All participating teams now know their place in the world's most prestigious football tournament. Inas Mazhar reports from South Africa on the World Cup draw Whether they like it or not, the 32 teams in the World Cup draw for South Africa 2010, held in Cape Town on 4 December, now know their fate. It was a spectacular draw watched by a global television audience of 200 million who joined the 2,000 invited guests in the Draw Hall to witness a colourful and entertaining ceremony unfold. With African sporting stars such as long-distance runner Haile Gebreselassie, rugby player John Smit, cricketer Makhaya Ntini, and footballers Matthew Booth and Simphiwe Dludlu assisting with the draw, along with England icon David Beckham, it was always going to be an exhilarating evening, but the undoubted centrepiece came when the eight groups were revealed. While South Africans smiled upon learning that the host nation's opening match on 11 June would be played against Mexico at Soccer City, it was the outcome of Group D which caused the biggest stir. Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana will battle it out for the two qualifying places for the Round of 16, meaning that two nations with a proud footballing heritage will have to depart the tournament early. The early stages of the draw brought a very interesting match-up as England were paired with the US in a match in Rustenburg on Saturday 12 June, which brought back memories of the upset at Brazil 1950, when the US won 1-0. However, Fabio Capello and Bob Bradley avoided a nightmare group, with Algeria and Slovenia also coming out of the hat. Group G looks like the Group of Death, a tricky section with Brazil, North Korea, Côte d'Ivoire and Portugal all drawn together. Group A : South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France Group B : Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece Group C : England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia Group D : Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana Group E : Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon Group F : Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia Group G : Brazil, North Korea, Côte d'Ivoire, Portugal Group H : Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile With such an array of stars, it was a night to remember for everyone, not only for South Africans. The event dazzled from start to finish. After a welcome from Lions Head, the mountain which provides Cape Town with such a dramatic backdrop, award-winning musician Johnny Clegg then performed Scatterlings of Africa, a song made famous by the Academy Award-winning film Rain Main. Fittingly, the first address of the evening came from the man without whom a FIFA World Cup in South Africa would never have been possible -- the country's former president Nelson Mandela. The 91-year-old, speaking in a special video message, urged his country to make the most of the opportunity of being the host country. "We must strive for excellence in our hosting of the World Cup, while at the same time ensuring that the event leaves a lasting benefit to all our people," he said. It was then time for two special presidents to take to the stage. FIFA President Joseph Blatter and South African President Jacob Zuma showed their excitement at the draw and the 2010 FIFA World Cup itself in an entertaining dialogue which lasted for several minutes. Giancarlo Abete, the president of the Italian Football Federation, then handed over the FIFA World Cup Trophy to Blatter, confirmation that the sport's Holy Grail is in South Africa and ready to be contested next year. Portuguese legend Eusebio, born in neighbouring Mozambique, was introduced to the crowd before examples of the 'Win in Africa with Africa' campaign were highlighted to the expectant audience. Beninese singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo then took the stage to perform her Grammy- nominated song Agolo. The first duty of the show's guest presenter, Academy Award-winning actress, Hollywood producer and proud South African Charlize Theron, was to show off the official 2010 match ball, Adidas's Jabulani, which means 'to celebrate' in Zulu. Soweto's Gospel Choir continued the theme of happiness with a lively rendition of Pata Pata before the arrival of draw master and FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valcke, signalled that it was time for the moment of truth. Some of the assembled coaches will have headed away feeling confident, others concerned by the task presented them here. But all now know what lies in store as they begin preparing for next year's event. What follows is a sample of what they said. "It's going to be good not to have to move from the place where we're going to stay for our opening game, but we have difficult opponents which we must respect. USA are a good team, but so are Algeria and Slovenia. Every opponent at a World Cup is going to be difficult. We're playing the last two group games at sea level, so that's going to be a different challenge to our opening match in Rustenburg. But I won't be offering and excuses. Every team will have to meet awkward opponents, play in difficult conditions and win matches to win the World Cup. We've played and beaten the USA and Slovenia recently. Both are well organised, they like to pass the ball and they'll be good opponents. Algeria beat Egypt and they are a good team, too, but I have to learn more about them. I know from my experience as a player that when you play here (in the World Cup) that the pressure is different and the mentality is different. But are we going to win the World Cup? We have to!" Fabio Capello, England coach "Although there may be an advantage for England and the US, I think that on the whole, this is an equal group. It's very difficult to say who will qualify. However, I do think that England will go far in the tournament and they have the qualities to win it. They are great competitors, they have good individual quality and with Fabio Capello, who I have great respect for, they now have an Italian feel, which may have been lacking in their game. They've shown all of