Draw reaction

All the managers from the participating nations, except Diego Maradona, who's banned by FIFA for 2 months, were at the draw and here's what some of them had to say.

Host nation, South Africa's, Brazilian manager Carlos Alberto Parreira thought the draw was very open with no real "Group of Deaths" emerging. About group A and his team's chances he said: "Up against two former world champions – France and Uruguay – I realise that the task ahead looks difficult, but we're ready to tackle it head-on with pride and courage. A tough challenge awaits us, but we're capable of meeting it if we put in the hard work in the run-up."

Mexico's manager Javier Aguirre thinks the host nation might be under incredible pressure to perform, while he believes that his side will be able to good enough to get past the group stage, saying: "I’m not going to label this group either difficult or manageable – I’m going to call it unique, without one clear favourite."

France's Raymond Domenech worried about other things, rather than possible opponents. "We won’t be playing any of our group matches at altitude, which was something I really wanted to avoid."

A topic, which was also in the head of England manager Fabio Capello. "We’re playing the last two group games at sea level, so that’s going to be a different challenge from our opening match in Rustenburg. But I won’t be offering excuses. Every team will have to meet awkward opponents, play in difficult conditions and win matches to win the World Cup", said the Italian.

Contrary to his fellow managers, Marcelo Lippi of defending champs Italy, denied that was going to be a problem.

Nigeria manager Shaibu Amodu, who might not hold this position come next summer, brought parallels with USA 1994: "We are in a difficult group – with Argentina, Greece and Korea. This is a similar group to the one we had at the 1994 World Cup and I don't want to talk about history but people will remember how we performed at that tournament even though people thought we wouldn't do well."

From the most evenly matched group, group D, Germany manager Joachim Low said: "I wouldn't say we were too lucky with the draw. It's not going to be an easy section, but it's certainly not beyond us. What strikes me is that it's a very balanced group. We're looking forward to the challenge and we know that it's going to be important for our confidence to win our opening match against Australia."

While other managers from the teams in that group labelled Germany as clear favorites, with Pim Verbeek of Australia and Milovan Rajevic of Ghana, saying they're one of the best teams in the World.

Same applies with group E. Everyone agreeing it's a tight group, but saying that the Netherlands are the best.

Dunga of Brazil squashed the talks about group G being the "Group of Death" saying: "I don’t like all that 'Group of Death' stuff. If you look at the draw, you’ll see that all the groups, perhaps with the exception of Spain’s, are very even. North Korea are, in theory, a weaker side, but it’s tricky playing against a team you don’t know much about." While also having a pop at rivals Portugal, saying with three Brazil born players in Carlos Queiroz's side, it will be like Brazil versus Brazil B.

Ivory Coast's Vahid Halilhodzic was far from a good mood: "To be honest it’s a terrible group. Very, very difficult. Brazil are second in the FIFA World Ranking and Portugal are fifth. It’s hard to imagine anything worse than that. Before the draw I said: “I’ll take anyone except Brazil or Spain.” I think a black cat must have followed me here in Cape Town."

Current European Champions Spain's boss Vincente Del Bosque complimented his opposition: "Before the draw we said that Chile were the side we wanted to avoid but now we've got to go and face them. They're an awkward team with some very good players and they could do a lot of damage. Honduras also had an excellent qualification campaign and they're a very technical side. As for Switzerland, we know them a little better but I don't think we should be either celebrating how the draw has turned out or getting worried"