The author fixes England’s “Dream Draw” as: England, Angola, Poland and Saudi Arabia. I might have picked someone besides Poland, since the country borders Germany, but beyond that it’s hard to disagree.
He then says that the “Group of Death” will be: England, Australia, Holland and USA. I’m not quite sure I follow his logic, but he thinks the Socceroos match up well with and are extra motivated against the English. He sees the USA as best of a weak pot. And the final choice was between Netherlands and Czech Republic, either of which will probably make a “Group of Death” by themselves.
For the USA, being the best team in a weak pot is a curse. It means we don’t get to play any of those other teams. Nothing one can do about it now.
The draw is in 6.5 hours from now. You can see it on tv or follow from work on Soccernet. Go to the link and launch the application. I’m sure the UEFA website and maybe even FIFA have a way to follow live as well.
Okay, the fix is in… is there a rule that England and Sweden are always in the same group? Seriously, Germany is being gifted to the second round… Ecuador, Poland and Costa Rica. Gimme a break. Heck, that’s not a bad group for Costa Rica to try and get out of.
Gotta go see how the rest of our pot is shaking out…
Here it is. At first sight, good news for Germany, England, Portugal, and France. Bad for Argentina (C looks like the Group of Death), USA (Italy AND Czech Republic? Oy), and Australia.
GROUP A
Germany
Costa Rica
Poland
Ecuador
GROUP B
England
Paraguay
Trinidad & Tobago
Sweden
GROUP C
Argentina
Ivory Coast
Serbia & Montenegro
Holland
Meh, Italy’s been in decline for some time now and the Czechs will be overconfident. Not an easy group, but definitely doable. Could have been better, could have been worse.
Group C is the Group of Death. I prettty much thought whichever group ended up with Holland would get that label. I think that Group E is the second toughest and then Group F. Actually here is how I would rank the groups in terms of overall quality:
C, E, F, H, B, D, G, A
It seems to me that except for Group G and possibly C there are two clear favorites in each group.
Group C is definitely the “Group of Death”. Group E might be the “Group of Death-Lite”. I don’t see Italy and Czech Republic as quite as tough as Argentina and Netherlands. Man, I would LOVE to see that match in person.
What gets tougher is that second place in our group is most likely going to face Brazil in the next round. Our group winner will probably see Croatia or Japan, although I wouldn’t be entirely shocked to see Australia go through. Doesn’t really matter, because just about anybody is preferrable to Brazil in the knockout stages.
Portugal paid dearly for underestimating the US team in 2002. I don’t think that the Italians and Czechs will make the same mistake this time.
I thought about that while watching the BBC coverage of the draw. The drawn-out pantomime of the World Cup draws was always more the domain of the rather cerebral and world-weary commentator Barry Davies, but he has now retired and the task has fallen to a dullard called John Motson. I don’t expect Motty to be an expert in Portuguese colonial history, but if he had done a quarter of the research that he routinely does on, say, Sheffield United’s left back, he would know that Angola was for a long time a colony of Portugal. But he was too busy feigning confusion at FIFA’s oh-so-complicated rules for World Cup group allocation.
I had the pleasure of seeing the Czech Republic beat Italy 2-1 at Anfield in Group C in Euro '96. (It was the day after the Arndale bomb in Manchester.) Some dozy Eye-tie had a shot at goal right at the death - if he’d scored, a draw would have taken them through. But he ballooned it over the bar. Every single Italian player on the field fell to the ground simultaneously, as if shot. A great game, though.
As duality72 notes, neither side is quite as good as it was then, and I am having grave difficulty myself picking the two to go through from that group. Italy and Ghana?
I just found a site that has a package of 7 nights in a 3 star hotel for the first two matches for team USA (CZE and ITA) for $2060. Unfortunately I don’t know anyone else who wants to go and the difference in price between one person versus three people is $800.
I am going on record right now.
Italy doesn’t make it out of the group. It’s the United States and the Czechs. I want us to be second, because I want a repeat of USA v Brazil in the Round of 16. I was there in 1994; I’d like to be there again in 2006!!
