The luck of the draw means Europe's time has come

Having sat at home and watched closely as Friday's draw unravelled, my belief that this will become a self-fulfilling prophesy has increased.

Looking at the draw on paper, I think as many as 10 of Europe's 13 teams could make it through to the knock-out stages next summer and I'd also expect remarkably short odds on all-European semi-finals.

The draw could not have been much kinder to Spain, who Fifa have at the head of its own global rankings, holders Italy and, of course, England. Big guns like Germany and the Netherlands got rather more loaded groups but their coaches and players are still feeling confident that they can qualify for the last 16 and even go much further.

Vicente del Bosque's Spain enjoyed a perfect World Cup qualifying record

Spanish national sports daily As' front page on Saturday reflected the mood of the nation.

"An easy group, then Cristiano (Ronaldo) or Kaka in the last 16," commented the newspaper. Clearly the World Cup for Spanish football fans and pundits effectively starts more than two weeks later than for most other people, with a potential match up against their neighbours Portugal.

Spanish coach Vicente del Bosque has, not surprisingly, been trying to guard against complacency since the draw was made.

"Any time there can be surprises, Chile are probably our chief rivals, Honduras play well and Switzerland are a solid outfit. But my biggest worry is that my 23 first-choice players get to South Africa in good shape," said Del Bosque.

However, despite Del Bosque's best efforts to try to keep calm and hide his glee, television pictures on Friday showed him with a permanent grin beneath beneath his bushy moustache.

Italian coach Marcello Lippi cuts a less lugubrious figure and also came out with the predictable mantra of, "there are no easy games at the World Cup," but the prospect of having to face New Zealand, Paraguay and Slovakia is unlikely to give him any sleepless nights.

Dutch football fans were also having a chuckle at their good fortune although Denmark and Cameroon (with Japan completing the group) could prove to be tougher opponents than Italy's rivals.

"A lot of people will probably think that we will make it to the next round without too much trouble," admitted Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk, although he did later add the usual qualifying remarks about how good his team's group rivals are.

The common consensus is that the section involving Germany, Ghana, Serbia and Australia is one of the two cliched "Groups of Death", but as the Real Madrid defender Christoph Metzelder pointed out on Saturday, "No one ever wants to face Germany either."

For my money, Serbia might be the surprise package of the World Cup, starting with getting through this group alongside Germany.

Coach Radomir Antic has done a fantastic job since taking over in the summer of 2008, changing the whole style of play, utilising the wings and getting the best out of attacking midfielders Milos Krasic and Milan Jovanovic, the latter being Serbia's top scorer during their qualification campaign.

France's luck also continued. Inevitably the controversy about Thierry Henry's handball will follow coach Raymond Domenech and his men all the way to Cape Town, where they play their opening fixture against Uruguay on 11 June.Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philminshull/2009/12/the_luck_of_the_draw_means_eur.html