11-25-2007, 04:31 PM
Group 1: Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Albania, Malta.
Group 2: Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia, Luxembourg.
Group 3: Czech Republic, Poland, NORTHERN IRELAND, Slovakia, Slovenia, San Marino.
Group 4: Germany, Russia, Finland, WALES, Azerbijain, Leichtenstein.
Group 5: Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Estonia.
The easiest group, albeit one which you couldn't script: Croatia, ENGLAND, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Andorra.
Group 7: France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania, Austria, Faroe Islands.
Group 8: Italy, Bulgaria, REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, Cyprus, Georgia, Montenegro.
Group 9: Holland, SCOTLAND, Norway, FYR Macedonia, Iceland.
NORTH AMERICA: The Concacaf qualification process is a complete dog's dinner: The teams that come out of this lot will advance to three groups of four. The top two sides from each of those groups will then enter one final group, from which the top three teams qualify. The fourth team in the group will play off against the fifth place South American side. Does it really have to be like this?
1A: USA play Dominica or Barbados
1B: Guatemala play Turks and Caicos Islands or St Lucia
1C: Trinidad and Tobago play Bermuda or Caymen Islands
1D: Cuba play Aruba or Antigua and Barbuda
2A: Mexico play Belize or St Kitts and St Nevis
2B: Jamaica play Bahamas or British Virgin Islands
2C: Honduras play Dominican Republic or Puerto Rica 2D: The winner of Canada v St Vincent and the Grenadines gets a bye 3A: Costa Rica play US Virgin Islands or Grenada
3B: Guyana play Suriname or Montserrat
3C: Panama play El Salvador or Anguilla
3D: Haiti play Nicaragua or Netherlands Antilles.
Irony is usually flat on the page, but not this time. "The coverage of this draw is just scintillating," writes Irene Permaul.
ASIA: OK, here we go. "Bloody hell, will you look at that" in bold:
Group 1: Australia, Iraq, Qatar and China
Group 2: Oman, Thailand, Bahrain, Japan
Group 3: North Korea, Jordan, Turkmenistan, South Korea
Group 4: Lebanon, Singapore, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia
Group 5: Syria, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iran
Group 2: Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia, Luxembourg.
Group 3: Czech Republic, Poland, NORTHERN IRELAND, Slovakia, Slovenia, San Marino.
Group 4: Germany, Russia, Finland, WALES, Azerbijain, Leichtenstein.
Group 5: Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Estonia.
The easiest group, albeit one which you couldn't script: Croatia, ENGLAND, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Andorra.
Group 7: France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania, Austria, Faroe Islands.
Group 8: Italy, Bulgaria, REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, Cyprus, Georgia, Montenegro.
Group 9: Holland, SCOTLAND, Norway, FYR Macedonia, Iceland.
NORTH AMERICA: The Concacaf qualification process is a complete dog's dinner: The teams that come out of this lot will advance to three groups of four. The top two sides from each of those groups will then enter one final group, from which the top three teams qualify. The fourth team in the group will play off against the fifth place South American side. Does it really have to be like this?
1A: USA play Dominica or Barbados
1B: Guatemala play Turks and Caicos Islands or St Lucia
1C: Trinidad and Tobago play Bermuda or Caymen Islands
1D: Cuba play Aruba or Antigua and Barbuda
2A: Mexico play Belize or St Kitts and St Nevis
2B: Jamaica play Bahamas or British Virgin Islands
2C: Honduras play Dominican Republic or Puerto Rica 2D: The winner of Canada v St Vincent and the Grenadines gets a bye 3A: Costa Rica play US Virgin Islands or Grenada
3B: Guyana play Suriname or Montserrat
3C: Panama play El Salvador or Anguilla
3D: Haiti play Nicaragua or Netherlands Antilles.
Irony is usually flat on the page, but not this time. "The coverage of this draw is just scintillating," writes Irene Permaul.
ASIA: OK, here we go. "Bloody hell, will you look at that" in bold:
Group 1: Australia, Iraq, Qatar and China
Group 2: Oman, Thailand, Bahrain, Japan
Group 3: North Korea, Jordan, Turkmenistan, South Korea
Group 4: Lebanon, Singapore, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia
Group 5: Syria, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iran
I'm pleased with England's draw results. It's just challenging enough that if we make it through we know it'll be because we're a good team. 