World Cup Draw

The draw for the World Cup has been completed. The World Cup kicks off on June 9th 2006 in Germany. In a break from recent tradition the hosts will start the tournament, so the opening match will be Germany v Costa Rica.

England were made the second seeds behind Brazil and drawn in Group B – Position One.

So England will face:

Position 2: Paraguay in Frankfurt on June 10th.

Position 3: Trinidad & Tobago in Nuremberg on June 15th.

Position 4: Sweden Who will play England for the 12th time since 1968 in Cologne on June 20th. England haven’t beaten Sweden, Sven’s home country, in eleven attempts.

Sven-goran Eriksson had said he hoped to avoid Holland, Australia and USA and got his wish!

Arsene Wenger believes the winners of the cup could be between Brazil and England. “With England you feel, for this generation and now in this tournament, it is a little bit now or never because they have the right age and the right quality. They will be among the favourites. I don’t rule out Germany because they play at home. To beat Germany in Germany will never be easy for anybody. If you stick to talent, you will say Brazil.”

Sven claims that England can win the World Cup saying “If we all hit form, it will be difficult to beat us in Germany. Yes, we can win it. We are much better technically than in the last two tournaments and we are much more experienced. A lot of fans, after the Argentina game, think we will win it. Rooney could be the difference between winning the World Cup and not. He is world class, but we have many of them. Michael Owen is important in big games. He showed it again last time against Argentina. You don’t see him, then it’s two goals in three minutes. I’m very happy with that combination. Both of them are top class. You can say we are the best.”

The Full Draw

Group A

Germany

Costa Rica

Poland

Ecuador

Group B

England

Paraguay

Trinidad & Tobago

Sweden

Group C


Argentina

Ivory Coast

Serbia & Montenegro

Holland


Group D

Mexico

Portugal

Angola

Iran

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