England's World Cup Options: Avoid Portugal, USA, Cameroon and It's Easy

By being named one of the eight seeded teams for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, England will avoid the biggest names of international football in the group stages.

They would not have to face the likes of Brazil, Spain, or Italy until the knockout stages, although their passage to the last 16 will depend heavily on Friday’s draw.

The seedings were determined based on October’s FIFA world rankings, meaning that England—who are ranked ninth in the November list—edged out both France and Portugal who currently sit above them.

England—along with the other seven seeded teams—will face one team from each of pots two, three, and four.

No country can play another team from the same confederation, with the exception of the European teams—there can be two European nations in the same group.

Pot two includes nations from Asia, North or Central America, and Oceania; pot three has five African and three South American sides; while pot four contains just European teams.

• Pot One (seeds): South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England

• Pot Two: Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Mexico, Honduras

• Pot Three: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay

• Pot Four: France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia

England coach Fabio Capello will be hoping to avoid the likes of Portugal, Cameroon, and the USA—ranked fifth, 11th, and 14th in the official November rankings.

By contrast, it is possible they will be drawn against Slovakia, Ghana, and New Zealand.

The reality is, it will likely be somewhere in between.

Pot Two

England have never played Japan or South Korea in a competitive fixture, and they have never faced North Korea or Honduras in any format.

The last time they faced Australia was in a friendly in London in 2003, but that 3-1 defeat represents their only loss to them.

England have also never lost to New Zealand—which strolled through their Oceania group without too many difficulties—and they have won eight of their 10 fixtures against the USA. They have only faced America once in the World Cup, and that was 59 years ago in Brazil.

They have met in friendlies twice in the last four years. England won 2-1 when the countries played in Chicago in 2005, and were 2-0 winners when they met in London last May.

England has won each of its last three meetings with Mexico, although the last time they met in the World Cup was back in 1966, when England won their group match 2-0.

Pot Three

England have never met the Ivory Coast, Algeria, or Ghana before, although they will be wary of facing the Ivory Coast after they qualified for the finals without losing a game.

Cameroon is one of the strongest African nations in pot three, although England have never lost to them in a competitive fixture.

They have only met once in the World Cup, when England beat them 3-2 after extra time to knock them out at the quarterfinal stage of the 1990 tournament in Italy.

England last played Nigeria in the group stages for the 2002 World Cup—a 0-0 draw—but Nigeria only just qualified for the finals after dropping points twice to Tunisia in the group stages.

Capello’s men hold a perfect 3-0 record against Paraguay, including a 1-0 victory in the group stages in 2006, and they have only lost once in their history to Chile—more than a decade ago.

Uruguay pose the strongest threat to England historically, with four victories and three draws, although there are at least three teams Capello would rather avoid. Uruguay are barely a top 25 nation anymore, and being drawn with them in the group stages would not be the worst thing to happen.

Pot Four

Pot four could make or break England’s chances of topping whatever group they are in.

They will be looking to avoid France and Portugal at all costs, although I don’t think they would care too much which of the other six sides they were given.

England have not beaten France since 1997, and they have lost three of their last four contests, including a friendly at Wembley in 1999, a group game in the European Championships in 2004, and a friendly in Paris in 2008.

In competitive matches England have a very slim edge, leading the head-to-head 3-2 with two draws.

Similarly, England haven’t beaten Portugal since 1998, and fans will remember the agonizing 3-1 defeat on penalties in the quarterfinals in 2006—Sven-Goran Eriksson’s last game in charge.

Should England avoid these two heavy-hitters, sailing could be smooth.

They beat Slovenia in their only ever meeting at Wembley in September, and they have never lost to Slovakia in their three matches, which included a pair of European qualifiers.

England have only lost to Switzerland once in the last 60 years (a World Cup qualifier in 1981), and the last time they lost a competitive fixture to Serbia was a 1-0 defeat in the semifinals of Euro ’68 to the former Yugoslavia.

Greece should not cause too many problems if previous form is anything to go by: seven wins and two draws in the last nine meetings, including a 4-0 victory in a friendly at Old Trafford in 2006. 

Denmark could provide a trickier proposition. The Danes beat England in their last two meetings, 3-2 and 4-1 in friendly matches in 2003 and 2005 respectively, but I would rather face Denmark than the Swiss or Serbians.