Chapter 855 Group A Is the Group of Death

At this moment, the majority of Chinese fans are also sitting in front of the TV to watch the draw ceremony.

The Chinese team has participated in three consecutive World Cups, from Asia to Europe to Africa, and maybe South America next time.

CCAV provided live coverage.

At the International Convention and Exhibition Center in Cape Town, South Africa, representatives from 32 national teams around the world appeared here. The head coach of the Chinese national team, Krauchen, and the vice chairman of the Football Association attended the draw ceremony.

The top 32 participating in this World Cup were first divided into 4 levels.

The first-tier seeded teams include host South Africa, defending champion Italy, Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, England and the Netherlands.

The second-tier teams come from Asia, Oceania and Central and North America and the Caribbean, namely South Korea, Japan, North Korea, China, Mexico, the United States, Honduras and New Zealand.

The third tier teams come from Africa and South America, namely Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay.

The fourth-tier teams are all from Europe. They are France, Portugal, Denmark, Switzerland, Serbia, Slovakia, Greece and Slovenia.

According to the draw rules for the grouping of this World Cup finals, teams from the same continent cannot be in the same group, except for European teams.

In addition, South Africa will definitely appear in the A1 position, while the remaining 7 seed teams will enter the first position of the other 7 groups.

The draw will start from the first level and proceed in order from Group A to Group H.

The drawing of teams from the second to fourth tiers will be divided into two steps. First, the group will be drawn, and then the specific ranking of the group will be determined.

In addition, the third-tier teams will activate the principle of avoiding the same continent when drawing lots.

The draw ceremony was hosted by FIFA Secretary General Valcke and Oscar-winning actor and South African star Richards Theron.

Before the draw began, there were about an hour of theatrical performances and celebrity interviews. Former South African President Nelson Mandela sent his blessings to the World Cup through the big screen, which was quite touching. The appearance of the cute South Africa World Cup mascot immediately enlivened the atmosphere.

Valcke first affirmed South Africa's preparations for the World Cup, and then gave a brief introduction to the draw process. After the introduction, the draw began, with Ethiopian long-distance runner Gebrselassie, South Africa’s current national rugby team captain Schmidt, South Africa’s first black cricket player Ntini, South Africa’s national team Defender Booth, South African entertainment star and famous England star Beckham became the guests of the draw.

The first team to be drawn was the first-tier team. South Africa entered Group A without any suspense. After that, Argentina was drawn and they entered Group B. England was drawn third and entered Group C, while Germany entered Group D. The Netherlands was drawn fifth and entered Group E, followed by defending champion Italy in Group F. Finally, Brazil entered Group G and Spain entered Group H.

"The Chinese team is going to play next. As a second-tier team, we can't help ourselves. In fact, the fourth-tier team is the most critical...France, Portugal, etc. are all in the fourth tier. Of course, The African teams in the third tier are also scary.”

Huang Jianxiang stretched his neck and became nervous. In fact, after all, Asian teams are in the second tier, African teams and South American teams in the third tier, and European teams in the fourth tier are the key to the grouping.

"A good signing means we can go further."

"Now it depends on Beckham's luck."

The drawing of the second-tier teams begins immediately next.

Luck is sometimes really unpredictable.

"china."

When Beckham first read out the name of the Chinese team, Dong Fangzhuo and the Chinese fans in front of the TV were stunned for half a second, and then their mood became very complicated.

"Oh, host nation, we are divided with the host nation. South Africa is not strong on paper and is considered the weakest seeded team, but South Africa has the advantage of being the host nation."

"I really don't know what to say..."

“Then it depends on the teams in the third and fourth tier.

"

In this way, the Chinese team entered position A2.

The second team to be drawn out is South Korea, who enter the B3 position. Afterwards, the United States was drawn in position C2, while Australia moved into position D2. Japan was drawn fifth and they moved into position E3, while New Zealand moved into position F3. The last two teams, North Korea entered the G2 position and Honduras entered the H3 position.

After the second draw ends, the third draw begins.

After the first two rounds, no one actually knows which team they are in is strong or weak.

Chinese fans began to hold their breath again. What the Chinese fans wanted to know was which national team entered the A3 position.

The first one to be drawn was Nigeria, who entered the B2 position. Subsequently, Cote d'Ivoire was drawn into the G3 position. Algeria entered the C3 position, and Uruguay entered the A3 position.

"Uruguay……"

“Why Uruguay?”

Chinese fans are obviously very dissatisfied with the appearance of an opponent like Uruguay. What if I switch to other teammates? Of the eight opponents, no one is weak!

Ghana was drawn fifth and they entered the D4 position, while Cameroon entered the E4 position. In the end, Paraguay was drawn into the F2 position, and Chile entered the H4 position.

The last thing to be done is the drawing of teams in the fourth tier.

"The most critical moment has arrived!"

"France, Portugal, Denmark, Switzerland, Serbia, Slovakia, Greece and Slovenia, no team is easy to mess with. Of course, it is best to draw Greece and Slovenia. These two teams are relatively weak, but Europe is not weak. Travel..."

"I hope we don't draw France."

"France."

The first team to be drawn out is France, they enter the A4 position!

"Idiot!"

"Huang Jianxiang's mouth!"

"How lucky Beckham!"

