Africa: Soccer Teams Move Closer to World Cup Fate

2 December 2009
allAfrica.com
By Nick Said

Cape Town — The African sides moved a step closer to learning their fate at the 2010 World Cup after the four pots were announced ahead of Friday's finals Draw in Cape Town.

The host nation South Africa have, as is their right, been seeded and will appear in Pot 1, despite a lowly position of 86th on the latest FIFA World Rankings. This is in order to soften the blow of the draw and try and get Bafana Bafana as far as possible in the competition to help keep public interest high.

There was something of a surprise as France lost their top seeding and will be in Pot 4 along with the lower-ranked European sides, though FIFA were quick to state that this was not because of the Thierry Henry handball incident in their play-off win over the Republic of Ireland.

"[The Netherlands] had a great qualifying campaign, like Spain, the first team having won all their matches, so [they] are in Pot 1," FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke said at a news conference in Cape Town on Wednesday.

The seeds in Pot 1 are therefore South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands and England.

Pot 2 contains the competing nations from the Asian, Oceania, Caribbean and North and Central American confederations: South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Honduras, the United States and North Korea.

The five other African qualifiers and the unseeded South American sides have been placed in Pot 3, which comprises Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Algeria, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile.

As no countries from the same confederation can draw each other (except for Europe which has 13 entrants), it means that two of the African teams will definitely face Brazil and Argentina in the opening round.

The unseeded European sides will be in Pot 4, namely Denmark, France, Greece, Slovenia, Serbia, Switzerland, Portugal and Slovakia.

The draw gets under way at 17h00 GMT on Friday at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town.

The Pots for Friday's Draw

Pot 1 - South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland, England

Pot 2 - South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Honduras, USA, North Korea

Pot 3 - Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Algeria, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile

Pot 4 - Denmark, France, Greece, Slovenia, Serbia, Switzerland, Portugal, Slovakia

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