ESPN will be airing the World Cup Draw live Friday at noon EST. Just for kicks, I did my own today: Group A - Germany, Australia, Ivory Coast, Serbia Group B - Netherlands, Mexico, Paraguay, Slovenia Group C - Brazil, Japan, Nigeria, Greece Group D - South Africa, Honduras, Uruguay, Denmark Group E - England, South Korea, Ghana, Switzerland Group F - Argentina, New Zealand, Algeria, France Group G - Italy, United States, Cameroon, Slovakia Group H - Spain, North Korea, Chile, Portugal Not too sure what to make of these groups. Group A is the toughest easily, while Group D should provide only a little resistence for Uruguay and Denmark. My ideal draw for the US would be South Africa, Chile, Slovenia. Clearly, South Africa would be a dream group for just about everyone. Looking over the second pot (CONCACAF, AFC, OFC), I'm wondering why they changed away from CONCACAF v. AFC and CONMEBOL v. OFC for the last couple of spots? Costa Rica is a stronger team than New Zealand, but New Zealand is here after beating Bahrain, while Costa Rica will be sitting around at home.
Those groups would actually be pretty fair. Much better than my failed first attempt where I had South Africa, New Zealand, Algeria, and Slovenia. This was before I realized that two African teams cannot be in the same group. From my draw, here's who I'd predict to see go through: A - Germany, Ivory Coast B - Netherlands, Mexico C - Brazil, Japan D - Uruguay, Denmark E - England, Ghana F - France, Algeria G - Italy, USA H - Spain, Porgual I think Uruguay is really going to get overlooked in the build up to this tournament. There aren't too many nations that can boast a pair of forwards like Forlan and Suarez. I think those two are severely overlooked. Suarez because he plays in Holland, and Forlan lacks the style of many South American forwards and other forwards in La Liga. However, their goal scoring records don't lie.
Serbia would go through and don't be surprised they reach the finals. My favorites will be Germany, Holland, USA, and Engalnd.
Spain and Portugal in the same group would be pretty cool. Despite their poor performance until now, Argentina out in the first round would be a big surprise.
I actually don't think France will advance to the finals. This isn't because I'm bitter about before, they just aren't that good anymore.
