England's World Cup hopes have been given a major boost after they were named as one of the eight top seeds for next summer's finals.
The major talking point is "why did France miss out"?
Could it have something to do with the fuss the Irish made over their failure to qualify ... at the hands (or hand) of the French?
FIFA's World Cup organising committee announced the seeds based on October's FIFA world rankings and Fabio Capello's side will avoid host country South Africa plus footballing giants Brazil, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany and Argentina in the group stage.
France were involved in that hugely-controversial play-off win over the Republic of Ireland and there is the suspicion that Les Bleus are being punished for Thierry Henry's infamous handball.
FIFA insist however that had no bearing on their decision - but they have abandoned their previous practice and used rankings alone rather than also taking into account performances at previous finals.
SEEDINGS:
ONE: Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa, Spain.
TWO: Australia, Honduras, Japan, Korea DPR, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, USA.
THREE: Algeria, Cameroon, Chile, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Paraguay, Uruguay.
FOUR: Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland.
The draw is made at 5pm on Friday.