Australia’s Tim Cahill celebrates after scoring the first goal for Australia during the World Cup qualifying soccer match between Australia and Qatar at the Brisbane stadium in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008. AP Photo/Tertius Pickard
Craig Moore wants a chance at redemption against Italy; pundits are pondering an Ashes-type match-up with England; and our South American nemesis, Uruguay, could loom once again, seeking revenge. The possibilities thrown up by the World Cup draw are teasing us as we wait and speculate.
The focus of the draw will inevitably be in terms of relative ease and difficulty for the Socceroos: which nations would give us a better chance of emerging from the group stage.
Obviously the dream draw in this regard is to be grouped with hosts South Africa, bypassing the European and South American giants in pot one; while avoiding pot four inhabitants Portugal and France will likely mean the Socceroos avoid a potential group of death.
But let’s look at the possible group stage opponents from a different perspective.
Let’s look at the three Socceroos matches as another opportunity for Australian football to penetrate the mainstream, and perhaps its consciousness, as it did in 2006, that comes along once every four years, with knock-on effects for the A-League and beyond.
Remember the scenes in pubs and cities across Australia in 2006?
Which opponents, therefore, would galvanise the Australian public, football and non-football fans alike, helping to recreate or topple the hysteria caused by the last World Cup.
From the seeded countries in pot one, England is the dream ticket.
In the tradition of the Ashes, a clash with the “mother country” would be the most likely match to tempt non-football fans to watch with its cultural and historical connotations, particularly when you consider over 30 percent of Australians have English ancestry, according to the Census.
For football fans, it would pit the stars of the most popular overseas league amongst Australians, the EPL, against our home-grown stars.
Aside from England, only a clash with New Zealand, with its A-League stars, would be as tempting. But with New Zealand in the same pot as Australia, a dream match with our Tasman neighbours is sadly unlikely.
From the pot three nations, South American rivals Uruguay would have the most appeal.
The two nations will be indefinitely linked by the consecutive qualification playoff drama that they shared, and with a genuine rivalry having been developed, there will be real meaning and feeling in the clash, particularly if we face them in a do-or-die scenario in the final match of the group stage, a la Sydney November, 2005.
From pot four, Portugal and France will provide plenty of star power, particularly a match-up with Cristiano Ronaldo, but a clash with Greece will be immensely popular with the huge number of Greeks who now call Australia home.
Like Australians of Italian descent enjoyed four years ago, the Greek communities across Australia would create a great spectacle on the night of the match.
Remember the scenes on Lonsdale Street in Melbourne when an unfancied Greece claimed Euro 2004?
Imagine what a Greece versus Australia World Cup clash would be like.
The ideal group in terms of marketability is thus: England, Australia, Uruguay and Greece.
What emerges from the pots in South Africa remains to be seen, and the excitement is building for the draw to be held in the early hours of our Saturday morning.
The World Cup draw highlights the tournament’s status as the world’s greatest sporting event.
What other sporting event generates so much discussion, speculation and excitement in a mere draw?
Let that discussion continue as we await the Socceroos’ fate.
The official pots for the 2010 FIFA World Cup draw:
Pot 1 (seeds)
South Africa, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain, England, Argentina, Holland.Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania and North/Central America)
Australia, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, New Zealand, USA, Mexico, Honduras.Pot 3 (Africa and South America)
Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay.Pot 4 (Europe)
France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia.
Alex
Guest
It would also probably bore the rest of us to death.
Shahsan
Guest
There's no "to be fair" about it. Pure luck of the draw now. But yes, Group B would be a good one to be in. Good point.
Tifosi
Guest
yep, i dont think anyone will fear France or Portugal. On paper they are big names but have been playing poorly.
Tifosi
Guest
Yes STH AFRICA will be seeded as A1. I guess to be fair France or Portugal should end up in that group, that way it would make the draw more balanced. Lets see what happens.
The Bear
Guest
Good point, tifo. And even if it is France or Portugal (IF), then it will be likely a Domenech France or a defensively leaky Portugal.
The Bear
Guest
Lol, to the draw or the cup? Neither on both counts...
Shahsan
Guest
I dont understand this. Is South Africa guaranteed a spot ion group A, which means no other African country? But that could still mean a France or Portugal might finish first.
Midfielder
Guest
Anyone on the Roar going
jimbo
Guest
Yes England can be drawn in the same group as France - UEFA is the only confederation that can have two countries in the same group. Don't know how sympathetic they will be to the Irish though and exact any revenge for them. The French should’ve been kicked out of the tournament and Henry sidelined for 6 months. Poms wishful thinking - they want New Zealand instead.
Colin N
Guest
Can England get France? I've been looking at a few of the papers in England, and their groups don't seem to include the likes of Portugal and France in their possible 'group of death.'
Tifosi
Guest
Also if Australia can't be in Group A, we want to be in Group B. Why? Because the two teams that advance from Group B face the two teams that advance from Group A in the first round of the knockout matches. Group A is the only group for which the two teams that advance are both guaranteed not to be Brazil, Spain, England, the Netherlands, Germany, Argentina, or Italy. Even if OZ came second, they would most likely facing a chile/uruguay/serbia in the first knock out round
Allen
Guest
Yep wrong! As I rember from Germany the seeds automatically go to position 1 in the group. For the other pots after the team is drawn they pull out a ball from a separate pot that determines their spot in the group (2, 3 or 4).
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Agree with all that.
Dickroo
Guest
England France Australia Uruguay What a group! Great PR exposure for Australia. With an opening match against France and Henry is banned, followed by Uruguay and the final group match with England and the loser going home...
David
Guest
id be happy wit dat
tifosi
Guest
another aspect of the draw is not so much the group phase but the knockout rounds also. Italy at the last world cup had, on paper, a tough group draw with USA GHANA and Czech Republic, which was the second hardest group on paper. (Behind the Arg,Holland,Serbia,Cote D'ivoire group, which also turned out to be a fizzer) The reality was that Czech republic was poor and ghana and usa were also average. Italy topped the group then played Australia then Ukraine to make the semi finals. As easy a run as anyone could want. Argentina topped their group then had to play Mexico and Germany. Much much tougher and they went out to the germans in the quarters. So be on the look out for which teams you will face later on in the tournament also. It makes a big difference too
The Bear
Guest
It's wierd. What's really wierd is that pot 4 "happens" to have all the euro left overs in it. When the draw is made, is it likely that these teams will play the seeded teams in their groups last? Is that rigged or what? Please tell me I have got it all wrong.
roarer101
Guest
I'm not a soccer/football fan but I REALLY want the socceroos drawn against england. I would love to see them beat the english at their own game. Other than that I don't care about soccer/football. I think I am possibly/probably indicative of the non-soccer/football loving public.
dasilva
Guest
There's one thing that bothers me about the seeds Why does FIFA change the seeding system from the last world cup? for the 2006 world cup. Their ranking system was combination of previous world cup performances and fifa world ranking. Now they just revert to simple world ranking which resulted in France losing their seed for the Netherlands. Did they just change the seeding just to punish France for the handball controversy or what? It seems strange that they abandon a pretty decent seeding system that was used in the previous two world cups just like that. If they had the world ranking by itself for the seeding for the last world cup. USA would have been a seeded team for the 2006 world cup which wouldn’t be to FIFA’s liking. It seems like FIFA are changing the seeding system for it’s own political benefit
2006 World Cup
Guest
In the 2006 World Cup, Australia was only in a winning position in the tournament for perhaps 5 mins - OUT OF 360 MINS+ of game time across 4 matches! Incredible really, just around 1% of our playing time at the World Cup was spent ahead. Most was spent behind, the rest level.