The Argentina National Football Team were given a boost in Cape Town on Friday, after the official draw for the 2010 World Cup gave them a relatively straightforward path to the knock out rounds.
Diego Maradona’s side will be based in the capital city Pretoria, and will face South Korea, Nigeria and Greece in Group B in the First Round of the World Cup. The team thus avoided dangerous possible opposition in the shape of France and Portugal, as well as other South American rivals such as Chile and Uruguay.
La selección struggled through the lengthy South American qualifying campaign, and at one point it appeared doubtful whether they would secure automatic qualification. However thrilling final wins against Peru and Uruguay made certain their place in South Africa, and a further boost was provided when the team was seeded as one of the eight premier nations in the cup. This meant that for the first group stage at least Argentina would avoid playing favourites Spain, Brazil and Italy, amongst others.
Other South American rivals were not so fortunate however. Uruguay find themselves placed in 2010’s “group of death”, having to play hosts South Africa, Mexico and France. Brazil equally faces tough matches against Portugal and the Ivory Coast to qualify, with North Korea also in the group. Paraguay and Chile also face difficult encounters in order to qualify, having to face World Cup holders Italy and European Champions Spain respectively.
Elsewhere, Group C placed England in a similarly favourable draw, having to face U.S.A, Algeria and Slovenia. On both sides of the Atlantic commentators noted with relish the possibility that Argentina and England may not face each other until the final of the tournament.
This would be an intriguing prospect given coach Maradona’s historical position as a hate figure in England- due to the “hand of god” incident in 1986, where he steered a cross in using his hand to score and defeat England in the quarter final. The goal, as well as disputes such as that of the Falklands/Malvinas Islands is still a point of contention between the two nations, and means that if the teams do meet, emotions will certainly be running high.