Well, the World Cup Draw has been released and we've received just about the toughest draw possible with Brazil and Croatia in our group alongside Japan.

It's interesting to hear that England specifically requested not to be grouped with us, and have received what is on paper one of the easier draws, however I'm told they have always had trouble beating Sweden, apparently winning only 1 of their last 11 meetings, however the other two teams in the English group are lowly Paraguay and 1000-1 shots Trinidad & Tobago.

THE full draw for the FIFA World Cup, Germany, 2006.

The draw

Group A
Germany
Costa Rica
Poland
Ecuador

Group B
England
Paraguay
Trinidad and Tobago
Sweden

Group C
Argentina
Cote d'Ivoire
Serbia and Montenegro
The Netherlands

Group D
Mexico
Iran
Angola
Portugal

Group E
Italy
Ghana
USA
Czech Republic

Group F
Brazil
Croatia
Australia
Japan

Group G
France
Switzerland
South Korea
Togo

Group H
Spain
Ukraine
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia

All I can say is GO AUSSIES!! Will be a special effort to go beyond the first round! Good to see USA also got a tough draw.

hahahahah. japan croatia and the brazillians.... rofl

thats the hardest group there.. lol go australia

That's very unfair. FIFA doesn't want Australia in the World Cup, now they have grouped them with a hard group.

I think Group C is the hardest, followed by ours - with Group A, H and G coming in as the easiest.

Rofl! Ok now if we even win a game ill be over the moon

we'll beat Brazil, mark my words...

last edited by HeardY at 12:33:50 10/Dec/05

F is way worse then C..

japan and croatia romp netherlands and well i dont even know the other team

oh my, that's the worst draw we could possibly have got.

we play the japs first, then brazil 5 days later.

Grand Finals: Australia vs Togo

reading on fox sports, why did england want to avoid australia and holland?

Australia wil prolly lose to japan, if not then brazil for sure.




GO GERMANY!!!!!!!!!


ZIG HEIL!

do the top 2 from each group go through??

or top 1?

2

lol Group F..australia is sooooo Screwed

last edited by Irhabi at 14:36:57 10/Dec/05

bogus

Well, good on the lads for at least getting us there. But we are soooo f***ed by that draw alone.

p.s when and where is this being played, I believe it is in Germany correct? Its just that I am angling at talking the wife into the whole family going over for it and meeting up with some rellies at the same time to 'kill two birds' so to speak.

Meeting the relatives is the angle I am working on her with and then once we hit Germany, BAM! off to the world cup!

:P My evil plan might even work.



last edited by Psycho! at 14:53:44 10/Dec/05

japans in a really killer form ever since 2002 .... anyone watched the confederations cup ??? well that should about sum it up and chances australia has in that group heh


apart from australia that im going for, Poland seems to be in quite a good group and should make it on top if they play their cards right and so will Iran if they are able to beat Mexico (portugal dont have a strong team i think)

so win win for me : )

I think its an honour to be in such a group. I'd rather lose to Brazil or Japan then beat a team thats crap.

funny that ... losing to japan pre-2002 would be bad thing but now it doenst seem so heh

So can england actually request not to play a certain country and get it??

(portugal dont have a strong team i think)

Are you nuts?

As for the draw, thats how it goes. Some groups might seem easier, but they're all tough teams to beat and tough groups to get through. Anything can happen on the soccer field (ie Senegal 1 France 0).

imo the hardest pool there is group C
Argentina
Cote d'Ivoire
Serbia and Montenegro
The Netherlands
Argentenia and Netherlands are both top5, basically the other 2 teams don't have a hope. (Remember have to finished top 2 in your pool)

Then group E
Italy
Ghana
USA
Czech Republic
Italy is
Czechs are like ranked 2nd in the world. Italy top 15. USA top 10.


Then maybe ours (f)
Where as our pool
Sure brazil is #1
Japan is 15ish
And Croatia is 20ish

I think Ghana and Australia are roughly ranked the same. Our draw could have been worse.

ps. who cares, we fooking got there!!!

ps. who cares, we fooking got there!!!

only to choke at the main event

australia is so gonna get owned...

japan and croatia romp netherlands and well i dont even know the other team

what drugs are you on existence? You DO realise Netherlands = Holland don't you? Currently ranked #2 on FIFA world rankings I believe.

only to choke at the main event

Thats well expected, you aslo got to take into account most of the others barely do either. Qualifying is a big deal and who knows what will happen. Did you predict that Senegal would qualify and beat the world champs 1-0?

