World Cup draw news

Ahead of Friday’s Cape Town balls out of a bag extravaganza the Telegraph says England are hoping for a kind draw. Not much of a surprise there. What is surprising is this report’s view of the likely pots: the African and South American teams in Pot 3, and the Asia, North America and Oceania qualifiers in Pot 4. Not sure how they worked that one out.

2010 World Cup Finals draw idle speculation

Seven days and counting before the draw in Cape Town: let’s take a closer look at the structure of the draw to see if any easy to spot but almost certainly ill-judged conclusions emerge.

First things first; there will be eight groups comprised of one team from each of the four pots. The pots will probably follow the pattern set out here on November 19th.

For South Africa in 2010 see Chelsea in 1986

Yesterday the Foreign Office issued advice to England fans planning to attend the World Cup. Fair enough, you might think, because the crime levels and struggles to deal with the legacy of apartheid mean South Africa has something of an image problem in the Western media. Fans should have the general facts and know what to do if anything goes wrong. This is standard practice.

Are FIFA about to dump the French?

FIFA is to hold an extraordinary general meeting on December 2nd to discuss the recent play offs, crowd trouble involving Algeria and Egypt, and betting irregularities, according to the BBC.

Beckham for 2014 World Cup in Brazil?

Despite probably being on the verge of becoming the World Cup’s first ‘special teams’ player for his ability to whip in a cross, the campaign for David Beckham to continue playing for England until his eighties continues. This weekend a mysterious coach predicted Beckham could even make the 2014 World Cup. Dr Caligari, aka AC Milan medical director Jean-Pierre Meersseman, says Beckham can play the next World Cup on one leg and will probably outlive every other human on the planet before anointing himself king of the universe. OK, I’m just paraphrasing.

Did Thierry Henry think he would get away with a ten-minute cameo over the weekend? Well done to Athletico Madrid fans for putting the captain of the French Olympics 2012 Handball team right on that score.

More worries about the fitness of David James have emerged after the Portsmouth No 1 pulled out of yesterday’s game against Stoke. While all of this apparently bemuses his manager, isn’t it about time someone either gave James the bad news or arranged for him to see Dr Caligari?

While we’re on the subject of who gets a plane ticket and who watches the tournament back in England, fans of Jermain Defoe must wonder what he has to do after the Spurs striker’s excellent season continued with five goals against Wigan.