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DURBAN - England, humiliated at Wembley just four days ago, were drawn to face their tormentors Croatia once again when the preliminary draw for the 2010 soccer World Cup was made today.
Croatia beat England 3-2 on Thursday (NZ time) to knock the game's founders out of Euro 2008 and also beat them 2-0 in an earlier group qualifying game.
The pairing was the highlight of the draw among four continental confederations for a qualifying competition which will produce 31 finalists to join hosts South Africa.
There were gasps in the audience at Durban's International Convention Centre when the two were paired in European group 6, which also includes Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra.
The winners of each of nine European groups qualify while the eight best runners-up compete in playoffs for four places in the finals.
World champions Italy were drawn in group 8 with their main rivals Bulgaria and Ireland. France, losing finalists last year at the World Cup in Germany, face Romania and Serbia in group 7.
Italian federation president Giancarlo Abete said he was happy with the draw.
"It's a very good draw for us. It's a group we should win as we are world champions."
He said he was sitting next to the English delegation when Croatia were announced in their group.
"I looked across and they looked a little afraid to me," he said.
The draw, attended by South African president Thabo Mbeki and a host of soccer dignitaries, was staged as part of a 90-minute television spectacular beamed to more than 170 countries worldwide.
Unusually, the hosts were included in the draw as the African section doubles as a qualifying competition for the 2010 Africa Nations Cup.
There were further gasps when the much-feared Nigeria were drawn in the same group as South Africa, along with Equatorial Guinea and Sierre Leone.
But South Africa are guaranteed their place in the World Cup finals even if they fail to get out of their group.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter said Africa deserved to host its first finals. "This is justice to a continent that has given so much to football," he said. "We wanted to give something back to Africa".
Political and ideological rivals North and South Korea were drawn together in the Asian section.
South Korea are top seeds in group 3 which also includes Jordan and Turkmenistan. Two teams from each group go into the final Asian qualifying stage.
The two Koreas have met three times in the past with South Korea winning on each occasion, including two World Cup qualifiers.
Australia, playing in the Asian section for the first time since switching from Oceania, meet China, Iraq and Qatar in group 1.
Australia and China have met seven times in friendlies since 1975 with Australia winning five times, one match drawn and China winning once, in 1988.
South America did not feature in the draw as all 10 continental teams take part in one group from which four teams qualify for the finals with a fifth going into an inter-confederation playoff.
Europe provides 13 teams for the finals, Africa six, including the hosts, Asia and South America four and Concacaf, the North and Central America and Caribbean confederation, three.
There are two playoff places, one between the fifth-placed team in Asia and the winners of the Oceania qualifying tournament, which has already started, and the other between the fifth-placed team in South America and the fourth best from Concacaf.
- REUTERS
