England meet Croatia again in World Cup

England, humiliated at Wembley just four days ago, were drawn to face their tormentors Croatia once again when the preliminary draw for the 2010 World Cup was made on Sunday.

Croatia beat England 3-2 on Wednesday to knock the game's founders out of Euro 2008 and also beat them 2-0 in an earlier group qualifying game.

The pairing was the highlight of the draw among four continental confederations for a qualifying competition which will produce 31 finalists to join hosts South Africa.

There were gasps in the audience at Durban's International Convention Centre when the two were paired in European Group 6, which also includes Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra.

The winners of each of nine European groups qualify while the eight best runners-up compete in playoffs for four places in the finals.

World champions Italy were drawn in Group 8 with their main rivals Bulgaria and Ireland. France, losing finalists last year at the World Cup in Germany, face Romania and Serbia in Group 7.

Italian federation president Giancarlo Abete said he was happy with the draw.

"It's a very good draw for us. It's a group we should win as we are world champions."