football test

Between the beautiful smile of Charlize Theron and the ugly haircut of David Beckham –don’t you ever try this hairdresser! the destiny of the world was decided –Sue me for trying to make some hype! The event dictated that I delay the following part of “The Curse of Brilliance” to ramble through the World Cup draw, South Africa 2010.




The Seeding goes like this:

Pot 1 (seeded teams): Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa, Spain
Pot 2 (AFC + OFC + CONCACAF): Australia, Honduras, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Mexico, New Zealand, USA
Pot 3 (CAF + rest of CONMEBOL): Algeria, Cameroon, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Paraguay, Uruguay
Pot 4 (rest of UEFA): Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland

Now let’s not try to prove how accurate this seeding is. The seeding objective in the first place is to make sure the strong teams (in the first pot) are spread evenly in the groups. And down to the weak teams. The seeding shows it clearly: Argentina Performance during the qualification stage was better than that’s of Chile and Paraguay in South America. Honduras is better than Côte d'Ivoire, Korea Republic is better than Portugal, Korea DPR is better than Cameroon, and New Zealand is better than France. Hm… Right!

The second interesting remark is that the European teams were categorized in two pots, the first and the last. Which raise a question: Does this seeding promote a good image for this continent? Few strong teams and the rest are the worse than all the qualifiers from all continents?

The draw spread the nations as follow:

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece
Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Cote d’Ivoire, Portugal
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

I will make a more detailed post about it later on, but here are some first impressions:

- Group A: for being in Pot 4, France will be so relieved for being in this group. But let me tell you one thing, there is a trap behind the shadow.

- Group B: Even though there is a lot of uncertainty in this group, Can I predict it to be the most boring group when it comes to expected performance? Between Greece defensive approach, South Korea inconsistency, Nigeria habit to disappoint regardless of individuals quality and Maradona doing his best to be the worst, they had to broadcast this group games for free so we enjoy the fans dances in the stadium.

- Group C: I started to feel that England is gaining the Champions’ luck recently. What do they need more? And with Capello, failure is always a surprise. A very even Group with England having an edge.

- Group D: Will not be the group of beauty. But certainly the qualifiers will only book their way in the last game. With all the teams being characterized by physical presence, it will be interesting to see who will qualify in this Rugby battle. Germany is…well…Germany. And Ghana will enjoy the boost of the African fever in this early stage of the world cup.

- Group E: This one will be interesting. Denmark will be the underdog, and that’s why they will qualify to the knock out stages. The group of surprises.

- Group F: Paraguay will most likely seal the top in this group. Italy? Will qualify in the last moment, when everyone thinks that it’s not going to happen.

- Group G: When you see who will play who and when in this group, it’s obviously the best group to watch. And let me say it first, between Brazil, Cote d’Ivoire, and Portugal none guaranteed anything. Neither the top of the group, nor the qualification to the knock out stages.

- Group H: Spain will be knocked out of this group. Alright…Alright…Its just boring to repeat what everyone else knows…Who will qualify with them? Can Bielsa continue the miracle he achieved so far with Chile? That will be as interesting as his selection, tactics and formations.