Thats well expected, you aslo got to take into account most of the others barely do either. Qualifying is a big deal and who knows what will happen. Did you predict that Senegal would qualify and beat the world champs 1-0?

Yes ... France have been in s***ty form and Senegal used to be quite a big power in the world soccer scene bieng african champs a few times, also rankings mean squat guys ....

Some interesting groups to say the least..

didn't watch this but how do they do it now? is it just an electronic thing or a country name out of a hat or...?

they seed 8 teams and put them at the heads of each pool.

then they use some random rankings system after that

Yes ... France have been in s***ty form and Senegal used to be quite a big power in the world soccer scene bieng african champs a few times, also rankings mean squat guys ....

France was the clear favourite after their previous win and euro cup win. The s***ty form started in that tournament and continued... and no Senegal was never a big power in the soccer scene.

Actually Australia is getting talked up a lot here in Europe as a possible surprise packet. The english are terrified of playing us... only worse country they didn't want to play was Sweden (haha)
I truly don't believe we will make the second round, but who knows.

Australia to beat Brazil 1-0.

i guess with australia missing out on qualifiers the last two times to close games/gay circumstances, our entry now is a bit interesting. its certainly made people take notice, although it would be preferable to go in under the radar id think :p

given we've already beaten Brazil in the past 2 years, I can't see lightening striking twice. Now that we've shocked them once, they won't take us as lightly this time.

edit: We beat Brazil 1-0 in the 2001 Confederations Cup 3rd Place Match.

I think the best result we can hope for is Win against Japan, Win against Croatia, and Draw against Brazil.

That would probably get us through... Assuming the other teams dont beat Brazil.

As long as we get one win, theres a high chance of us getting through.

Fifa World Ranking...

1: Brazil
2: Czech Republic
3: The Netherlands
4: Argentina
5: France
6: Spain
7: Mexico
8: USA
9: England
10: Portugal
11: Turkey
12: Italy
13: Denmark
14: Sweden
15: Japan
16: Germany
17: Greece
18: Uruguay
19: Iran
20: Croatia
21: Costa Rica
22: Cameroon
23: Republic of Ireland
23: Poland
25: Columbia
25: Nigeria
27: Romania
28: Tunisia
29: Korea Republic
30: Senegal
30: Paraguay
32: Saudi Arabia
33: Egypt
34: Russia
35: Morocco
36: Switzerland
37: Ecuador
38: Norway
39: Bulgaria
40: Ukraine
41: Ivory Coast
41: Honduras
43: Jamaica
44: Israel
45: Slovakia
45: Finland
47: Serbia and Montenegro
48: South Africa
49: Australia
50: Ghana


last edited by mongie at 18:52:04 12/Dec/05

last edited by mongie at 18:52:42 12/Dec/05

well we might lose the football but at least WE CAN BASH SOME LEBS

that top 50 thing is complete f***ing ass.

ireland at 23? yeah f***ing right.

italy 12 SWEEDEN 14... take mexico and USA and czech out of the top 10 kthx..

rankings dont mean s*** in soccer, all we need are two good performances vs japan and croatia and for brazil to beat all of us (which is highly predicted, but hey, france were meant to make it past the first round last cup as well and that didnt happen)

we are stuffed after that tho - playing the winner from italy/usa/czech group (prolly either italy/czech depending on who wins the game between themselves)

sweden are a top team...

italy are also a top team...

USA is one of the most over rated teams evar...

Mexico is good

Czech Republic are f***ing awesome.

Lolz Ecxistewnice youeawer veary fat boy

i think exis bases his knowledge off fifa 97

i think exis bases his knowledge off fifa 97

I think you're right.

only to choke at the main event

Pfft, what a lame attitude. Its f***ing impressive that we got there in the first place - more so when you consider what a back seat soccer has to take in this country against league, aussie rules and union (and cricket, and other "sports" like swimming, which get more coverage than soccer).

I think its an honour to be in such a group. I'd rather lose to Brazil or Japan then beat a team thats crap.

Hell yeh. The only way you get better is to play better teams more regularly. Why are all the European teams so damn good? Because they get to compete against each other all the time.

Besides, s*** HAPPENS in soccer - its not impossible for us to kick ass - it only takes one lucky goal.

ill be at the aussie brasil game