Road to Brazil 2014
 

European draw just taken place. England just avoid the French at the death:

Group A: Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, SCOTLAND, Macedonia, WALES
Group B: Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Armenia, Malta.
Group C: Germamy, Sweden, R of Ireland, Austria, Faroe Is, K'stan.
Group D: Netherlands, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Estonia, Andorra.
Group E: Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland, Albania, Cyprus, Iceland.
Group F: Portugal, Russia, Israel, N IRELAND, Azerbaijan, L'bourg
Group G: Greece, Slovakia, Bosnia-H, Lithuania, Latvia, Lichtenstein
Group H: ENGLAND, Montenegro, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, S Marino
Group I: Spain, France, Belarus, Georgia, Finland

England 16/1 to win the thing; as long odds as I can remember for it. Even the patriotic punters factoring in the "Harry" factor it seems.

Putting my money on Group D to have the upset in it. C too if Austria get going and Sweden dont.... Or if Ireland remember to show up for the first time since 94

Winner of each pool goes to the WC?

Asia got....

Group A: China, Jordan, Iraq, Singapore


Group B: South Korea, Kuwait, UAE, Lebanon


Group C: Japan, Uzbekistan, Syria, North Korea


Group D: Australia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Thailand


Group E: Iran, Qatar, Bahrain, Indonesia

Pretty good draw for Australia IMO.

Definitely.

Ireland look screwed there. :(

Groups E and G are ridiculously weak.

Calling Belgium to win our group. Got a lot of talented kids at the moment.

Hard to disagree. Switzerland probably favourites in E from pot three.

Nz's path

Interesting that the Philippines are already eliminated by the time the Euro draw for qualification is announced. Knocked out by Kuwait.

Do you guys fancy becoming Asian to qualify more easily? Or perhaps African?

***Official*** Road to World Cup 2014
 

Hadn't realised the World Cup 2014 groups had been drawn months ago. Looks like there's a big differential in the groups, some very easy ones and some very tough ones. Groups E and G are laughably bad. England's group looks tricky but it's the sort of one where there's a bunch of teams below that should all knock plenty of points off each other, so in reality there should be quite a margin for error. Scotland and Wales could have quite an interesting time, would be nice if one of them could really compete for qualifying. Ireland have another really tough group.

FIFA.com - 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil? Preliminaries: Europe - Groups and Standings

I swear England end up playing these teams every time they have to qualify for anything ever.

Got to love Moldova though, one of the few states in the world which proudly claims crime makes up a considerable part of it's economy.

Yes England's group is very deja vu.

Really think Wales will do well, their midfield looks particularly young and exciting, better than Englands potentially.