Sport books will have South Africa as one of the top seeds for the 2010 World Cup along with soccer powers Brazil and Spain. South Africa is the host team and will be seeded in Group A which means they will be on the odds board at the Internet sportsbook for the 2010 World Cup as they play on June 11th.
Sport books have the other seeded teams being Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany Argentina and England. One team missing on that list is France who won the World Cup in 1998 and was runner-up in 2006. They just barely made it in this sport books year as they defeated Ireland on the handball from Thierry Henry that led to the game winning goal. France believes they are being punished for that handball. Former France national team coach said to radio the team is being sanctioned. “I am asking myself if this is not a sanction for the handball of Henry,” he said, “It is an injustice. It looks like France is being sanctioned.” FIFA has defended their seedings but it does look strange.
There will be eight groups in the 2010 World Cup with four teams in each as Internet sportsbook info shows. The draw will be held on Friday, December 4th. Sport books show that it is possible that France could be put into a group that includes Spain, Cameroon and the United States. The groups are set with each of the seeded teams followed by teams based into geographic groups. One group will have the Asian and CONCACAF teams, while another group in Internet sportsbook odds will have teams from Africa and South America, another with European teams, etc. Another part of the draw to consider at sport books will be the fact that South Africa can’t play another African team in the first round.
FIFA has said that their seedings are based on the latest rankings but that is only partially true as they went with the rankings after October, not after November. “It is to recognize their qualifying campaign,” FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said. “Holland had a great qualifying campaign (and) Spain is the first team having won all their matches.” Sport books info shows that the rankings from the end of October were used because some teams might have gained an advantage from European playoff games in November. If the latest rankings were used instead of the October ones, France would be ahead of both England and Argentina as Internet sportsbook stats show. With Argentina’s recent sport books play they really don’t deserve a seed anyway.