Today, All the World Is the Stage
Heidi Klum will be there, but Diego Maradona will not, and for some, that’s reason enough to tune in today when soccer’s 2006 World Cup Draw is beamed live around the world from Leipzig, Germany.
This is the day the United States and the 31 other teams find out what awaits them next summer.
In the best of circumstances, the U.S. could wind up playing Spain, Togo and Switzerland in the World Cup’s first round. That would make its chances of advancing reasonably good.
But, in a worst-case scenario, Coach Bruce Arena’s team might be drawn into the same group as world champion Brazil, the Netherlands and Serbia and Montenegro. That could make it three games and a quick flight home.
The matter is out of Arena’s hands. He has no control over which balls are drawn out of which pots in which order in front of the 4,000 invited guests today at the Neue Messe trade hall in Leipzig. Even though the Galaxy’s Cobi Jones is one of those participating in the draw, Jones won’t be able to help.
Nor will supermodel Klum.
“Whatever the draw brings is fine with us,” Arena said during a conference call earlier this week before leaving for Leipzig. “It’s the World Cup. It’s difficult, no matter who you play. I’m not going to worry about it one way or another.”
Easily said, but there are reasons for concern.
Under Arena, the U.S. reached the quarterfinals at the Korea/Japan World Cup in 2002 and came close to defeating eventual runner-up Germany, next year’s host.
That success brought all kinds of positive feedback -- more respect, more fans, more sponsors, more money -- but could easily be undone by a poor showing in Germany. That’s why today’s ceremony (live at noon on ESPN2 and at 11:30 a.m. on Univision) is important.
The 32 teams have been divided into five pots:
Pot 1 (the seeded teams) -- Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Spain.
Pot 2 -- Angola, Australia, Ecuador, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Paraguay, Togo, Tunisia.
Pot 3 -- Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine.
Pot 4 -- Costa Rica, Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States.
Pot X--Serbia and Montenegro.
Teams will be drawn into eight groups of four for first-round play.
To avoid more than two European teams ending up in the same first-round group, Serbia and Montenegro will be placed into a group that includes Argentina, Brazil or Mexico.
Organizers already have put Germany at the head of Group A and Brazil at the head of Group F. If they win their group titles, the Brazilians and Germans can meet no sooner than the July 9 final in Berlin.
Other than that, nothing is certain. The seeding was based on the results of the last two World Cups and on the teams’ world ranking over the last three years. The U.S. narrowly missed being one of the seeded teams.
A strong showing in Germany, however, could make the U.S. a seeded team for the 2010 South Africa World Cup.
Today’s draw is unlikely to radically alter the odds for 2006. Brazil is the overwhelming favorite, Germany a definite threat. Argentina is the most likely non-European team, after Brazil, to win it all.
Brazil’s Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said, “It will be 14 European teams against Brazil against Argentina.”
Arena, meanwhile, is keeping his fingers crossed.
“I’ve been through it before and I’ve got a pretty good understanding of what lies ahead,” he said.
