In one of the most anticipated sports-related events of the year, the groups were drawn today for the 2010 FIFA World Cup!  Tell us your thoughts on your team's chances....

 

 

Despite a change of management to try to improve their fortunes on the pitch, Portsmouth FC is still in a lot of trouble. Stuck at the foot of the Premiership with just 7 points to their name, the club has now publically admitted that for the second time this season that some of the players have yet to receive their wages this month.

An official statement from the Pompey management read “The majority of the first team squad have not yet received their November salaries.”

"A proportion of their wages will be paid on Friday, with the club's new owners working towards paying the remainder over the next few days." The players also had to wait for their pay in September.

Most of Portsmouth’s financial woes stem from the tumultuous turn over in ownership over the past few months. In September businessman Sulaiman Al Fahim bought the club, only to sell it on a few months later to Saudi tycoon Ali Al Faraj, retaining only a 10% non managerial stake for himself.

Portsmouth were also handed a transfer in October, forbidding them from signing players until they had repaid outstanding debts to other clubs. Chief executive Peter Storrie said only last week that he expects that the ban will be lifted in time for the January transfer window and that new manager Avram Grant will have money to spend to try and stop the club sliding into the Championship in 2010. In light of today’s news though he may not have too many players interested in joining a team that cannot be relied upon to pay up on time for services rendered on the pitch.

 

The World Cup Draw will take place at noon Eastern time tomorrow (12/4), and will be shown live on ESPN in the United States.  This is a terribly consequential day for all 32 nations taking part in the World Cup.  I'm sure all my fellow United States fans are extremely nervous heading into the draw.  The US could draw a group as difficult as Brazil, Ivory Coast and France, to one as straightforward as South Africa, Algeria and Slovenia.  In all likelihood the result will be somewhere between those two extremes, but that's a fairly good illustration of what's on the line tomorrow.

In a quirk of the draw this year, the three nations that must be looking forward to tomorrow's draw with the most anticipation of potential World Cup advancement (other than the seven top nations from Pot 1, who all figure to be favorites to advance regardless of what happens tomorrow) are Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.  Each of these three nations has a 1 in 3 chance of drawing South Africa from Pot 1, and thus avoiding the likes of Spain, Italy, Germany, England and the Netherlands (since they can't be drawn against Brazil or Argentina).  This is because Pot 3 consists of just the three of them and the five remaining African nations, who cannot be drawn against South Africa.  So Chile has a 1 in 3 chance of drawing South Africa while, for instance, the United States has a 1 in 8 chance of drawing South Africa from their spot in Pot 2.  Drawing South Africa really is the prize of tomorrow's draw, no matter what history tells us of host countries advancing out of the group stages at every past World Cup.

The five other African nations (Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Nigeria) figure to have the toughest possible draws.  They are guaranteed to be playing a top team from Pot 1 and they are also certain to have a European opponent from Pot 4.  Throw in the 2 in 8 chance of drawing Mexico or the United States from Pot 2, and you have the makings of more than one "Group of Death" for the 2010 World Cup.

Click here to see a full list of the four Pots for tomorrow's World Cup Draw

The news may have put a smile back on the faces of some very disgruntled Republic of Ireland fans, but the fact that France has not secured one of the eight FIFA 2010 World Cup seedings has surprised others. Some soccer pundits had predicted that Les Bleus might still edge out England or The Netherlands for a spot in the top 8. Not the case however, much to England manager Fabio Cappelo’s relief and now France will have to face one of the top seeded teams in the very first round.

The eight seeded places have been given to England, reigning World Cup champions Italy, five-time winners Brazil, European Champions Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Argentina and tournament host nation South Africa. According to FIFA they base their team rankings on October 2009’s rankings as well as past World Cup performances.

Responding in part to comments made on a radio station by former French coach Michel Hidalgo that his nation was being punished by FIFA for the Thierry handball incident, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke admitted that the seedings decision was based more around recent play than World Cup history, but went on to say "Holland had a great qualifying campaign and Spain is the first team having won all their matches. It was purely sporting criteria. There was never, never, a question of the France-Ireland game in the discussion."

The official World Cup draw on Friday will decide the eight first round groups and match order.   The event, to be held in Cape Town and hosted in part by South African Oscar winning actress Charlize Theron, is being billed as the “soccer event of the year “ by locals and billions of people around the world are expected to watch it live on television

Here's the entire list of the four pots for the Friday World Cup 2010 draw

That Lionel Messi has been awarded the coveted Ballon d’Or has surprised very few people, but the fact that the top five list contained no fewer than three of his Barcelona team mates has raised a few eyebrows. Although last year’s winner Cristiano Ronaldo still managed a second place finish, Barcelona’s Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Samuel Eto'o, who only recently departed from Barcelona and was pivotal in last year’s winning campaign, came in 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th respectively.

When speaking to the press Messi was obviously delighted, but he too was quick to point just how many Catalans had made the list.  "To have the recognition of being the best player in the world is something special. It makes me happy and proud, but neither was I obsessed with the award, I knew that it could happen and I'm not going to stop now, I have the same desire to do things well."  He continued, "It's also right that they recognized the efforts of Xavi, Andres and also Samuel.  It's well-deserved that there are so many players from Barca up there.”

Ronaldo’s second place finish is related to his final season at Manchester United, and not to the less than stellar start he has made at Real Madrid this year.

For those of you wondering how your favorite players stack up here is the entire list:

Final Ballon d’Or 2009 standings:
1. Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona) 473 points
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Man United &Real Madrid) 233
3. Xavi (Spain, Barcelona) 170
4. Andres Iniesta (Spain, Barcelona) 149
5. Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon, Barcelona & Inter Milan) 75
6. Kaka (Brazil, AC Milan & Real Madrid) 58
7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, Inter Milan & Barcelona) 50
8. Wayne Rooney (England, Manchester United) 35
9. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast, Chelsea) 33
10. Steven Gerrard (England, Liverpool) 32
11. Fernando Torres (Spain, Liverpool) 22
12. Cesc Fabregas (Spain, Arsenal) 13
13. Edin Dzeko (Bosnia, VfL Wolfsburg) 12
14. Ryan Giggs (Wales, Manchester United) 11
15. Thierry Henry (France, Barcelona) 9
16 Luis Fabiano (Brazil, Sevilla) 8
16 Nemanja Vidic (Serbia, Manchester United) 8
16 Iker Casillas (Spain, Real Madrid) 8
19. Diego Forlan (Uruguay, Atletico Madrid) 7
20 Yoann Gourcuff (France, Bordeaux) 6
21 Andrei Arshavin (Russia, Arsenal) 5
21 Julio Cesar (Brazil, Inter Milan) 5
21 Frank Lampard (England, Chelsea) 5
24 Maicon (Brazil, Inter) 4
25 Diego (Brazil, Werder Bremen & Juventus) 3
26 David Villa (Spain, Valencia) 2
26 John Terry (England, Chelsea) 2
28 Franck Ribery (France, Bayern Munich) 1
28 Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast, Barcelona) 1
30 Karim Benzema (France, Lyon & Real Madrid) 0