So... I take it everyone has had time to take in the WC groupings for next years tournament.
In case you haven't seen it yet, here's a link to the BBC and Guardian coverage.
Any comments/predictions etc.?
Personally, I think it's a fairly easy (as far as they go) group for England, South Africa (the hosts) will have a tough time in group A, but generally the risk of an upset seems minor, there's no real "group of death" although people have pointed to group G.
FIFA website with diagram of the route to the final

France got a very easy group. They really have luck on their side in this world cup. Or Blatter whoever you believe.
Brazil have a group of death.

I reckon it'll be france vs england in the quarter-finals (If they both win their groups, and both win their last-16 matches).
Either way, it seems an easier side of the draw to be on.

I was waiting 2010 to start a world cup thread. But thx Andy for doing it ;) +1.
What I want to say right now is, don't overestimate the french team and underestimate mexican and uruguayan teams. Specifically the mexican team which can be tough.
It's going to be tough for Brazil indeed. I won't cheer for France for the reasons we know, but I will for England and The Netherlands which are both teams that I really liked for years.

Aren't you French then?
Even if I disagreed over that match, I would still support my team in the finals. While I would hope that we could prevent such things happening again, what's done is done. After all, Argentina regard a certain incident very highly, and I'm sure such things have happened many times from all teams.

The French team has a lot of raw talent that you cant ignore. I just think that Domeneche is not the manager that should be in charge, Henry seems to control the team. They had an extraordinary amount of luck to get in the World Cup especially the group seeding. I know I am Irish but at the end of the day mistakes happen and if it had been Robbie Keane he would have done exactly the same thing. If he had got away with it like Henry did well thats up to the conspiracy theorists.
For obvious reasons I will be supporting England.

Surely not that obvious... I know plenty of Scottish folks that would have rather seen no "home nations" teams make it to the WC than support England.
I had assumed the feeling would have been similar for the Irish...

I'm actually from South Africa. A lot of maintenance is being done on my city (Cape Town) and I really hope it pans out well!
LOL too bad our soccer team sucks :D

It doesn't matter. I don't want them to necessarily lose, I just won't cheer for them, as won't most people I know. What Henry did was awful, not the hand during the match, not the referee's decision either, but his absence of reaction (him and his teammates btw). What makes it worse to me is that he opened his big mouth (saying that it would be fair to replay the match) after the FIFA said that there won't be any replay of the match.
I don't cheer for cheaters, whether they are french or not. And when they are french they make me feel ashamed. But like you said, what is done is done.

Well, it is appreciated!
I always found it a touch puzzling how the other nations that make up the British Isles often can't support each other in such tournaments.
I know a lot of English people will support Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic, especially if we aren't playing.
There is a lot of bitterness about, and it's not even for sporting reasons. There are people out there with so many chips on their shoulders they could open a restaurant!

I would like to see countries such as Korea, Japan or Cameroon reach at least semi finals or why not, win the world cup. I know that Japan impressed me years ago. So, who knows.

Interesting groups, and yes France got an easy one, but remember 2002 in Korea... ^_^
Anyway, I don't usually watch the world cup to support my hometeam (i'm French by the way) but to watch fun games that wouldn't otherwise happen. Any chance of a North Korea-Brazil match in "real life" ? ^_^
Of course, once the groups matchs will be over, it will be a totally different matter... I pray for suprises, even if i'm realistic...
And Cambrey, as I live in Japan, you can bet i'll support Japan and South Korea too.

To be honest I would absolutely love to see England win the world cup. Sepp Blatter and Michele Platini have spent their entire carrers telling us that English football is horrible to watch and they have said the transfer system in England is wrong yet say nothing about Real Madrid and Barcelona tapping up players in public. Blatter and Platini are a cancer eating away at football and I really, really want England to win so they can eat shit.

Unfortunately. As much as I liked Platini as a player, I must say that I agree with you.