The eyes of the world were turned toward Cape Town for the draw setting up the groups for the upcoming FIFA World Cup Tournament in South Africa this summer.I was interested along with the die hard soccer fans here in the States to see where Team USA would end up.
The soccer gods were smiling on us this time. Team USA ended up in Group C. The host South Africans ended up in Group A.
Group A
South Africa
Mexico
Uruguay
France
Group BArgentina
Nigeria
Korea Republic
Greece
Group C
England
USA
Algeria
Slovenia
Group DGermany
Australia
Serbia
Ghana
Group E
Netherlands
Denmark
Japan
Cameroon
Group F
Italy
Paraguay
New Zealand
Slovakia
Group G
Brazil
North Korea
Cote d'Ivoire
Portugal
Group H
Spain
Switzerland
Honduras
Chile
Top two teams out of each group advance. The 'Group of Death' for this tournament looks to be Group G. Frankly, any group Brazil is involved in is a 'Group of Death'.
The Brits may be salivating because they consider us and everybody else in Group C pushovers, but may I remind y'all about the 1950 'Miracle On Grass'.It was a World Cup game in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in which a ragtag USA amateur team beat a heavily favored English squad 1-0 in one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history. England ended up losing their next match to Spain by the same 1-0 score and failing to qualify for the next round.
England is our opening Group C match in the 2010 World Cup, and our guys are eager to atone for the poor showing in the 2006 World Cup.
Can another 'Miracle on Grass' happen? As former NFL coach Herman Edwards once said, "That's why you play the games.'
The US team we have now actually has far more talent than the 1950 one did and is actually ranked number 14 in the world. They won their CONCACAF Group and have qualified for six consecutive World Cup tournaments.
Translation, we won't be sneaking up on anybody, and any team that falls asleep on us does so at their peril.
The group play matches commence next June. Ought to be a fun few weeks.