those qualities in the qualifiers. We showed good form in the qualifiers to advance, but above all, this is a dream which we have realised. To have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations would have been great, but to be in a World Cup is an absolute fantasy. The fans back home are in dreamland. It means so much." Rabah Saadane, Algeria coach "None of the teams are easy; we will have to study them all very closely. In my opinion, there is no such thing as an easy or hard group. In all cases, Italy has to win. New Zealand is definitely not a lucky draw; as I said, there is no such thing. Overall, the Germany and Brazil groups appear to be the toughest of all the sections. For us, the hardest game is always the first one. Our first game will be in Cape Town and, having seen it, the stadium here is great. I heard a lot of people talking about altitude problems, but altitude will not be a problem for us." Marcello Lippi, Italy coach "We might be seen as favourites, but the group will be very difficult for us. Denmark are a team we know very well, and you only need to see that they qualified in front of Portugal, Sweden and Hungary to see they have a very good team. We beat Japan recently in a friendly match, it's true, but it's difficult to say whether that will be an advantage or not. Although we won 3-0, I said afterwards that the score was misleading because the game was nowhere near as easy as it seemed. We didn't deserve to win like that. Japan have a very good team. They are strong technically and tactically. Their only problem against us was in scoring goals. And Cameroon are one of the top three African nations, so it's a dangerous group for us. But we know that if we have our strongest team and everyone is in form, we can beat anyone. We must have the right form and the right mentality. You have to have confidence in yourself, but you must not be arrogant." Bert van Marwijk, Netherlands coach "It could have been easier for us, but it could also have been more difficult. The Netherlands are clearly the favourites and there is a reason for that -- have the best team in the group. But although it will be difficult for us, it's not impossible. I don't know too much about Denmark, but I will study them more closely over the next six or seven months. I know many of their players and they definitely have a lot of talent in their squad. With Japan, I have some hard work ahead because the only player I know well is [Shunsuke] Nakamura. That is not enough, so I will be making sure that I find out a lot more before 2010. As for Cameroon, we certainly have some good players, a good spirit and we have improved a lot since I first took the job. It will be a special World Cup for us, simply because it is in Africa, and I know the players feel that. The location could well be an advantage for us." Paul Le Guen, Cameroon coach "I don't like all that 'Group of Death' stuff. If you look at the draw, you'll see that all the groups, perhaps with the exception of Spain's, are very even. North Korea are, in theory, a weaker side, but it's tricky playing against a team you don't know much about. For us, our opening game is the most difficult one. Then it will be our second game and so on. Côte d'Ivoire are going to make us work very hard. Most of their players are at big European clubs and they have [Didier] Drogba, who is one of the world's best strikers. African teams no longer fit with people's preconceptions; they've allied competitiveness to their technical ability. And of course we've got a huge rivalry with Portugal. We've played twice against them recently, winning one and losing one, but this will be a different story altogether -- it's the World Cup. They've got three Brazilians (Pepe, Deco and Liedson) in their team so it's going to be like Brazil vs Brazil B. What's more, it's going to be nice to see the healthy rivalry between Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, two of the best players on the planet who play for the same club side. It's a balanced group but that's what we expected. From a logistical perspective, it'll be interesting to play our first two games in Johannesburg." Dunga, Brazil coach "To be honest it's a terrible group. Very, very difficult. Brazil are second in the FIFA world rankings and Portugal are fifth. It's hard to imagine anything worse than that. Before the draw I said: 'I'll take anyone except Brazil or Spain.' I think a black cat must have followed me here in Cape Town. But there's no point cursing our luck now. We're here and we're going to give it everything we've got. I know that my team are capable of springing a surprise, even against Brazil or Portugal. I even think that the fact we're facing these teams could motivate my players more. I really hope that we can cause an upset." Vahid Halilhodzic, Côte d'Ivoire coach "I wouldn't say we were too lucky with the draw. It's not going to be an easy section, but it's certainly not beyond us. What strikes me is that it's a very balanced group. We're looking forward to the challenge and we know that it's going to be important for our confidence to win our opening match against Australia. Still, it's going to be a tricky one. I shadowed Serbia coach Radomir Antic for a while when he was at Barcelona a few years ago. Serbia were fantastic in qualifying and they have some extremely good players. Ghana are going to very difficult to play against due to their physical strength and in Michael Essien they have a real superstar. I'll have to ring Michael Ballack to get some inside info on Essien. The Ghanaians played well at the 2006 World Cup and they've improved a lot over the past few years. It's going to be difficult, but it's an interesting draw. I don't think we need to fear any of the sides we're up against because we've got a very strong squad ourselves. I'm looking forward to it." Joachim Low, Germany coach "I can't say I'm overjoyed by the draw. Germany are a quality team, and Serbia too, but I'm convinced we can match them. For me, Germany are the best team in Europe but I'm confident we can make it into the second round." Milovan Rajevic, Ghana coach
