Worldcup Draw.... D:

[Coopz]

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


We are gonna get annihilated D:

[Big Kev]

Doesn't look toooooo bad for us. I dunno how good the Paras are though.

Group E looks like a corker though.

[norbs]

I reckon we will be lucky to get through.

[fp]

Trust us to end up in one of the most difficult groups.
We beat Brazil last time we played agaisnt them... here's hoping for a repeat.

N.B. - I'm a little pissed off, I got up at 5:15AM to watch the draw, live on TV, and all they had was la-di-dah cirque-de-poofay illusuonists and what have you. Screw that, sleep deprived as I was, I went back to bed.
The chick hosting it was a total babe though. Bu it kinda freaked me out when she switched from English to German halfway though a sentance.

[basha]

brazil will be very very hard. but i think we have a slight chance against japan and croatia.

the main problem which the socceroos have, is not playing enough games as a team. u look at the europeans, sth americans teams. and they (as a country) play alot of games together against good teams. this is where the aussies struggle. the players have the talent, but they just need more games dueing the year, playing against quality countries. then they will start being a good side.

[fp]

Indeed, and that's one of, if not the, best things about Australia joining the Asian Confederation at the end of this month, it will mean playing agasinst stonger teams on a more reagualr basis, as opposed to occasionally taking on the might of (insert obscure Pacific Island nation here).

[macca]

I think we have a chance of getting through, Brazil of course is the big stumbling block, but I wouldn't be too pessemistic, we have a realistic chance against Japan & Croatia.

[Scuderia_Alan]

I agree that moving into Asia is a godsend for football here but what isn't widely known is that Australia is placed in the SE Asia so we'll be playing more games against the likes of Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand rather than Japan, China, North and South Korea in the East Asian segment.

As was said Australia has a chance if it does the right things against Japan and Croatia. World cups have shown that Brazil is susceptible to a loss in the group stage but that can just complicate things more. The Uruguay playoff has shown that Australia definitely has the capacity to play well under pressure against quality sides. Japan and Croatia are no write-offs considering the runs they had in 02 and 98 respectively however Croatia might struggle with older and young inexperienced players.

As for Italy, it should make it through but then again they always like to do as little as possible and it sometimes backfires (Euro 2004). Czech should be the other favourites to qualify. USA are getting stronger and stronger but they benefit from a qualification system that favours their participation (too many places for CONCACAF versus number of countries and their success). Ghana to me are unknown but when you get past other African sides which have been consistently improving like Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal you know they are no easy-beats.

[BigPete33]

I think we do have a chance to go through..remember France last world cup and how shit they were?

Have a good look at Group E though....thats who we'll be playing IF we get thru, odds on it's Italy or the Czech Republic...they're harder than Japan or Croatia.

If we can get past that then we may as well say we're gonna win the whole damn thing

GO YOU AUSSIES

(and you poms)

[BigPete33]

I think we do have a chance to go through..remember France last world cup and how shit they were?

Have a good look at Group E though....thats who we'll be playing IF we get thru, odds on it's Italy or the Czech Republic...they're harder than Japan or Croatia.

If we can get past that then we may as well say we're gonna win the whole damn thing

GO YOU AUSSIES

(and you poms)

[Enforcer-J]

The chick hosting it was a total babe though. Bu it kinda freaked me out when she switched from English to German halfway though a sentance.

mmmmm...Heidi Klum, she can talk ancient hebrew for all I care

[nutty]

She wouldnt be able to talk if she was doing what I wanted her to do =)

I cant really expect Australia to make it past the group stage, but hell at least we are there

[Nigel]

Here the hell is Togo ???

[Scuderia_Alan]

Here the hell is Togo ???

My sarcasm detector isn't sure on that one.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/fac ... os/to.html

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=togo&hl=en

[fp]

Here the hell is Togo ???

On western's Africa's Slave Coast - Squeezed in between Bénin and Ghana.
Planning a holiday, Nige?

[Rumble]

she'll be right

just glad we made the world cup

ohhhhh yeah baby

[macca]

I think we have a chance of getting through, Brazil of course is the big stumbling block, but I wouldn't be too pessemistic, we have a realistic chance against Japan & Croatia.

'I told you so.'

[BigPete33]

I think we have a chance of getting through, Brazil of course is the big stumbling block, but I wouldn't be too pessemistic, we have a realistic chance against Japan & Croatia.

'I told you so.'

Bless Johnny Warrens' cotton socks, I wish he could have seen this.

He would be weeping with joy.

We've earnt respect now and no1 can take that away....bring on Italy!

[Nigel]

Getting there is one thing. Doing well is something else. Winning it... Thats something else again.

[gav0]

I reckon we will be lucky to get through.

and lucky we were