Defending champion Spain gets repeat of 2010 final

COSTA DO SAUIPE, Brazil: Defending champion Spain will play its opening 2014 World Cup game against the Netherlands, a repeat of the ill-tempered 2010 final, while host Brazil faces a relatively easy path to the knockout stage after Friday's draw.

Argentina, champion in 1978 and 1986, first plays Bosnia-Herzegovina, the only World Cup newcomer among the 32 teams. After that game at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, the Argentine team of four-time world player of the year Lionel Messi then plays Iran and finally Nigeria. In six previous World Cup encounters, Nigeria has beaten Argentina just once.

Argentina will be heavily favored to come out top of its Group F. If so, it could find either Switzerland or France in its way in its first knockout game. Those European nations will be hoping to come out on top of their Group E that also includes Ecuador and Honduras.

The Spain-Netherlands match is on June 13, a Friday. When they met at the 2010 final, referee Howard Webb showed a record 14 yellow cards - two leading to red for the Netherlands' John Heitinga. The Netherlands was blamed for most of the dirty play.

England's first match will be in the heat and humidity of the Amazon basin, which coach Roy Hodgson was anxious to avoid. That night game in the Amazon city of Manaus pits the 1966 champion against Italy, a four-time winner.

Both will have to play their best to advance from Group D, since it also includes 2010 semifinalist Uruguay and Costa Rica.

"It's a tough group, there's no doubt about that. In Italy and Uruguay it's almost as though we have got two number one seeds in our group. We know how good Italy are because we lost to them in the quarterfinals at the Euros. The game is going to be tough from a climate point of view for both teams," said Hodgson.

England could also face hostility from the home crowd after the city's mayor said he did not want the English in Manaus because they complained about the venue's climate.

Belgium, one of seven seeded teams in the draw, will fancy its chances of advancing from Group H. Playing its first World Cup since 2002, Containing some of Europe's most exciting young players, Belgium first takes on Algeria, which has never moved beyond the group stage in its three previous appearances.

Coach Marc Wilmots' team will also play 2018 World Cup host Russia and South Korea, a semifinalist in 2002. If Belgium tops that group it would then play the second-placed team from Group G.

That is likely to be whichever team from Portugal, Ghana or the United States finishes behind Germany, one of the favorites to win the monthlong tournament.

Germany, champion in 1954, 1974 and 1990, first plays Portugal, with 2008 world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo. Germany's last group game is against the United States, which will be particularly memorable for U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann. He won the 1990 World Cup as a forward for Germany and coached his country to the semifinal in 2006.

"I kind of had in my stomach that we were going to get Germany," said Klinsmann. "Obviously it's one of the most difficult groups in the whole draw, having Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo and then Ghana, who has a history with the United States. It couldn't get any more difficult or any bigger."

"But that's what a World Cup is about. It's a real challenge. And we'll take it. We'll take it on, and hopefully we're going to surprise some people there."

Brazil starts its campaign for a sixth World Cup title with an opener against Croatia. Mexico and Cameroon are also in the group.

Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast and Japan are in Group C, one of the weakest groups.

What they said about the World Cup draw

Quotes about the World Cup draw:

"We can't worry too far ahead past the group stage. If you start thinking about the second round you forget about the teams in the first round, which are important. We have worry about these teams first." - Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said.

"We can't say we were handed an easy draw. It's a complicated group with tough sides. It's going to be difficult." - Spain coach Vincent del Bosque.

"It's definitely one of the tougher groups, if not the toughest, but at the same time, this is what the World Cup's all about. You go there to play against the best." - American forward Jozy Altidore of being grouped with Germany, Portugal and Ghana.

"I think the team's mentality is that we can go and play with anybody. Now we're going to have to prove it." - American defender Matt Besler.

"It's a tough group, there's no doubt about that. In Italy and Uruguay it's almost as though we have got two No. 1 one seeds in our group. We know how good Italy are because we lost to them in the quarterfinals at the Euros. The game is going to be tough from a climate point of view for both teams. We're both in the same boat.

