The final 32 teams playing in the FIFA World Cup in South Africa this June will be drawn into eight groups today at noon.
Eight teams were seeded in advance of the draw. The seedings took into account a team's FIFA world ranking as well as past World Cup performances. However, the seeding was not completely based on ranking as South Africa, which is not ranked in the top 20, was included as a seed based on the fact that they are the host nation. Two countries ranked in the top 10, Portugal (5) and France (7) were not seeded.
Follow me below for unfolding details:
The seeded teams were Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England, and South Africa.
The remaining 24 teams were placed in three separate pots. Pot 2 contained teams from CONCACAF (North and Central America), Asia, and Oceania. Pot 3 contained teams from Africa and South America while Pot 4 was made up of teams from Europe.
The United States is in Pot 2 with Mexico, Honduras, Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and New Zealand.
Pot 3 has Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Ghana, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Pot 4 includes France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Switzerland.
Only one team from each pot will be drawn into a group with a seeded team.
Croatia, the 10th ranked team in the world, failed to advance out of their group, losing twice to group winner England. Ukraine advanced to the play-off stage, but were eliminated by Greece.
In 2006, the United States was drawn into the so-called Group of Death, which included the Czech Republic which was the second ranked team in the world; Italy, (the eventual champion) was ranked fourth; the U.S. was ranked seventh; and the final team in the group, Ghana, was one of the best teams in Africa.
The U.S. finished last in group play, earning just one point in a 1-1 draw with Italy. Italy and Ghana advanced to the second round.
Stand by for live blogging at Noon EST:
Wingnutters will claim conspiracy in that they heard something that sounded like "Obama" in the opening number.
Charlize Theoron seems wooden, but hey that's me. The patronizing questions they gave her sure don't help.
Groups to be announced first.
South Africa is Group A 1.
Update 1:
Jerome Valcke, FIFA's general secretary, explains how teams in Pot 3 might be skipped because no two teams from the same confederation can be in the same group with UEFA (europe) being the lone exception.
Assisting with the draw will be marathoner Haille Gelbraisalasie; Springbok rugger John Smits; cricketer Mke Utini (sp?; and Buffana Buffana defender Mathew Booth who played very well in the Confederation Cup and Syntheid Ububu (sp). Apologizes to butchered spellings. And last but least IMO was poseur, er midfielder David Beckham.
Come on USA!
Argentina in Group B.
England in Group C.
Germany in Group D
Netherlands in Group E.
Italy in Group F.
Brazil in Group G.
Spain in Group H.
Update 2:
Group A: South Africa, Mexico( Opening match) (A)
Group B: Argentina, South Korea (B3), Nigeria (B2),
Group C: England, USA, First match. It's 1950 time!
Update 3:
Group D: Germany, Australia (D2),
Group E: Netherlands, Japan(E3),
Group F: Italy, New Zealand (F3 ),
Group G: Brazil, North Korea (G2),
Group H: Spain, Honduras (H3).
Update 4:
Group A: South Africa, Mexico( Opening match) Uruguay (A3).
Group B: Argentina, South Korea (B3), Nigeria (B2),
Group C: England, USA, Algeria (C3)
Group D: Germany, Australia (D2), Ghana (D4).
Group E: Netherlands, Japan(E3), Cameroon (E4)
Group F: Italy, New Zealand (F3 ), Paraguay (F2)
Group G: Brazil, North Korea (G2) Ivory Coast (G3),
Group H: Spain, Honduras, (H3) Chile (H4).
Update 5:
Group A: South Africa, Mexico( Opening match) Uruguay (A3), France (A4).
Group B: Argentina, South Korea (B3), Nigeria (B2), Greece (B4).
Group C: England, USA, Algeria (C3) Slovenia(C4).
Group D: Germany, Australia (D2), Ghana (D4), Serbia (D3)
Group E: Netherlands, Japan(E3), Cameroon (E4), Denmark (E2).
Group F: Italy, New Zealand (F3 ), Paraguay (F2) Slovakia(F4).
Group G: Brazil, North Korea (G2) Ivory Coast (G3), Portugal (G4).
Group H: Spain, Honduras, (H3) Chile (H4), Switzerland (H2).
Justice for the French. An early return flight to Paris?
A great group for the U.S. It is put up time for Bob Bradley and his players. Tough groups for Brazil, Netherlands.
England is a tough match, but they are not a quick team and speed along the flanks will undo the Brits. This is where Charlie Davies would have been key. Maybe Robbie Findlay can step in and replicate that role.
Final update: So the U.S has a relatively easy group. If they can draw or beat England, they control their own destiny. Even a one goal loss to England is not devastating. However, and I can't stress this enough, they must beat both Algeria and Slovenia.
Dirk's alter ego, has to travel down to NJ. He will probably be stopping at Rein's NY Deli in Vernon, CT (Exit 65 off of I-84).
Talk amongst yourselves.
Go USA, USA, USA.