via g.sports.yahoo.com
Check out the World Cup Final Draw Coverage to see which teams are placed into which groups. Final draw coverage begins Friday, December 4, 2009 at 12 p.m. EST.
Source - Yahoo Sports:
Co-host for Friday's World Cup draw Charlize Theron played a little
joke on FIFA during a rehearsal on Wednesday for the event. Says the Irish Independent:
Ms Theron, whose long-term partner is Irish actor Stuart
Townsend, pulled out the 'Ireland' ball instead of a 'France'
ball. But, unlike much of the rest of the world, Ms Theron was not laughing
at us.
Instead, she was having a laugh at FIFA's
expense after Ireland's failed bid to become the 33rd team at the event.
"Yes, she did, but it was only a joke," FIFA general secretary Jerome
Valcke said.
The rest of the Yahoo Sports' article -Charlize Theron plays a joke on FIFA
Favorites to win the World Cup according to CNBC before the final draw later today:
Brazil 9/2
Spain 9/2
England 6/1
Argentina 6/1
As the tournament gets closer, the odds will change a bit. Rumors have it that the "Smart Money" will increase their wagers into the English side and their odds will change to 5/1. As always, since the beginning of the World Cup 80 years ago at Uruguay 1930, the top four favorites to win the tournament have come from South America and Europe only. In fact, South America has 9 World Cup wins and Europe has also 9 wins. South America is the only region in the world to win the World Cup outside their own continent, Brazil in 1958 and 2002!
FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 logo.
P.S. South America is very strong this year with solid "Selecciones" from Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina. Even with Argentina's problems and difficulties in qualifying to this year's tournament, they are a team that should not be taken lightly. Individually, Argentina has the most talent and depth then any team in the world but they have the wrong head coach. But you never know about Maradona, he has more lives than all the cats on Earth combine....
The World Cup 2010 champion will be South American.....