I want to take a break for a minute from the whirlwind Premier League season to remind everyone that the World Cup Draw is happening this Friday, December 4th, and will be televised live around the world.
For soccer fans, it’s one of the most exciting days every four years as the fate of the 32 teams competing in the 2010 World Cup are decided when we find out which groups the countries will be playing in.
And then there’s always The Group Of Death. The group that pundits and fans spend thousands of hours lamenting over and trying to figure out which two teams will progress to the next round. Who will be in the Group Of Death this time around? We’ll have to wait until Friday to find out.
To promote The Group Of Death and ESPN’s coverage of the World Cup Draw, ESPN overnighted a package to me late last week which included several items of interest to soccer fans. Rather than describe what was inside, I decided to open the package in front of the video camera so you can join in the excitement of seeing what was inside. Click the above video to watch what happened.
After you’ve watched the video, keep on reading this. In the next few weeks, I’ll outline more details about the daily coverage you can expect to see from the websites, podcasts and videos in conjunction with the EPL Talk Network of sites (all nine including this one) as we bring you coverage from around the world about the 2010 World Cup.
But before I go, I do want to make sure you know that we just launched our World Cup Shirts store where you can buy World Cup jerseys for your favorite team. And everything is 100% official merchandise. So if you or your loved one are shopping on this “Cyber Monday” or in the next few weeks for holiday presents, head over to the World Cup Shirts store for the best selection.
What time is this at? I am in Los Angeles and would like to see it live, rather than sit in my cubicle =/
Tony, good question. It’s going to be shown live on ESPN2 beginning at Noon ET/9am PT and will end at 3pm ET/Noon PT.
Don’t expect them to begin the draw precisely when the program starts. FIFA will tease us quite a bit before they get into the draw and will drag things out as long as they can to ensure that the sponsors get as much prominence as possible.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Hmm…sounds like I’ll be taking a vacation day from work
That package was pretty cool, if only for the amusement factor and the fact that ESPN is expressing some serious interest…
FWIW: Why does everyone keep saying that America’s group in ’06 was the Group of Death? Clearly it was the group with Holland, Argentina, Ivory Coast, and Serbia-Montenegro. Holland, S-M, and Ivory Coast all won their groups outright in qualifying while Argentina missed out on first place in CONMEBOL through GD.
From an American perspective, it was a group of death. I imagine most of the media you consumed was U.S.-based so there’s where the message kept getting repeated. Clearly, the Argentina group was harder but I don’t think it was THAT more difficult.
Gaffer, what a great idea to open the package live. Nice touch. ESPN is going to give the event the wall-to-wall coverage it deserves. Can’t wait.
Thanks Gaffer, thinking I may just take the day off now haha.
Thankfully, BBC2 are starting their coverage halfway through so we’re spared all the bobbins!
I hate bobbins!
That’s funny. The t-shirt looks like an Iron Maiden design.
USA’s group in 2006, was the Group of Mortal Wounding. Only just slightly better than the Group of Death -> ARG/HOL/IVO/SRB
I did a random mock draw over the weekend and produced this group of death:
England-Portugal-USA-Ghana
Ghana and USA to qualify from that one…
I read that the pools will be revealed on 12/2/09 with the rankings, we can get a projection for what the US is in for… just please no Ivory Coast!
“Pretty comprehensive packaging” – nice one Gaffer.
The draw is on in the wee hours here post our company’s crimbo party but we’ll be watching live yeah.
france in pot 1?
“Pretty comprehensive packaging” – nice one Gaffer.
The draw is on in the wee hours here post our company’s crimbo party but we’ll be watching live yeah.