The U.S. World Cup team and fans surely are smiling after drawing England, Algeria, and Slovenia as their first-round opponents for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The U.S. and England open in Rustenburg on June 12 in a mouth-watering match that features a matchup between LA Galaxy teammates David Beckham and Landon Donovan.
"Great way to start, big challenge, but when you come to World Cup and chance to kick it off against opponent like England, that's a great start," Coach Bob Bradley said on ESPN upon hearing the news.
More than 200 million fans worldwide were expected to tune into Friday's World Cup draw from Cape Town, and here is what they learned from the 90-minute star-studded ceremony:
Host South Africa will open the competition June 11 against Mexico in Group A, and later face Uruguay and France. Brazil and Argentina both landed in tough groups, arguably the co-Groups of Death.
Brazil's Group G includes North Korea, African power Ivory Coast and Portugal, which includes FIFA Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo. Argentina is grouped with Nigeria, South Korea and Greece. Brazil opens against North Korea on June 15 in Johannesburg and Argentina plays Nigeria in its opener June 12 in Johannesburg.
Honduras opens against Chile in Group H, which also includes Spain and Switzerland. Italy leads Group F, which includes Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia. Netherlands, Denmark, Japan and Cameroon make up Group E, and Group D is Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana.
The World Cup is June 11 to July 11.
