group of death again as it was in 2002 when it was made up Argentina, England, Sweden and Nigeria? I do not know enough about Ivory Coast or Serbia to really say but I will say that I did not want either team in my group! From Pot 2 I prefer Ivory Coast to Australia which I believe was the most difficult team but I would have wishes for anyone else (ghana, togo, angola or tunisia)... Why , because Ivory Coast has a phenomenal striker named Drogba who is keeping our main striker, Crespo, on the bench at Chelsea! I'm not too sure about the rest of the team.... As for Serbia I know they are ranked like 48 or something in the Fifa world rankings so I do not think it fair to fear them.... However, I would probably have prefered many of the teams from Pot 4 ....

Group B I think will be a tough one.... England will have to fight Sweden and Paraguay and if I'm not mistaken some of the players on Trinidad and Tobago play in the premier league so they might not be a walk in the park..

Germany in Group A: is it a coincidence they got one of the easiest groups... i doubt it... Costa Rica, Poland and Ecuador?? Thats a gimme...

Group D: Mexico, Iran , Portugal and Angola....... I have to say this group is not too tough either...


(paragraph removed: for possibilities of argentina meeting brazil germany or holland see above)


and England... what to say about our other perennial pain in the you know what?! We avoided themin the group phase but once again they are on our side of the draw.....as was the case in 1986, 1998 and 2002...If they finish second in the group they will almost surely have to play Germany in the round of 16! and then Argentina or Holland in the quarters

So Argentina is in the fun part of the draw... we have Argentina, Holland, England and hosts Germany as leading candidates...

How did my other country do? The United States! I have to say the US had very bad luck getting Italy and the Czechs.. both these nations are tough tough... As usual Brazil got a fairly easy ride.. and being in the bottom half the way is easierfor them to the semi-finals than the better teams in the top half of the draw....

My initial group assesment on difficulty on a scale of 1 (easiest) to 10 (most difficult)

A 1
B 7
C 8
D 5
E 7
F 4
G 3
H 3

Top half of draw: 21
Bottom half of draw: 17

these are my initial thoughts.. more to follow...