Soccer: Draw's done, time to strategise

Argentina's Lionel Messi. Photo / Getty Images

Champions Spain will open their defence of the World Cup at next year's finals against the Netherlands, a repeat of the ill-tempered 2010 final, hosts Brazil face a relatively easy path to the knockout stages and England are in an intriguing group with Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica.

The draw did the Socceroos no favours, with Australia and Chile underdogs to advance from Group B ahead of European heavyweights Spain and the Netherlands.

Group E also looks one of the toughest, with Germany heading a quartet which features Portugal, Ghana and the United States.

Some groups look easier to negotiate - Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast and Japan make up Group C and Algeria, Belgium, Russia and South Korea comprise Group H.

After the draw early yesterday, Argentina, champions in 1978 and 1986, first play Bosnia-Herzegovina, the only World Cup newcomer among the 32 teams. After that game at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, the Argentine team of four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi play Iran and finally Nigeria.

Argentina will be heavily favoured to top Group F. If so, they could face Switzerland or France in the first knockout round. Those European nations will hope to top Group E - one of the easier in the draw - that includes Ecuador and Honduras.

"It could have been more complicated," France coach Didier Deschamps said. "Another good thing is that we won't play in the northern regions, where the temperatures and the level of humidity are very high and the distances are very long. We stay more or less in the same area, which is not too far from our training camp. It's rather good news."

The Spain-Netherlands match is on June 13, a Friday. When they met at the 2010 final, referee Howard Webb showed a record 14 yellow cards, leading to red for Dutch defender John Heitinga.

England's first match will be in the heat and humidity of the Amazon basin, which manager Roy Hodgson wanted to avoid. That night game Manaus pits the 1966 champions against four-time winners Italy.

"It's a tough group ... in Italy and Uruguay, it's almost as though we have got two No1 seeds in our group. The game is going to be tough from a climate point of view for both teams," said Hodgson.

England could also face hostility from the home crowd after the city's mayor said he did not want the English in Manaus because they complained about the climate.

Brazil open their sixth title campaign against Croatia. Mexico and Cameroon are in their group.

The US draw means they will go on a 14,500km trip around Brazil. In their seventh straight appearance at football's showcase, the Americans open on June 16 in Natal against Ghana, who eliminated the US at the 2006 and 2010 tournaments. The US meet Portugal on June 22 in Manaus and close group play on June 26 in Recife against Germany, winners in 1954, 1974 and 1990.

"I kind of had in my stomach that we were going to get Germany," said US coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who played for Die Mannschaft's 1990 World Cup championship team and coached his native country to third in the 2006 tournament. "Obviously it's one of the most difficult groups in the whole draw, having Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo and then Ghana, who has a history with the United States. It couldn't get any more difficult or any bigger."

In 2002, the US opened with a 3-2 upset of Portugal after taking a three-goal lead in the first 36 minutes.

Germany, who beat the US 1-0 in the 2002 quarter-finals, is coached by Klinsmann's former assistant, Joachim Loew, who said of the heat and humidity challenges: "I accept it as it is, we have no influence anyway. We know where we'll play and we can take the next step in preparing for this World Cup.

"Our opponents are old friends, we played Ghana in 2010, we played Portugal at the 2012 Euro."

- AP