"There were not going to be many scenarios where we were going to be jumping for joy." - England coach Roy Hodgson.

"Now that we are in such a hard group, then it is good that we are opening the World Cup against Brazil. It will be a great opening, tiny Croatia against great Brazil." - Croatia coach Niko Kovac.

"Our style of play generally remains the same. We are tough and we don't concede easily. I don't care how people describe our game or whether our style will be more defensive or offensive. We will play to make the last 16 and will fight for it as much as we can - you can be sure about that." - Greece captain Giorgos Karagounis

Amazon city is World Cup winner

Amazon city is World Cup winner

Costa do Sauipe (Brazil): The Amazonian jungle city of Manaus was the big winner at the World Cup draw.

Branded "the place ideally to avoid" by England coach Roy Hodgson earlier this week, the humid, steamy city far from the football hotspots of Brazil became the tournament's must-see venue.

Manaus got lucky beyond its dreams despite being awarded just four group-stage matches at the 44,000-capacity Arena Amazonia.

England vs Italy tops a 4-match World Cup bill on the opening Saturday, and Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal comes to play the United States on the second Sunday.

Two more European visitors must also trek northwards, for Croatia vs. Cameroon and Switzerland vs. Honduras.

"We won the World Cup today," Miguel Capobiango, World Cup coordinator for the Amazon state governor's office, told The Associated Press. "It's very, very good. I'm smiling." Some team coaches did not share his enthusiasm.

Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld is now rethinking his team's booking of a training camp more than 2,700 kilometers (1,680 miles) away near Sao Paulo, and his fellow German Volker Finke, the Cameroon coach, described the prospect of playing in Manaus as a "little bit of a problem."

Hodgson steered clear of strong opinions after previously igniting the Manaus mayor's anger.

"We would also prefer England doesn't come," Manaus mayor Arthur Virgilio said on the eve of the draw. "We hope to get a better team and a coach who is more sensible and polite."Naturally, the draw fulfilled England's long-shot odds of opening the show for Manaus on June 14.

"He's one of the few people in the world who is not curious about the Amazon, who doesn't want to know Manaus," Mayor Virgilio said of Hodgson, who is one of the more urbane English football men.

As a keen reader, Hodgson probably already knows that English influence runs deep in the history of Manaus.

British businesses came to the Amazon for its rubber, invested in architecture copying the style from back home, and their workers left behind the football clubs they created more than 100 years ago.England fans making Manaus the first stop on their World Cup tour will find much more native culture on offer.

"We have plans that you can come and fish for piranhas," Capobiango said of the city nestled near where the Amazon and Negro rivers join at the "Meeting of the Waters."

The Manaus area is also known for alligators, snakes, famously big spiders and potentially a few mildly hostile locals.

"There will be more people cheering for Italy than England. It is normal. But this first game will finish this trouble," Capobiango said of any lingering feeling between the major's office and the England camp.

"I have never been to the Amazon. It will be a very interesting experience, not just for me but for the team," Hodgson said after the draw.

Though his anxieties about climate and travel times from England's beachfront hotel in Rio de Janeiro still hold true, England was at least lucky in drawing Italian opponents which could also struggle in Manaus.

"There is no doubt the climate in the north for European teams is going to be tougher," said Hodgson, who coached Switzerland at the 1994 World Cup in the United States where some games were played in 40-degree (104 Fahrenheit) heat.

Current Swiss coach Hitzfeld acknowledged "Yes, we have to think about it" when asked by the AP if his team might move from temperate Sao Paulo state.

"We have to think again, maybe change a little bit the (training) program because for me it was surprising to go in the north," said Cameroon coach Finke, whose players are mostly with European clubs. "This is why it is also difficult to go here in this climate."

The Americans are committed to staying in Sao Paulo, but opponent Portugal has not yet settled on a base camp.

Croatia coach Niko Kovacs said a city on the tropical north-eastern coast could be a better option.

"Maybe we are here in Salvador, it is much shorter to Manaus than from Rio," Kovacs said.