World Cup seeding predicable

The World Cup seeding was quite predictable in the end. There was much speculation over whether England would be a top seed or not.

I had no doubt in my mind they would. England qualified comfortably for the finals and never really looked in trouble in their group. It’s understandable that the likes of Portugal and France have been relegated to the other European group of Pot 4.

Strugglers

Portugal and France were unconvincing in qualification and had to qualify for the finals via play-offs of course. France are very lucky to be in the finals at all after their close call with the Irish.

Their manager Raymond Domenech reminds me of Inspector Clouseau because he just can’t seem to get anything right. His bumbling decisions nearly cost the French their place at next year’s World Cup and a poor performance in South Africa would almost certainly see his exit from the job.

Group of Death

Lots of people in England have been talking about who England would and wouldn’t want to face and came up with all sorts of theories. I think the most popular choice so far for the worst group England can get is France, Ivory Coast and USA. However Mexico and Australia from pot 2 would also be difficult opponents. From pot 3 Uruguay and Ghana are also good sides but not as highly rated as the Ivory Coast. The final pot contains other tough opponents such as Denmark and Portugal.

Comfortable group

I’d say the easiest draw for England would probably be New Zealand, Algeria and Slovenia. Even with a so called easier draw England will probably still make heavy work of qualifying for the knockout stages. The likes of Honduras, North Korea and Paraguay would also be less tough opponents than some of the other teams but you never what will happen in the World Cup.

There is bound to be shocks along the way it wouldn’t be a World Cup or football if there wasn’t. And there is always a surprise package that emerges during the tournament.

African year

The African countries have promised so much for so long but have failed to really live up to their potential. In the first ever African based World Cup the continent provides some exciting challengers. In previous tournaments the countries from the continent have been perceived as tactically naive.

However Ivory Coast and Ghana seemed to have eradicated the naivety of the past Africa countries. Ghana were superb in 2006 yet failed because they were naive. The squad that will travel to South Africa next year will be four years more experienced and most play their football at high levels of the game. The Black Stars star player is of course the excellent Michael Essien, who would be good enough to represent any of the countries taking part in South Africa.

His Chelsea teammate Didier Drogba is also the star player of the other African powerhouse Ivory Coast. His country is probably the best side to come out of the continent since Cameroon made it to the quarter-finals in 1990. Like Ghana most of the squad play in countries such as England, Spain and France.

Major challengers

Like most people my two favourites for the trophy are Brazil and Spain. These two are by far the best footballing teams on the planet. Spain’s movement is simply breathtaking at times and they are spoilt for choice for top talent. They had underachieved at tournaments until last year’s European Championship success. And they have never been in a better position to become world champions.

The Brazil that will appear at next year’s World Cup is probably not the best Brazilian side that has ever graced a tournament. However they are still good enough to be the favourites for the trophy just ahead of the Spanish. The Brazilians have an amazing World Cup pedigree. They are the most successful country in the history of the World Cup with five victories and could be in line for their sixth victory.

Other Challengers

The only other countries that have any sort of chance of winning the trophy in my opinion are Holland, Argentina and of course England. I love the way Holland play but they are just too inconsistent. However they should make the later stages.

The Argentinian’s are a tough team to judge. Under the manic Diego Maradona you don’t know what teams going to turn up. Argentina have all the qualities necessarily to win the tournament but I don’t think they have the same amount of talent as the Spanish or Brazilians.

I do feel that the current England squad are the best that we’ve had for a long time. However we don’t have as good a squad as a lot of the top countries. We do have some world class players but I don’t think we have as many as the two favourites. I would love to see England win the trophy next year but as an England fan I know that it’s the hope that kills you.