What are the alternative sources for World Cup tickets? Even if you are in the draw for tickets the chances don’t look good- 6 million applications for 250,000 tickets- that makes only 5% chance. Obviously, some games are more popular than others but I would expect the Australian games to be well subscribed. Those who have applied for tickets will be informed if they are successful on 3rd of February by email.

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The Socceroos have been drawn in Group F with Brazil, Croatia and Japan.

First Game
Japan- Football has exploded in Japan in the last 10 years with the introduction of the J-League and the co-hosting of the last World Cup. They qualified first in Asia but their form is uncertain especially when travelling. Ex-brazialian World Cup star Zico is their coach and they will be motivated to do well.

Second Game
Brazil- obviously are expected to dominate the group- a draw against them might be as good as a win.

Third Game
Croatia- unbeaten in qualifiers- could they match their brilliant form of the 1998 World Cup? Interestingly, Australia may field eight players with Croatian roots and Croatia two Australian-born players.

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Two ways to buy tickets for the Socceroos Games:

1. Fifa ticket lottery starts December 13. No rush- Everyone can apply for tickets until January 15 and a then a random draw.

2. Apparently, Football Australia will receive 8 per cent of saleable tickets (some reports say 2500 tickets) for the three matches in which Australia is scheduled to play. According to the SMH (free rego required) “At 9am on Monday the 19th, the federation will post on the site an application form for ticket buyers to fill out. A deposit will be required for each application.”

I suppose it’s a good World Cup draw when no fewer than 3 of the 8 groups are claimed to be the “Group of Death”. There seems to be a strong tendency for a reporter, in say the US, to claim the US is in the group of death and the Australian papers to claim the Socceroos are in the group of death- most everybody else reckons it’s the Group C with Argentina, Holland, Serbia and Montenegro and Ivory Coast. So what does an impartial look at FIFA’s rankings tell us?

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“I was, obviously, misinterpreted… Australia is a very good team”

Bruce Arena

Mhhh, me thinks Arena is just afraid of losing to Australia (or even T&T) and losing his job immediately- The US don’t deserve their high ranking and will be surprised if they come up against Australia (and I hope they do).

Soccer the winner in the end? The seedings for the Football World Cup in Germany have just been announced with a few surprises- draw is on friday…