ANYONE WHO still clings to the notion that crime doesn’t pay might want to look away from their television sets on the evening of June 11th next year. That is when the French will kick-off their World Cup campaign against Uruguay in Cape Town after which there will be games against Mexico and, most significantly, South Africa, who are ranked 77 places below any of the other seeded countries in last night’s draw on Fifa’s world ladder.
Giovanni Trapattoni would surely have been delighted to land such a draw had Ireland rather than France progressed last month but Raymond Domenech was understandably keen to play down his side’s good fortune afterwards.
Having been denied a seeding by dubious means earlier in the week, however, the French were effectively handed all the trappings of one in last night’s draw.
They will be comfortably the highest-ranked side in Group A which, as it happens, is the only one of the eight not to contain at least one side that won a qualification group to make it this far in the competition.
“Meeting the host nation is never a gift in such a test,” insisted their coach, however.
“Then Mexico and Uruguay are two teams who have the capacity to frustrate their opponents. They are technical teams, never easy to play against.
“This group will be difficult,” he added. “The three other teams will have the same desire as us to qualify but it is good to play from the first day.
“You’re not waiting around, you’re not asking yourself questions, you start the challenge quickly.”
Critically, though, the scale of that challenge has been lessened by the fact they have avoided all of the tournament’s major powers by being drawn with the hosts who they will play in Bloemfontein on June 22nd.
The South Africans will go into the tournament hoping to emulate the performances of Japan and particularly South Korea, who punched well above their weight on home turf back in 2002, but few expect them to pull it off even after their fourth-place finish in this year’s Confederations Cup.
Drawing the French will scarcely boost the nation’s confidence although Everton midfielder Steven Pienaar still reckons the team can make it through to the knockout stages.
“For us to go to the second round, that is the expectation of the people,” he said. “I think we can get out of the group. Mexico and Uruguay play quite similar to us, only France will be a bit of a challenge for us. The crowd will boost the players and we will be confident with them behind us. We hope they will be behind us.”
The Uruguayans only narrowly beat Costa Rica in a play-off to make it the finals after finishing fifth in the South American qualifiers, 10 points behind winners Brazil, four adrift of Diego Maradona’s rather erratic Argentinians and just one ahead of a chasing pack led by Ecuador and Colombia.
Traditionally the top dogs in the North and Central American region Mexico, meanwhile, needed a strong run of results late in the campaign to make sure of automatic qualification after embarrassing defeats in Jamaica, Honduras (twice) and El Salvador.
They ended up finishing behind the United States in the final group table although potential opponents will remember their epic encounter with Argentina in Leipzig three and a half years ago when they might well have beaten a team regarded as the best of the opening round but ended up losing in extra-time to a stunning strike by Maxi Rodriguez.
Of the other seeds, England, Italy and Spain fared best while Germany and Brazil, in particular, were handed some potentially tough opponents although, with two progressing from every group these days, it would still be a major surprise should any of the big names fail to make the initial cut.
England manager Fabio Capello certainly seemed content with his side’s assignment although he was careful not to offer any hostages to fortune.
“We know two of the teams – the United States and Slovenia – from friendly games but we don’t know Algeria,” he said. “With the draw, people will think it is easy but I think we have to respect all of the teams. I know from my experience as a player that when you play here (in the World Cup) the pressure is different and the mentality is different.
“For me, no groups are easy. We have to play the first game which will be the most difficult. If we win the first game then in the second you play in a more relaxed way because you don’t need the points to qualify.”
He admitted to knowing “nothing” about the Algerians but said that he will study videos of their qualifying games over the coming weeks and revealed that England are likely to play Egypt on March 3rd as part of their preparations for the game.
Capello’s greater concern may well prove to be what happens in Germany’s group for the winners of Group C will play the runners up in D and vice versa in the second round leaving England with the prospect of coming up against their old rivals, Serbia, Australia or Ghana even before they reach their usual point of exit in recent World Cups: the quarter-finals.
