2010 FIFA World Cup draw

The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be held between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in South Africa. The long-awaited draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup took place in Cape Town this evening at the CTICC (Cape Town International Convention Centre).

Hosts: South African Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron and FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke

DRAW RESULTS

Group A: South Africa, Mexico (A2), Uruguay (A3), France (A4)
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria (B2), Korea Republic (B3), Greece (B4)
Group C: England, USA (C2), Algeria (C3), Slovenia (C4)
Group D: Germany, Australia (D2), Serbia (D3), Ghana (D4),
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark (E2), Japan (E3), Cameroon (E4),
Group F: Italy, Paraguay (F2), New Zealand (F3), Slovakia (F4)
Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR (G2), Ivory Coast (G3), Portugal (G4)
Group H: Spain, Switzerland (H2), Honduras (H3), Chile (H4),

2010 FIFA World Cup Match Schedule (GMT+2 / CAT)

The opening match of the tournament is on Friday, 11 June at 4pm (GMT+2) at Soccer City in Johannesburg between host nation South Africa and Mexico. Who will win the tournament? Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and England are considered favourites to win the tournament. England in particular received an easy draw so they should not have any problems going through to the next round. The biggest game in the first round appears to be Brazil vs Portugal.

Bafana Bafana

As a South African I obviously hope that the South African National Football team (Bafana Bafana) does well and it would be quite an achievement if they could reach the second round of the tournament.  Unfortunately it's a tough draw for Bafana Bafana with France (7), Mexico (15) and Uruguay (19) ranked quite high according to the FIFA world rankings. Realistically, it will be quite an uphill battle since they haven't shown good form in recent months and are currently ranked 86th in the world.

However, since South Africa is the host country for the tournament,  Bafana Bafana will enjoy fanatic home support and it will hopefully motivate the players even more to do well. Their coach is brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira (coached Brazil when they won the 1994 World Cup in the USA). Make us proud Bafana Bafana!

Related links
2010 FIFA World Cup - Official site
2010 FIFA World Cup Match Schedule - Supersport
World Rankings - FIFA/Coca-Cola
Bafana Bafana - The South African Football Association
Draw ignites FIFA World Cup fever - Fifa.com
2010 FIFA World Cup Draw Photo Gallery - Sport24