*i thought i’d already written about this, but i hadn’t … which is why the post is so late.
the socceroos have been handed a tough draw for the south africa 2010 world cup. in last week’s draw, the australians were grouped with germany, serbia and ghana. this is a difficult draw to predict, due to the fact that serbia and ghana are mostly unknown elements for australia.
in the recent fifa rankings, serbia is ranked 20th, australia 21st and ghana 37th. on paper, the aussies should be able to hold their own against both teams. it’s a given that germany will win the group and the socceroos have just as good a chance as the other two teams.
all up, i think this draw is slightly easier than last world cup’s draw. germany are not the killer team that brazil can be, we beat japan and drew with croatia. if we can beat ghana, and hold serbia to a draw, then we can worry about germany and try to play out a draw in that game too, carrying us into the knockout stages.
the socceroos have a slim chance of making it through the group stage, but no more difficult than the last world cup. we have the advantage of world cup experience now and the team will be largely unchanged. if we play at full strength, we’re a good shot at qualifying second behind germany.
in other news, south korea continues to slide in their world rankings. the red devils are down to 52nd in the world cup. they’re now the second lowest ranked team after new zealand (77th). bets are on to see which team is knocked out first. my money’s on the kiwis …