Group B

I totally forgot that the World Cup draw took place this morning (local time) until I received loads of e-mails from various friends and colleagues.  So Group B looks like this:

England

United States

Iran

Wales/Scotland/Ukraine

Yes, everyone was very much looking forward to the England vs US game.  In fact, most of the Americans I heard from were very happy with the draw - personally I think their optimism is totally unfounded.  I will be extremely disappointed if England don't top this group.  Although there are no obvious groups of death, I still think at least one of the fancied sides will shockingly not get through the group stages - let's just hope it isn't us.  The England-US game is being played on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, which is a holiday.  I don't know how the time difference will work out - I think most of the games will be on early my time - but this could easily and probably will be the most watched "soccer" game in US history.  Let's hope we do better against them than in 2010 (we should do, from what I've seen of the US team they are really not all that).  As for the other teams, I don't know anything about Iran but I don't see them as a threat.  And same with whoever the 4th team is.  The most striking thing about this group is that it is clearly the most politically charged - US and Iran are strong enemies, US and England are strong allies, we all know about Ukraine, and an all-British tie would be tasty.  But with the tournament being held at this unusual time of the year - and in the middle of a league campaign - I think injuries and squad depth could be important, and I think we have that in our favor.