THE MANTES POST

Host South Africa will be seeded in Group A and open the World Cup at Soccer City on June 11. The United States will be in a group with one of the seeded teams, a European team and a team from either Africa or South America.

The other seeded teams — based on a mixture of current FIFA rankings and historical World Cup results — are Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina and England.

France won the World Cup in 1998 and was runner-up in 2006 but struggled to qualify for the 2010 event, prevailing in a contentious playoff against Ireland on a goal set up by Thierry Henry’s hand ball in extra time.

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said France was a victim of its lackluster qualifying campaign since the seedings were based on the October rankings.

In France, former national team coach Michel Hidalgo raised questions about the process.

“I am asking myself if this is not a sanction for the hand ball of Henry,” he told RTL radio. “It is an injustice. It looks like France is being sanctioned.”

Pot 1 (Seeds) Pot 2 (Asia, North America & Oceania) Pot 3 (Africa & South America) Pot 4 (Europe)

South Africa (as hosts)
Brazil
Spain
Netherlands
Italy
Germany
Argentina
England

Pot 2 (Asia, North America & Oceania)
Australia
Japan
Korea DPR
Korea Republic
Honduras
Mexico
United States
New Zealand

Pot 3 (Africa & South America)
Algeria
Cameroon
Côte d’Ivoire
Ghana
Nigeria
Chile
Paraguay
Uruguay

Pot 4 (Europe)
Denmark
France
Greece
Portugal
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Switzerland

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