It was the FIFA world cup draw a couple of days ago. So I finally got to find out who is playing in the matches that I have tickets for in Cape town.
They are:
1. Uruguay – France, both these teams struggled to qualify for the world cup and required play off wins to get there. France do have some very good players and if they hit form could go a long way in this competition. Uruguay, as a South American team can probably beat most teams on the right day, but I can’t see them stringing a run of results t0gether to progress far overall.
2. Italy – Paraguay. Both world champions Italy and the Paraguayans qualified for the competition with ease. I expect this to be a very tough match for both sides, though the Italians must be the favourites.
3. England – Algeria. Stoked, I got an England match 🙂 England had their best qualifying rounds ever, and have a great manager in Fabio Capello; the main weakness is the goalkeeper and the fact that we are dreadful at penalty shoot outs. Algeria reached the world cup by beating Egypt in a play off. As Egypt always seem to do well in the African nations cup, and next years tournament is in South Africa, then maybe Algeria can put up a bit if a fight. I’d expect England to win this though.
Overall I’m pretty happy with the tickets I get to see two of continental Europe’s best teams (France and Italy were both in the last final); My home country (England); two South American teams; and an African team. I’m really looking forward to the competition, not quite worked out how I am getting there yet, I may travel via India on Kenyan airlines, or go from the UK.
Deano