NEWS

In Friday’s World Cup draw, Japan will be in Pot 2 along with the three other Asian qualifiers, the three CONCACAF teams and New Zealand (Oceania), it was announced by the FIFA Organizing Committee at International Convention Center in Cape Town, South Africa, on Wednesday.

Joining Japan in the same pot will be Australia, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Honduras, Mexico, United States and New Zealand. Being in the same pot means that they will not face each other in the group stage.
Pot 1 features eight seeded teams based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking as of October 2009.
The seeded teams are hosts South Africa, Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina and England.
As hosts, South Africa were previously nominated as team A1 and will play on June 11, the opening day of the quadrennial tournament at Soccer City in Johannesburg.
It was also confirmed that two teams from the same confederation will not be drawn to the same group except European teams.

Pots:
Pot 1 – South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England
Pot 2 – Australia, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Honduras, Mexico, United States, New Zealand
Pot 3 – Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay
Pot 4 – Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland