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Now I’ve heard two trains of thought regarding England’s World Cup draw. On the one hand, euphoria that Fabio Capello’s men somehow avoided dangerous wild cards like The Ivory Coast, France and Portugal in their first-round group, but in the opposite corner nervous fans who point out that England’s potential first match in the knockout stages of the tournament will be against either Australia, Germany, Ghana or Serbia. I suppose it depends if you’re a glass half-full or glass half-empty kind of guy as to what your viewpoint is on this but surely the World Cup finals are all about making progress one step at a time and, on that score, England just can’t complain about the hand they’ve been dealt. The Three Lions are now no bigger than 6-1 with Coral to win only their second World Cup and a best 4-11 (Skybet and Paddy Power) to win Group C ahead of the USA, Algeria and Slovenia. The Americans, England’s first opponents in Rustenberg on June 13th, are generally regarded as their most dangerous group rivals and can be backed at 5-1 with bet365 and Betfred to top the section, while Slovenia are 12-1 and the Algerians 25-1. One should never underestimate any country who have made it through to the finals of a major tournament but if England don’t make the last 16 with the minimum of fuss they will surely never be forgiven. Slovenia, who failed to muster a single point in their only previous appearance in the finals, and Algeria, easily the weakest of the African nations to qualify, both needed a play-off to reach South Africa, while the USA eventually struggled to top the North and Central American qualifying group despite winning their first four games without conceding a goal. American soccer fans still fondly recall their country’s famous win over England in Brazil in 1950 and several of their key players nowadays ply their trade in Europe. But the majority of their squad are still based in the less-than-competitive MLS and even though they had an excellent Confederations Cup campaign recently, where they beat Spain and ran Brazil close, they will surely struggle to contain a full-strength England who’ll be backed by a huge following in South Africa. I’m sure we’ll cover the 2010 World Cup in more depth next year but other early odds that catch the eye are hosts South Africa to win Group A at 8-1 with 888sport and Blue Square against woeful France and regular under-achievers Mexico and Uruguay (they are only 4-1 with Ladbrokes), and the Netherlands at 4-5 with Paddy Power and Victor Chandler to win Group E. The Dutch are in a different league to fellow Europeans Denmark on their day and, now that they’ve found a level of consistency in tournament finals, should know too much for Cameroon and Japan.