'Bafana can expect favourable 2010 draw'

Oh yeah, so it will be a fair draw and a little fairer for SA, isn't that called cheating? Not that it matters, the whole thing is a farce anyway.

I thought that teams names were "pulled from a hat" and that was that. How, pray tell, will Banana Banana get an easier draw? Obviously giving the second-lowest ranked team the no. 1 seeding and thereby putting them into a hat with the top teams is the first way, but c'mon people those prima-donnas couldn't hit a shebeen with a quart bottle at 10 paces let alone find the back of a net (other than their own judging by their last couple of attempts) against any other opposition they are likely to come up against. So...doesn't really matter where/with whom they are drawn.
And before you knee-jerkers out there crucify me for being un-patriotic etc etc I have two words - Carlos Quieroz.

they need north korea *and* new zealand in their group in order to get out of the group stages. that's how bad they are.

south africa has no players on competitive teams in competitive leagues. i don't see how they are going to, for example, get goals past the american keepers or the danish defense. i don't think vuvuzelas will make a difference.

that's really lame. i wonder if it helps the psyche of the players to know they've been deliberately pooled in with the minnows?

touché -- in my experience with south africans, they will have no clue that they have been put in a mediocre group, and should bafana advance, they will be talking about how they are one of the 16 best in the world.

meanwhile, either ghana or cote d'ivoire end up in the group of death and get robbed of a semifinal that should certainly be theirs.

Animal Farm-1209 is very dissapointed that nothing was put in place at least when we won the bid to host world cup.

Its a disgrace that bafana bafana's group is being fixed so we can at least progress beyong the group stage.

Animal Farm-1209 is looking forward to a successful world cup!!

i always say the biggest curse endowed upon south africa, after apartheid,of course, was winning the african nation cup in 1996.

anyway, no team, even new zealand, will be beaten by south africa in 2010! we are still way too behind other nations due to the following reasons:

- we have no south african qualified coaches in south africa, let alone a south african coaching academy!
- we have no development structures, which by the way, are normally led and managed by qualified coaches and educators
- our football leaders are not even aware of the technical status of our team
- the so-called football public is ignorant of football
- we are not passionate about football as is alleged!

these issues unresolved leave us behind countries like ghana, ivory coast and cameroun. it takes ages to develop a football psyche and awareness that will take us beyond the level we are at. we need a few generations for that!

we are not mediocre but naive. we choose the same shortest eleven players and plunge them into a dark abyss of embarrassment and expect a different result everytime! in the time we where isolated the football world advanced a lot technically while we where amusing ourselves with monkey tricks here at home which belong in a circus! even then, teams like lusitano and wits where hammering the township teams for breakfast! so dont tell me about the good ol' days!

and then what about this vuvuzela nonsense! what is a blow of the vuvuzela saying? what is the message? where there vuvuzela's in '96? as a player, what does it tell you? how do you know YOUR supporters are blowing for you? since when is the vuvuzela a culture of black people? it has to come from an ignoramus that a vuvuzela is a cultural tool devised by ancient black people only because white people have not been kind in their dislike for it! a hint for white people: you want more of something about us just critisize it! there you go...

in short, only naive and football ignorant people expect south africa to go beyond the first round. from a seeding perspective, all host nations are seeded in the history of the world cup since the group stages where introduced. imagine we are seeded and are drawn against the like of slovenia - who killed russia, portugal, denmark and others. if you think the usa can be beaten by us please say it in private lest you embarass us all!

edwin matlapeng

Said it from the beginning the draw will be manipulated to sustain SAan interest in the games.

However with all the FIFA and SAFA soccer scandals, why should we expect anything different?

I have often refrained from commenting on such issues, however if one has been following the history of this tournament, one would've noted that the draw is always fixed to accommodate the hosts as well as avoiding the early meeting of the big guns, even the so-called groups of death in essence do not feature the powerhouses of world football. Let Fifa fix the draw whether on not it will benefit us remains to be seen. I still believe Bafana are capable of pulling a few surprises, hence i am 110% behind them.

@poking nose- the whole its justa farce coz its tghe majority sport, we get your point, after the world cup you can leave with the argentinian you will find you mates there, boertrekers

Give us NZ please :) Woza the draw, Woza 2010!!!

sifiso: no team with a ranking as low as south africa has ever made it into the world cup. period. as a result, this means that they *really* have to cook the books to ensure the hosts have a favorable draw.

and since people from visa-entry countries cannot just rock up here without a ticket in hand -- something which was waived in germany and france when they last hosted world cups -- fifa felt that they needed to cook the books. which is sad. with the exception of afcon, new zealand and north korea, every team that qualified has had a really rough qualifying campaign -- every team played a team in the top 15 at least twice to get to the world cup.

the world cup's saving grace, really, is that south africa is on CET during the world cup. basically, they're in the same time zone [or one hour either way] as most of the people with a vested interest in the world cup.

dylan -- i honestly don't see how south africa *won't* get new zealand. and i bet the kiwis are planning on advancing as well, just because they are expected to do so poorly.

my group a prediction:
south africa
united states
new zealand
slovenia

[yes, they will be THAT STUPID to put slovenia in just to try to get hosts into the next round.]

Ursa, I was watching Slovenia, not a bad team at all, they beat the Russians who have some good players, but sheesh if we can't beat NZ then I don't know. Holding thumbs.