John Murray

We had the longest draw for a World Cup that we've ever had before.

It was due to be two hours.

In fact, it lasted significantly longer than two hours.

And it was, in fact, it was 87 minutes before the draw proper actually began.

So there was a lot of celebrities.

There was a lot of Razamataz.

There was a lot of Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, and all rounded off by the village people with YMCA.

I think if you're looking for the toughest group that was drawn together, I think you would probably go for France's group.

And France in a group with Senegal, they are not to be underestimated.

Norway are in that group, which were the team that no one wanted because they are on the up and up.

They're on the rise and they could easily make an impact at this World Cup.

with Manchester City's Erling Haaland front and centre-off, having scored 16 goals, the record goalscorer in this qualifying campaign.

And the other team in there will come from the playoffs, but that will be Iraq, Bolivia or Suriname.

That's a challenging group, and that will not be straightforward for France.

It's such a contrast to the last World Cup in Qatar, where none of the venues that were used for that World Cup were more than 35 miles away from each other.

For this one, the longest distance between stadiums is almost 3,000 miles.

So there is the issue of travelling.

There are the issue of what time the matches kick off, what time of day, because the temperatures, unlike Washington today, the temperatures next summer in many parts of the country and in many parts of the host venues will be absolutely sweltering, whether that is high temperatures or whether that is heat and humidity.

So that is something that has to be contended with.

There's the possibility of thunderstorms as well and matches having to be suspended or perhaps delayed.