"Simply invincible, invincible."

"Eight teams, why is it France? It's completely unacceptable, unacceptable..."

"You said it would be okay to draw Uruguay, but you actually drew France. How will the Chinese team play now? The French team must win the first place in the group, and Uruguay is also very strong. Is South Africa competing with the Chinese team?"

"No, no, no, the Chinese team is also very strong, why are they afraid of Uruguay? There is still great hope for second place in the group."

"calm down."

…

After that, Greece entered the B4 position. Slovenia entered the C4 position, and Serbia entered the D3 position. The fifth team to be drawn out is Denmark, who entered the E2 position, while Slovakia entered the F4 position. In the end, Portugal entered the G4 position, while Switzerland entered the H2 position, and the G group became the death group.

Attached: Specific groupings of the 2010 South Africa World Cup finals

Group A: South Africa, China, Uruguay, France

Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece

Group C: England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia

Group D: Germany, Mexico, Serbia, Ghana

Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Cote d'Ivoire, Portugal

Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

Subsequently, CCAV5 immediately called Dong Fangzhuo in front of the TV and wanted to ask Dong Fangzhuo what he was thinking.

Dong Fangzhuo said bluntly: "The game has to be played. Don't think that we are not opponents just because France has a strong card. On the contrary, Uruguay should be very vigilant. We are not traveling to South Africa."

"I think the affiliation of France determines whether there will be a group of death in public opinion today. The French team entering the host group is a big blow to the host. South Africa is currently the weakest team in this group, which also leads to the entire group. One reason why the competition group situation is relatively average.”

What?

Is South Africa the weakest?

Huang Jianxiang thought he heard wrongly. Isn’t China the weakest?

"Actually, it's similar to the last World Cup. We have to get at least 4 points, and then with better goal difference, with better luck, we can get 5 points."

Even Dong Fangzhuo started counting points like ordinary fans. If it's 4 points, it's one win, one draw and one loss, and if it's 5 points, it's one win and two draws.

Someone with similar views to Dong Fangzhuo is Ma Dexing, a reporter from Sports Weekly:

"What I was most worried about before was the French team. Maybe France would create a group of death, but the result was counterproductive and they were assigned to Group A. This time the host South Africa was completely fooled by the big hooligans of FIFA. In this way, It has become a luxury for South Africa to qualify, and a victory would be good. The Chinese team must strive to compete with Uruguay."

Next, we will connect with another very important guest, guidance from Zhang Luzhang.

"Group A is very difficult to play. To say that the "Group of Death" should be Group A. During the afternoon interview, I said that the group the Chinese team is in may be the "Group of Death." China is the strongest in this group, and France The French team is the strongest among the teams. When these two teams meet together, plus the host South Africa, there must be a fight between these three teams if they want to appear. Uruguay plays a foil role in this."

Zhang Lu’s views are amazing!

Dong Fangzhuo, who was sitting in front of the TV, was stunned. Is Uruguay a foil? He remembers that Uruguay was the first to qualify in the group, while France only scored 1 point and was the first in vain?

Director Zhang, you must not have woken up...

Dong Fangzhuo smiled bitterly and shook his head. Everyone believed that France was the strongest and ignored the existence of Uruguay.

France relied on a handball goal to eliminate Ireland in overtime and advance to the World Cup. Their strength is far from as good as everyone thought.

Regarding France, there was actually widespread debate before the draw.

Not being a seeded team made French coach Domenech seem very calm. Before the draw ceremony, he seemed to have received some kind of hint or promise. He always said that he was very relaxed and would calmly accept any draw result. The result of the draw seemed to confirm the existence of a certain kind of promise. L'Equipe immediately commented, "The French team will definitely be very happy to know the result."

Originally, there was a lot of noise about the French team's qualifications and whether Henry would be suspended. At one time, people thought that FIFA would impose some kind of sanctions or suppression on the French team to calm the voices of some opponents. Putting the French team into the fourth level is one of the results of the compromise. But in fact, putting the French team into the group of any strong team is likely to lead to a death group. The interests of the strong teams will not be taken care of. More strong teams may be eliminated earlier, which will affect the later stages of the World Cup. Attention. So this compromise took a new turn, and the interests of the host country were sacrificed. The French team did not enter the real "Group of Death", and almost all the traditional strong teams were taken care of accordingly.

The Irish were very dissatisfied after Henry's handball goal. International Football President Sepp Blatter also deliberately made fun of Henry's handball, mocking the Frenchman's qualification for the World Cup as somewhat unfair. In the previous mock lottery ceremony, some models deliberately read the French lottery as Ireland. The French people were deeply disappointed.

It was not as easy for Domenech to grab a good draw as before. "We have played against them before, and these two games will be very difficult. Everyone thought that the draw result was very good, and it might make us careless, but they The players’ technical and tactical levels are in the middle to upper reaches.”

However, the French fans were overjoyed.

"Haha, this is an extremely simple group. South Africa and China cannot pose a threat to France at all. Uruguay's strength is not very good. No matter how you look at it, France has drawn a good team."

They forgot that in the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup, China only lost to France with a score of 2:3, instead of allowing France to win easily. The scar was healed and the pain was forgotten. What's more, how do you look at it, the Chinese team It seems to be stronger than four years ago...