What's happening around the world
By Tony Malone (11/12/05)
B - Before the main business however, we were forced to watch more than an hour's "entertainment", which had more to do with taking advantage of a captive worldwide audience than with adding to the occasion. As the dignitaries came and went, and magicians and mascots pranced around the stage, I thought about going back to bed, and finding out the news from the Internet later in the day. I decided instead to stick it out, and we finally made it through to the real business of the morning, the division of the thirty-two competing teams into the eight groups.
C - This did not mean that the suffering had ended though; far from it. While, to the layman, it would have seemed simple and sensible to simply pick out the balls one by one and put them into the groups in the order in which they emerged from the shiny , goldfish-less bowls, the wise heads of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (to give FIFA its full name) decided that several criteria had to be considered before making the draw. Firstly, eight seeded teams were chosen according to a system which FIFA had concocted shortly before the draw (mainly, according to some critics, Genji among them, to guarantee that the big-name teams will progress to the knock-out stages with the minimum of effort). Secondly, Germany and Brazil were placed in different halves of the draw (perhaps to ensure that the host nation stays in the tournament for as long as possible). Next, the remaining twenty-four teams were divided into four pools; two of eight teams, one of seven and one containing just Serbia-Montenegro, who must have done something very naughty indeed to be separated from the other countries in this manner.
D - Finally, we were ready to begin, and the afore-mentioned polyglot host invited a few thousand (or so it seemed) people up on stage to help him with his task. Retired stars from each of the six footballing confederations were invited up onto the stage to pull balls from the pots and stare at Pele as he performed his part of the draw. Unfortunately, someone at FIFA hadn't done his homework, and Oceania was represented by Christian Karembeu, a New Caledonian by birth who had never actually represented them, preferring to win the World Cup with France instead. Another of the luminaries was a former American international, Cobi Jones. Although less famous than most of the others, he is the only one with whom I've had a drink, so I was pleased to see him in such distinguished company.
E - Once underway, the draw threw up the usual mix of easy rides through to the next stage (notably for England and Germany), the so-called "Groups of Death" (with Argentina and Italy arguing as to which of these formidable footballing nations received the more unfavourable draw) and personal encounters (England's Swedish coach Sven Goran Eriksson coming up against his home country yet again). For the Socceroos, the initial news was less than pleasing: the multi-lingual showman announced that Australia would be placed in the same section as World Champions Brazil. When Croatia and Japan were also placed in Group F, the chances of the boys in green and gold qualifying for the last sixteen looked in doubt.
F - Once the show was over though, closer reflection gave reason to hope. While Brazil are, quite rightly, regarded as the favourites to lift the heavy little trophy next July, Australia have a reasonable record against them, including a 1-0 win in the 2001 Confederations' Cup. In addition, though the other two teams may be ranked much higher than the Aussies, they are very similar in strength to the Socceroos. FIFA's ranking system is notoriously flawed, and the Australians have been unable to raise their ranking with their four-yearly thrashing of New Zealand and the Island nations, followed by yet another heart-breaking play-off failure. In fact, both Croatia and Japan will be nervous about facing up to Guus Hiddinck's men in Germany.
G - So, as Heidi Klum returns to her day job and the compere goes back to teaching English, dreaming of the time he traded quips with Pele, the preparation for the World Cup begins in earnest. Seven months from now, the world's best football teams will battle it out in front of a global television audience of more than one billion people (and I'm sure it will be more entertaining than the draw). Saturday's spectacle was, however good for something; it was great practice for getting up for next year's incredibly early kick-off times. I'm sure that even Genji will be setting his alarm clock then.