World Cup draw
December 4, 2009
Germany can expect no easy games as it prepares for the soccer World Cup in South Africa next summer.
Fans waited with excitement on Friday to see which teams their sides would face in the tournament's group stages.
And although the draw in Cape Town could have been worse, Germany could have hoped for weaker opponents.
Head coach Joachim Loew's players will kick off in Durban against Australia on June 13, before going on to play Serbia and Ghana. Although all three teams are ranked below Germany, none could be described as "pushovers."
"We are excited about the tournament, it is an interesting group. It will be important for us to win the first game against Australia. I have great respect for Serbia; they left France behind in the qualification," said Loew.
"Ghana, along with Algeria, are the strongest African teams," he added.
The German Football Association's technical director Matthias Sammer said all three opponents deserved respect.
Tournament's group of death
The hardest group by far, particularly for second-time qualifiers North Korea, will be this tournament's "group of death" - Group G. The other three members of the group are five-time winners Brazil, outside European favorites Portugal, and highly-tipped Africans Ivory Coast.
Cup holders Italy, on the other hand, will be delighted by their draw. The four-time winners open the defense of their trophy against Paraguay and will go on to play New Zealand and Slovakia.
England and the United States are favorites in a group that also contains Algeria and Slovenia. Ironically it was David Beckham, who plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy, who pulled out the ball that paired the Americans with England for the first time since 1950.
No easy time for hosts
Hosts South Africa will not have an easy time, facing former winners France and Uruguay and a strong Mexico side.
Among the favorites will be Diego Maradona's Argentina, despite struggling to make the tournament. They will come up against South Korea, Nigeria and Greece.
The Netherlands would be disappointed not to reach the group stages, facing Japan, Cameroon and Denmark.
Meanwhile European champions Spain, who beat Germany in Euro 2008, are set to face Honduras, Chile and Switzerland.
The show leading up to the draw featured traditional and modern African music, with South African born actress Charlize Theron taking on the duties of main presenter.
In the draw, South Africa were seeded as the host nation with Argentina, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Brazil and Spain also kept apart. Teams were then selected to ensure geographical variety, with teams from the same continent kept as far apart as possible.
rc/dpa/Reuters
Editor: Nigel Tandy