skip to main |
skip to sidebar
In an interview with FIFA, former German national coach Jurgen Klinsmann has expressed his view that surprises are to be expected in the World Cup. Klinsmann believes that there are at least eight teams who can win the tournament, and that the dual factors of playing at altitude and in the winter will ensure shocks and surprises.He also feels that the strong World Cup pedigree of his native Germany should see them qualify from the tough Group D - comprised of Australia, Serbia and Ghana.
179 days remain until South Africa 2010 kicks off. The last World Cup finals match was played on July 9 2006 when Italy beat France in Berlin on penalties following a 1-1 draw to become World Champions for a fourth time.
Host nation South Africa will play Mexico in the opening match next summer in Group A - a match that they will be desperate to get something from given that failure to qualify for the second round would put them in the history books as the only host nation not to have got past the group stages. Games against Uruguay and France will follow.Group A mirrors the group of host nation England in 1966, who were also drawn with France, Uruguay and Mexico. That might be a lucky omen - two wins and a draw saw England top the group and go on to lift the World Cup.
The dust has settled on the draw for next summer's World Cup Finals in South Africa, and there are now under six months to go till the big kick-off.Following the draw football fans the world over have been pouring over wall charts, plotting and predicting who will get out of their groups and how the onward journey into the knock-out stages will develop.On paper, fate has been kind to some and cruel to others, but the reason we all get so excited about is that the world's greatest sporting spectacle is not played out on paper but on grass.We know that there will shocks, surprises, unexpected twists, drama, heartache, passion, tears and, finally, for one nation on Planet Earth, triumph at the end of it all. We are guaranteed all of these attributes between 11 June and 11 July next summer, as South Africa becomes the theatre of dreams for 32 nations of the world.
FIFA's executive committee meet today in Cape Town to finalize the pots for the World Cup Finals draw on Friday.
The world awaits...
France and Holland face an agonizing wait to see which of them will be seeded in the draw for the 2010 World Cup, which takes places in Cape Town on Friday.FIFA will confirm tomorrow the basis on which the seedings will be determined. If, as is expected,performance in the last two World Cups and current world ranking decide it, then France will get the nod and go into Pot One. It is almost beyond doubt that the other seeded teams will be South Africa, Brazil, Germany, Spain, England, Italy and Argentina.Excitement is mounting fast as all the competing nations know that the draw is crucial to how their destiny will pan out in next summer's finals.
