Sunday, September 5, 2010

Capello’s England make top seeds for World Cup draw tomorrow but France miss out

France may have had a helping hand in getting to the World Cup, but they didn’t get another yesterday as they missed out on a top-eight seeding to rivals England and the Netherlands.

Raymond Domenech’s side, winners in 1998 and finalists in 2006, missed out on a place in Pool 1 for the finals in South Africa next year, which would have meant an easier ride for Les Bleus.

But FIFA general secretary Jerome Valke immediately refuted the idea the country had been punished for the recent controversy over French striker Thierry Henry’s infamous ‘handball’ goal against Ireland.

“It had nothing to do with that,” Valke said. “The seedings were decided according to the rankings in October, before that match was played.

“In no way was it a sanction against France. It had nothing to do with the Ireland game.

“In the past the seedings have been determined by a mixture of world rankings and performances in past World Cups but this time the feeling was the October rankings most closely represented the best teams in the tournament,” he added.

Had the November rankings been used then England would have missed out and France seeded. And that meant Fabio Capello’s side go into Friday’s televised draw - featuring David Beckham and actress Charlize Theron - in the knowledge they will avoid big teams such as Brazil, Spain, holders Italy and the Netherlands when the groups are drawn.

Hosts South Africa, Germany and Diego Maradona’s Argentina complete the top seeds for the tournament.

But France now represent one of the most dangerous floating teams - along with Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal - who will be drawn in the same group as one of the top eight seeds.

France and Portugal’s omission puts them in Pot 4 along with the rest of the UEFA contingent, including Denmark, Greece, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Switzerland.

“Holland had a great qualifying campaign having won all their matches, so Holland are in Pot 1,” explained Valcke.

Pot two includes Australia, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, North Korea, South Korea and United States and the third pot contains Algeria, Cameroon, Chile, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Paraguay and Uruguay.

But as the assembled coaches wait to see their group fate, Maradona will be one high-profile absentee, as Valke insisted the Argentina coach will be thrown out of the draw if he tries to attend.

The foul-mouthed, former great was slapped with a two-month suspension from all football activities last month for his sexually-explicit rant after losing his cool with journalists following Argentina’s qualification.

“Maradona has been banned from football activities, not just matches, for two months and the draw is in that period of two months,” said Valke.

“There have been rumours that he could join the Argentinean delegation and I sent a letter to them to say ‘be aware he is banned’.”