The U.S. men's national team avoided being drawn into a Group of Death, and will now face a very favorable path in the 2010 World Cup.
The Americans were drawn against a strong England side, but the rest of Group C is filled out with beatable opponents Algeria and Slovenia to give the U.S. team what is arguably the easiest draw it has ever faced in a World Cup.
Algeria and Slovenia aren't exactly pushovers on par with New Zealand. Both won tough playoffs to reach the World Cup, with Algeria beating Egypt and Slovenia knocking off a strong Russian squad.
Brazil, Ivory Coast and Portugal will square off in what is widely regarded as the toughest group (Group G), with poor North Korea attempting to knock off the three powerhouses, while Group D, with Germany, Serbia, Ghana and Australia, is another tough group.
Here are all eight groups of the 2010 FIFA World Cup:
- GROUP A- South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
- GROUP B- Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece
- GROUP C- England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
- GROUP D- Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
- GROUP E- Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
- GROUP F- Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
- GROUP G- Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal
- GROUP H- Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile
The United States will open on June 12 against England (Rustenburg), then face Slovenia on June 18 (Johannesburg), with the final group match coming on June 23rd vs. Algeria (Pretoria). Here is the complete schedule for the World Cup.
What did you think of the draw? Excited to see the Americans' group? Which group do you think is the toughest?
Share your thoughts below.
i have to agree with you
the algerian team is differnt of the other weakest team …they are called “warriors of sahara”!!…they fight for the FLAG !!!!…
and excuse my english …oops
I just looked through the old Confed. Cup schedule: The USA will play all 3 WC Group matches in venues they played in at the Confed Cup., and if they make the rd. of 16, that’ll be in one, also. They open with England at Rustenburg (where they beat Egypt 3-0), then Slovenia at Soccer City (where they had Brazil 2-0 in the 2nd half in the championship), and then at Pretoria (where they played twice – losing 3-1 to Italy and 3-0 to Brazil). The rd. of 16 would be either at Rustenburg or Bloemfontein (where they beat Spain 2-0). And, the USA’s base camp is within driving distance of all 4. How ’bout that?
Even with the injuries the U.S. has had, they could still get to the second round. Now that players are coming back from injuries, it even looks better for the U.S. The U.S. lost 1-0 in Slovakia with key players missing. If the game would have been in the U.S.,the U.S. probably wins by a few goals. But then again, some people would make excuses that the U.S. only won because they played at home. Slovenia is not as good as Slovakia. Who cares if they beat Russia? We beat Spain. The World Cup will not be played in Europe; it will be played in neutral ground in South Africa. I cannot see the U.S. losing to both Algeria and Slovenia. The Castrol Predictor gives the U.S. a 75% chance of advancing and that is about right.
I don’t see Ghana being the first team we face out in the knockout round. That would mean they would have to take 1st place, since my guess is that if we make it, we’ll be 2nd behind England, being the 2C team playing the 1D team.
I think our team is not so good, and the 2nd place could be for the Algerian team …
Bradley has had some very bad restarts in tournaments, and friendlies. After looking at his selections, I’ll be focused on how the team comes out in the second half of England.
If he hasn’t improved the team won’t move out.
Ives.
I qualified my assertions by saying they were “hugely inconsistent”. Yeah they beat Egypt, but they also dropped a recent friendly to Slovakia, who some might claim, are not even as talented as the Slovenes.
(SBI- So you’re going to lump in a friendly at Slovakia missing several starters with what amounted to an elimination game in a FIFA tournament with the full squad that resulted in a win? Yes, I agree, the U.S. team has been inconsistent at times, but I just think your theory that lesser known teams will give the USA trouble because of what you consider Bradley’s inability to coach is pretty flimsy.)
I calculated the toughest and weakest groups according to the World Rankings. I know that’s not really an actual accurate rating but MOST of the teams in the world cup seem to have fair world rankings for the most part right now so I think it’s useful. Certainly it matched up very closely with what I thought before doing it.
First, I did the average of the rankings in each group for a total group average ranking.
