Opening with USA lefts Becks speechless. Charlize Theron did the same for me, both looking at her and listening to her.

The World Cup Draw has passed and if anything is clear, it is that this World Cup will be unlike the last ten because England will surely win this one. Yes, I know that the British press has proclaimed victory before, but with their favorable draw, the English have been touted favorites earlier than ever and why not? They have such a strong history of coming through in the clutch and performing when the pressure is on, especially when a major tournament qualification spot is on the line or they reach the knockout stages of a tournament. So yes, England will win the World Cup on July 11th, but with the draw in the past, why not give you my favorite and least favorite things from the World Cup Draw? In addition, you can read the storylines that made me think, but I couldn't really draw any conclusions on because, frankly, I'm not smart enough to.

The Best

No Group of Death- People have dubbed Group G the Group of Death, but can a group that has a team not ranked in the top 80 anywhere be considered a Group of Death? I say no. Group G is undoubtedly the toughest group with Brazil, Ivory Coast and Portugal, but just because it's the toughest doesn't make it the Group of Death. Can it compete with the Argentina, Ivory Coast, Netherlands and Serbia and Montenegro group of 2006? How about the Argentina, England, Nigeria and Sweden group in 2002? This is a tough group, but no Group of Death and that is a great thing because it has left no weak groups. Some groups are obviously easier than others, but every group has at least three quality teams, meaning great competition. Swap out North Korea for USA and Group C becomes a bore. Swap out the North Koreans for Mexico and Group A is a worth sleeping through. As is, every group is extremely competitive and guarantees exciting matches from match day one through match day three.

Clashes of Style- One of the best things about the World Cup is that there are 32 extremely high skilled teams who play to the strengths of their players, giving us teams with very different styles of play. Not only do you get all of those styles, bu you get to see them go up against each other. The draw set up some tantalizing stylistic match-ups. In Group B, we'll have Argentina flying forward with Messi and Co., but facing the extremely well organized and sometimes downright boring Greeks. It's attacking soccer vs. bunker ball, South America vs. Europe and good vs. evil. Does the flair or organization win out? Group F gives us a similar match-up with a bit more skill and not quite to the extreme in styles. With Italy's defense and deadly counter facing Paraguay's dangerous attack, you can bet we'll see a fun match with great pace. Ghana and Germany in Group D present two extremely physical teams whose battle for strength in the midfield will be intriguing as well.

The Game's Best, Tested- Watching the world's greatest players is always a treat, but when you see Kaka tearing apart Peru, Christiano Ronaldo tormenting Albania or Fernando Torres embarrassing Azerbaijan, you're plenty aware of the competition. When David Villa terrorizes Russia in Euro '08 or Maxi Rodriguez leads the way versus Mexico, well that's when legends are made. The group stage of the 2010 World Cup has given us a few match-ups that can make legends though. If Christiano puts on a memorable show, he'd have picked apart a stout Brazilian and Ivorian defense. As I mentioned earlier, Messi will have to get it done versus Greece, while Wilson Palacios will have to run 394 miles versus Spain, Switzerland and Chile if he is to emerge as the world-class destroyer that some have made him out to be. Roque Santa Cruz, meet Gianluigi Buffon. Jozy Altidore, have fun with John Terry. Nicklas Bendtner, try a Netherlands defense that allowed two goal in qualifying. Fun all the way around as the best are tested.

The Worst

Ivory Coast/Portugal Opener- This could have been a dandy of a match day three match. It could have been one heck of a match day two match. It will be an entertaining match day one match, but it can take a lot of the drama out of what should be the Cup's most enthralling group. If either team wins the opener, the loser will be facing a major uphill climb and will put the winner plus a likely three pointed Brazil team in firm control of the group. The best we can hope for in the event of a opening winner is that Portugal beats Ivory Coast, then the Elephants beat Brazil on match day two. That's far more unlikely than match day three in what should be a fantastic group being interesting. Odds are, the toughest group goes to sleep on match day three, all because of the worst possible match day one match-up.

Poor Match and Stadium Planning- Netherlands plays their three group stage matches in Johannesburg (Soccer City, capacity 94,900), Cape Town (69,070) and Durban (70,000). Those are the three largest stadiums in South Africa, giving them a total capacity of 233,970 for their three matches. Meanwhile, New Zealand is playing their three matches in a total 134,00 capacity, lowest of any team. USA is playing in front of a total of 153,000 people and notoriously ardent travelers England will play in front of 160,000 people. Even the hosts, South Africa, are playing in front of 42,000 less people than Netherlands. While I know the draw makes it impossible to place the big teams in the biggest stadiums, you couldn't even it out a bit FIFA? I mean, nearly a 100,000 seat difference between two team is absurd and if any team is going to play their three group stage matches in the tournament's three largest stadiums, shouldn't it be the hosts? Oh, FIFA, where logic goes to die.

Refereeing Stays As Is- This didn't come from the World Cup Draw, but it came from the FIFA meeting down in Cape Town so let's have at it. In response to Thiery Henry's handball, FIFA called an emergency meeting to discuss the state of refereeing. What came of it? FIFA essentially decided that the current system sucks, referees are left in impossible positions and that it's just not good enough. That's a great start. FIFA has acknowledged the problem (albeit years later than the rest of us) so the next step is to do what they can do fix the problems, right? Wrong. Because FIFA excels in incompetency and the sporting world's greatest comedy, no changes will be made to the refereeing for the world's biggest sporting event. So in conclusion, FIFA said the system sucks, deal with it. Does anybody know where I can send Sepp Blatter a birthday card?

The So-So

World Cup Coverage- Three hours devoted to the World Cup Draw? In the United States? You're kidding me. That's only the beginning though. Every single match from South Africa will be live and in HD with the broadcast teams on site and not in Bristol. Experienced soccer directors, not baseball directors figuring it out on the fly, will be in charge of the broadcasts. SportsCenter will take place on site in South Africa with notable hosts, such as Bob Ley, manning the desk. A nightly recap show with highlights from the day's matches and previewing the upcoming day, while providing all the news and notes on the tournament. How freakin' awesome does that sound! Too bad it comes around for the World Cup I plan on being at in its entirety. To support the growth of the sport in the country or selfishly despise the timing?

No Debutants- For the first time ever, the World Cup will not have a single country making its first appearance. This note comes with a bit of an asterisk as Slovakia and Serbia have not qualified before in their current form, but have as a part of other countries. Is it fantastic that the Cup will be filled with strong soccer nations with some history to give us some sensational flashbacks or is it dreadful that we can't bask in the joy of a country making its first appearance. Heads says it's fantastic, tails says it's dreadful. Deal? Okay. Wait, it's 2009 and nobody carries change around anymore.