The Socceroos World Cup draw could be scary

 
Davidde Corran Columnist

By , 21 Nov 2009 Davidde Corran is a Roar Expert

Tagged:
 , , , ,

14 Have your say

Related coverage



Australian player Vince Grella (right) during the Socceroos pre-match training session at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. AAP Image/Luis Enrique Ascui

Australian player Vince Grella (right) during the Socceroos pre-match training session at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. AAP Image/Luis Enrique Ascui

Over the top calls to open a dangerous precedent aside, all 32 teams are locked in for South Africa 2010. That means we can now start to ponder what opponents the Socceroos will face in South Africa.

The draw will be made in Cape Town on the 4th of December, but with Tim Curry-esque anticipation, I’ve been racking my brain over the possible permutations and who I would and wouldn’t like Australia to face.

It’s as much fun as Fantasy Football.

So here are the likely four pots:
Pot A (Seeded): South Africa, Italy, Brasil, Argentina, Spain, France, Germany, England
Pot B (Europe): Holland, Slovakia, Portugal, Switzerland, Serbia, Denmark, Greece, Slovenia
Pot C (South America and Africa): Ivory Coast, Paraguay, Cameroon, Chile, Ghana, Uruguay, Nigeria, Algeria
Pot D (North America, Asia and Oceania): USA, Australia, Mexico, North Korea, Japan, Honduras, South Korea, New Zealand

On the surface, it doesn’t seem like such a bad set up for Australia, but when you look closer the possibilities are worrying.

Naturally, the seeded pot has the most quality.

Despite France’s poor playoff performance against Republic of Ireland last week, I still wouldn’t want the Socceroos to come up against Les Bleus.

This is mainly down to Australian coach Pim Verbeek’s cautious methods.

Attack the French and you can expose their lack of unity, but a defensive approach gives their creativity a chance to find a way through to goal.

There is no way I want Spain or Brazil to end up in our group.

With the Spanish in particular, the only benefit would be that Australia could claim to have been involved in a perfect 90 minutes of football. Unfortunately, it’d all have been played by the opposition.

Germany, Italy and England worry me though on a good day I think we could draw blood from the English.

Only a fixture against the tournaments hosts and maybe Diego Maradona’s troops inspires any hope.

However, forget about the seeded group. It’s Pot B that could kill Australian dreams in South Africa. The thought of getting stuck with Holland or Portugal as un-seeded teams is awful.

Serbia and Denmark should be confident against Australia.

Despite having a pretty ordinary squad, the tactical and motivational ability of Slovenia boss Matjaz Kek frightens me.

The inexperience of debutants Slovakia might count for something but it’s Greece and Switzerland that I hold out hope for. If Australia can’t beat either of those two sides, then we don’t deserve to get through the group stage anyway.

Lastly, that brings us to Pot C.

There are high expectations on Africa to shine at this tournament. Ghana will draw inspiration from the success of their Under-20’s side in Egypt earlier this year and Ivory Coast promise a lot.

A number of African football journalists have told me that Nigeria and Cameroon may flatter to deceive but I think Algeria are the exact kind of side that Australia hates. Fast and good with the ball at their feet they have a great high pressing game.

The Algerians also aren’t afraid of stretching the concept of time wasting for all it is worth (I’ve never seen a goalkeeper take as long a run up for a goal kick as Algeria’s Lounès Gaouaoui did late in the game on Wednesday night).

They could frustrate the hell out of Australia.

So, the point of all is that there isn’t going to be an easy draw for Australia no matter what happens. Even a good draw for the Socceroos will leave them in a situation where all four sides could make it out of the group.

Lets not forget the nightmare scenario of playing Spain, Holland and the Ivory Coast. There is just no way Australia gets through that group.

The more I think about it, the more I worry.

At the very least we’ll get to see our boys go up against some of the World’s best nations. Let’s just hope we’re not using that thought as solace on the first flight home from South Africa in June.

My “best chance of qualifying” group? South Africa, Greece, Nigeria (if they don’t take on a European coach) and Australia

My “I’d love to see how we’d stack up” group?

Spain, Portugal, Ivory Coast.

Enjoy sports? Enjoy a bargain? All Sports Online has your favourite sporting brands at up to 70% off. Online only, premium quality sporting goods and merchandise at discounted prices. Get a deal now.

Get a daily football email

Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it.

We value privacy. More.