David Beckham and Charlize Theron were on hand in Cape Town, South Africa this weekend to participate in the random draw to select the match-ups for the 2010 World Cup soccer championship tournament. Because soccer (or fútbol) is such a huge sport in most of the world, the World Cup Draw is a major televised event … as a result, the big guns had to be brought in to help make the selections. The US team was selected to go up against the Algerian team, the Slovenian team and the English team … which means that if Becks gets picked to be on the English team (as he is dying to) then he will be playing against some of his US soccer teammates. Here are a few photos from the World Cup Draw event and some deets about the results:

English football fans will feel they got off lightly this evening after their team was handed a relatively easy group for next year’s World Cup Finals. At the star-studded draw in Cape Town, England was placed in Group C with USA, Algeria and Slovenia. Bookmakers William Hill immediately installed England as second favourites after their easy draw. The draw means that if David Beckham is picked, he will come up against some of his old teammates when England face USA in their first game in Rustenberg, around 60 miles north-west of Johannesburg, on June 12. The top two teams in the group progress to the second round and so England supporters will be hopeful that their team will make it through unscathed – at least until they meet possible opponents Germany. Hollywood star Charlize Theron oversaw the draw at Cape Town’s packed 20,000-seater International Convention Centre while David Beckham – England’s figurehead for their 2018 World Cup bid – and England manager Fabio Capello looked on. Beckham, who is still hoping he will be part of Fabio Capello’s squad for South Africa, said: ‘It is a very interesting group. They are all hard games and it’s very exciting to be a part of it.’ England beat Slovenia in a friendly at Wembley last March, when Frank Lampard and Jermain Defoe scored in a 2-1 win. And Algeria needed a play-off win over Egypt to reach South Africa, and so they are widely viewed as the weakest of the five African teams that qualified. Former England manager Terry Venables said: ‘They are going to say “there are no easy games” and of course, that is true, but it’s as good a draw as we could have expected. You could have hand-picked that so we’ve got to be very satisfied.’ More than 15,000 people gathered in Cape Town at big screens set up in the city while thousands more gathered around the convention centre where the draw took place. Capello had already said before the draw that he was not worried about which teams England was drawn against. ‘I don’t worry about that, ‘ he said. ‘You have to play against all of the teams at some point, but of course if you play against the best teams it’s not so easy to pass the first round. If we want to win you have to play against all of the teams. It is not important which team we have to play in the group.’ At the main party venue, Cape Town’s trendy Long Street, local and foreign fans, many with flags of their favourite teams painted on their faces, thronged the bars and restaurants. Former South African president Nelson Mandela sent a poignant video message to welcome the 32 World Cup teams to the host nation. His two-minute address was pre-recorded ahead of the Fifa group match draw ceremony in Cape Town. Speaking to the audience on huge screens, he said: ‘In Africa, soccer enjoys great popularity and has a particular place in the hearts of people. ‘This is why it is so important that the Fifa World Cup will for the first time ever be hosted on the African continent in 2010. We feel privileged and humbled that South Africa have been given the singular honour of being that African host country.’ More than 250million people in 200 countries watched the draw live.

Soooo … yeah. The World Cup is the largest world-wide sporting event and it looks like it’s gonna be a doozy next year. I recall when Becks played in the World Cup last time and it was fun following his exploits on the field. But since he then joined the LA Galaxy and started playing here on a regular basis, the novelty of watching him play soccer wore off a little bit. Now I’m really looking forward to the US Team SHOCKING THE WORLD by winning the 2010 World Cup!!! Well, okay … that prolly won’t happen … but I’ll be rooting for them to do their very best and who knows what will happen. I know there are a great many people that are superexcited for the 2010 World Cup … I think it’ll be fun to see how the whole thing plays out. Go USA!!

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