World Cup Draw!

Hot off the press: Constantine’s 2010 World Cup draw has taken place!
Thirty-two countries, represented by their national flags on tiny pieces of paper, were one by one selected from the official ‘hat’. Isabel Escudero agreed to officially draw the teams, and the process was chaired by Chris Webbe and Tom Rayner.
Those who cared were probably hoping for one of three teams: Spain, Brazil and England. However, if you selected a smaller footballing nation, all hope was not lost. Two prizes out of the pot favoured these nations, with a prize for the least amount of goals scored in the tournament by a single team, and a prize for the most goals conceded by a single team in a single match.
As the draw approached the tension was palpable. To avoid rioting, it was decided that the draw should take place in a corner of the office under the watchful eyes of a few select officials. Only a couple of teams had been pulled from the ‘hat’ when a big name surfaced….BRAZIL….and the name put next to the five-time world champions was Robert Thompson.
The draw continued apace, with a few selections raising eyebrows. Francesco Donadio snaffled up ITALY, and then Eloise Quere was handed FRANCE! Questions were raised at the legitimacy of the draw, later to be quashed by an independent enquiry.
It wasn’t long until ENGLAND came out, and Adrian Cole was the lucky man. Agonisingly SPAIN, the tournament favourites, had still to be picked. With two teams left, only Lucy Walker and Sarah Jury remained without a team by their names. The two teams available: SPAIN and NEW ZEALAND. And the team for Lucy Walker is…..NEW ZEALAND. Sarah Jury gets SPAIN, and looks odds on to triumph again, having selected Italy in the last World Cup draw four years ago.

A full list of the teams selected can be seen below. Good luck to everyone!


GROUP A
Mexico – Emily Hall
South Africa – Phillipa Hayward
Uruguay – Cafer Huseyin
France – Eloise Quere

GROUP B
Argentina – Raffaele Calise
Nigeria – Des O’Loughlin
South Korea – Colin Prince
Greece – Caroline Davoren



GROUP C
England – Adrian Cole
USA – David Brown
Algeria – Jacqueline Patterson
Slovenia – Steve Richards

GROUP D
Germany – Dawie Venter
Australia – Peter Grove-White
Serbia & Montenegro – Ben Sparkes
Ghana – Tim Sutton

GROUP E
Netherlands – Nicola Magdalinis
Denmark – Mike Love
Japan – Sian Williams
Cameroon – Paul Williamson

GROUP F
Italy – Francesco Donadio
Paraguay – Mark Hunt
New Zealand – Lucy Walker
Slovakia – Tom Rayner

GROUP G
Brazil – Robert Thompson
North Korea – Duncan Capp
Ivory Coast – Gemma Busby
Portugal – Chris Webbe

GROUP H
Spain – Sarah Jury
Switzerland – Valentina Candian
Honduras – Lucy Findley
Chile – Ben Adams