Claddagh Irish Pub to host World Cup draw viewing party Friday
Posted by: Crew Communications // Category: General News
FIFA announced today that the U.S. Men’s National Team has been placed in Pot 2 for this Friday’s FIFA World Cup Final Draw, alongside fellow CONCACAF qualifiers Mexico and Honduras, as well as the Asia and Oceania qualifiers.
Claddagh Irish Pub (585 S. Front St.), the Crew’s away game viewing headquarters, will be hosting a viewing party for the FIFA World Cup Final Draw, which will be held this Friday, Dec. 4, in Cape Town, South Africa, and will air live at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and live at 11 a.m. ET on Univision.
The party, which runs from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., will feature Crew players and Columbus-area natives Danny O’Rourke and Eric Brunner, along with complimentary appetizers, drink specials, player autographs, the unveiling of the World Cup match ball and much more.
With no CONCACAF team placed as one of the eight seeds, the U.S. could be placed in any of the eight groups with any of the eight seeded teams in Pot 1. The remaining two U.S. opponents will come one each from Pot 3, which includes African and South American teams, and Pot 4, which includes the unseeded European teams.
Pots
Pot 1: South Africa (hosts), Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain
Pot 2: Australia, Honduras, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Mexico, New Zealand, United States
Pot 3: Algeria, Cameroon, Chile, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Paraguay, Uruguay
Pot 4: Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland
In summary, the U.S. will play one team each from Pot 1, Pot 3 and Pot 4, and will have no chance of facing the four Asian qualifiers, New Zealand and the other two CONCACAF qualifiers.
The 32 qualified teams will be divided into eight groups. No two teams from the same confederation will be drawn into the same group, with the exception of Europe which can have a maximum of two teams in the same group.
As hosts, FIFA announced that South Africa will automatically be positioned as A1, and the other teams from Pot 1 will be drawn into Position 1 in groups B-H. For the remaining pots, the teams will be drawn into groups A to H and Positions 2-4 during the draw.
Tags: 2010 FIFA World Cup, Claddagh Irish Pub, U.S. Men's National Team