Group A – 7, 15, 19, 86 Average= 32
Group B – 8, 12, 22, 52 Average= 24
Group C – 9, 14, 28, 33 Average= 21
Group D – 6, 21, 20, 37 Average= 21
Group E – 3, 26, 11, 43 Average= 21
Group F – 4, 30, 34, 77 Average= 36
Group G – 84, 16, 2, 5 Average= 27
Group H – 1, 18, 17, 38 Average= 19
This shows Group H to be the toughest group. Accurate? I think so. It is definitely one of the three toughest groups. The obvious drawback to this method is that if there is one really low ranked team in the group like South Africa or North Korea, it can distort the average a little. Also, to qualify for the second round you need to beat two teams in your group, so having one really bad team in your group doesn’t help you too much if the other three are all really tough. So I also did an average ranking for each group of the three highest ranked teams in the group. This gives a more accurate picture of how difficult it will be to qualify out of that group.
Best Three Average
Group A – 14
Group B – 14
Group C – 17
Group D – 16
Group E – 13
Group F – 23
Group G – 8
Group H – 12
Go ahead and make fun if you want, but it seems fairly accurate for the most part. The three team average clearly shows Brazil’s group to be the group of death, which is what I thought before doing this. It also shows groups e, g, and h to be the three toughest groups, and that also seems fairly obvious. Another thing these rankings show is that all of the people who think the U.S. got such a great draw are sadly mistaken. I’ll qualify that with, if you’re thinking it’s an easy group just in reference to the fact that we usually get a group of death, I agree. However, the U.S. group is NOT an easy group. An easy group would be a group like Group F. The U.S. does not do well against defensive physical teams like Slovenia. We will be hard pressed to score goals as it is. Slovenia is no pushover and apart from their strong showing in qualifying, they eliminated Russia! (Currently, and justly, ranked 13 in the world.) As much as I hate to admit it, Russia is a better team than the U.S. I would love to have played England in the last World Cup. I think if we had been in their group then and played exactly the same, there would have been no world cup “debacle”. However, this England team is the best one in some time, and for once, actually deserves their world ranking. Then, the way Algeria is playing I think it would be a huge mistake to underestimate them. Their elimination of African powerhouse Egypt was no fluke. They got to play each other three times in qualifying. I don’t want to get everyone upset but, I don’t see the U.S. team qualifying from this “easy” group. Especially if the U.S. gets anywhere near it’s usual treatment. (Goals blocked by defender’s hands without a penalty being called, imaginary penalties against the U.S., red cards issued simply because you are an American and playing one of THE establishment, etc., etc.) Sorry for the long post!
Well, I can guarantee you one thing. The English players (maybe not the coach) will underestimate the US.
Good post, though I do think England, Slovenia and Algeria all think the US is crap and will underestimate them. England already look at the US as 3 points done and dusted.
I don’t think it would have made much difference on that night. We should not be afraid of England, but it is silly to deny the fact that they have a very good and talented team.
Either way, I think that England is a bit arrogant. I love the fact that they always think that they could walk through their group stages and make it to the finals without breaking a sweat. But it never works out that way…
The thing with you guys (the US), is that you’re fast, athletic and you never give up. That makes you tough to play against. You don’t have the “talent” of other teams, but you have the determination. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the England game ends up in a tie or even a US win.
Top to bottom most of the groups are pretty balanced overall. One real Group of Death is pretty good considering some of the draws we have seen in WCs past
a Group of Death:
GROUP G – Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal
Things to keep in mind:
We need a defense and a forward line (thanks to all the injuries), not to mention a midfield that can maintain possession while attempting to break down one defensive nation (Algeria) and one extremely well organized nation (Slovenia)!!!
Agree.. MeXICO is in a tougher group than the US.. both should qualify
a little bit of info if you don’t know the two “other” teams in the group that well yet:
Slovenia has two star players.
Samir Handanovic is a very good Goalkeeper and a regular at Udinese in Italy.
Milivoje Novakovic is a center forward and plays for Cologne in Germany.
The rest of the bunch are just solid but Nejc Peknic played a good qualification and may have a good career. He will be their creative guy in midfield.
Algeria is of similar strenght. Their star players are
central midfielders Karim Ziani who plays for Wolfsburg in Germany and perhaps Mehdi Lacen who plays at Racing Santander in Spain. They have a bunch of players who are regulars for first-league teams in europe but most are just solid. They have a good defense with two good CBs and it will be tough to break them down.