I think it's great that countries that wouldnt normally have a chance in hell get the opportunity to qualify. Generally the qualifying sections are proportional in terms of quality. You do get anomalies like Australia but to be honest, fair play to them. Ireland didnt qualify because they didnt put the host of chances they had away, had they been better in front of goal they would be in SA, simple as that. The Henry debacle is just diverting attention away from this and making Ireland look like unlucky heroes. You were unlucky in a sense, a game should never be settled in such circumstances, but the fact is you werent good enough to kill off a very ordinary France. Teams like North Korea are beating teams of a similiar or greater quality and deserve their success.

As for the draw, to all you Americans, i'm going to enjoy the English getting one over on you for once:) I think we can reach the semis. On paper we're a team featuring one of the best strikers in the world, 2 of the best midfielders, on of the best centre backs and in my view THE best left back. Thats five world class players and im not even including Joe Cole, who when fit deserves to be considered as such. Same applies to Ferdinand when in form.

Given the US and UK population on this site, this should be fun...

Anyone want to make a friendly wager on the opening game?

Yes, it will be South Africa vs Mexico.

I bet £150,000 on it.

2-0 England. We play a similiar game, but our superior quality will show. With that said, the US arent a bad team by any means, very organised, i can see you reaching round 2.

African nations set up pretty well to advance. I've got my eye on Ivory Coast over Portugal, Ghana is in position, Cameroon, South Africa...

When France won the WC in 1998 their manager stated that to win a world cup a team has to have at least 5 or 6 world class players in their squad (something I agree with) England may have these, in the positions that you`ve referenced above, but its the rest of the squad that is the problem, when France won in 1998, the rest of the players were certainly better than the likes of Upson, Defoe, Crouch, Brown, Green etc. Players who might be decent at club level but don`t cut it at international level.

I'm still very skeptical of US football, but we'll see.

I'm thinking sig wager: England wins you can have me display ANY writing or picture you want in my signature for a period of a month... If I win, same goes for you. Any takers? First come first served, son.

2:0 to England with an opening goal by Rooney and a second half header by Terry.:laughing: Sorted innit.

I really dont think S.A will get out of their group. Mexico are a decent team, whilst France know how to navigate their way to the latter stages even with mediocre displays, they just have that knack... and a nifty pair of hands with Henry.

And i fancy Serbia to get through with Germany.

As for Ivory Coast, i think they're the most impressive of the African nations, i can see them taking Brazil and Portugal to the wire.

Ivory Coast and Ghana are I think the two African teams to watch, as long as they can keep their heads and discipline togeather. Cameroon and Nigeria (both the old guard) have not had a good teams for quite some time and Algeria are just there to make up the numbers. South Africa are nothing special and despite home advantage may well have trouble getting out of their difficult opening group.