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There is something remarkably special about the two small words placed back-to-back. World Cup. It draws a wide audience from afar with eyes becoming fixed on it that would more often than not be drawn to distraction if it were called something else. That is why many sports have a World Cup rather than calling it the World Trophy or World Championships of Football, for example. Many sports across the globe have enjoyed the World Cup bump and the most popular of them is all is no different. The next phase of this starts Saturday right here in Canada when a third important word is added. World Cup draw. The draw for the Womens World Cup in Ottawa on Saturday is the start of the legacy that will be the 2015 World Cup in Canada. A legacy that can last beyond a lifetime. Of course, the draw itself is incredibly important for all 24 teams that are involved and it will create plenty of permutations once it is complete but the draw is much more magical than just that. Ticket holders across Canada and the world will watch the draw very differently than everyone else. These are the lucky ones. Having already signed up to play a part in the motion picture they now get to see which stars they will be with. Right now ticket holders in Winnipeg, for example, will be looking at their ticket purchases and anxiously wondering which teams will be slotted in Group D and, therefore, based in the city to play each of their first two group games. Likewise, for Edmonton with Group A, Ottawa in Group B, Vancouver in Group C, Montreal in Group E and Moncton in Group F. Major tournaments like the World Cup are about much more than what happens on the field. The majority of the players and staff of the countries will be visiting these cities for the first time and will get a thorough look at what makes Canada so great. Canadians across the country can play a massive part in that as well. At the 1996 European Championships in England, the Czech Republic team were based in my home city following the draw. They lived amongst us for the best part of three weeks as they went on a magical run to the final. Having interacted with the locals in around the area when training or eating out, for example, they had captured the hearts of many. The same will happen in Canada next summer. The majority of the ticket holders will never have seen most of the countries play before and wont know many of their players at the moment. Saturdays draw (live on TSN1, TSN3 and TSN4 at Noon et/9am pt) is the first step in that process. Memories will be created next summer and after the draw you will know which teams will fuel those memories. When you talk to people about their past World Cup experiences many of the stories begin on the draw date when they discovered who they would watch. For such an important event the draw can often frustrate in how it is delivered. Watching the show that is the FIFA World Cup draw is the opposite of attending a friends wedding. Often youll show your face for the important part, the ceremony when key words are exchanged, but really you cant wait for the music, speeches and party afterwards. The World Cup draw gives you all of that first but most fans just cannot wait for the draw itself to take place when the true key words are delivered. After shouting terms such as get on with it for the best part of an hour, FIFA then cruelly does exactly that and by the time the draw starts it is like watching it on fast forward with names being allocated into slots quicker than you have time to write them down. To enjoy it you are best to do a little preparation. If you have tickets or plans to attend certain games in the tournament you can see now which teams will fill those slots before the draw takes place. I had that experience as a fan at the 2006 Mens World Cup and it is a great feeling to see who you have tickets to watch. The second thing to keep an eye on is who will be grouped with Canada. Canada is the only team that has been secured a slot in the draw, placed as A1 being that they are the hosts. John Herdmans team will play their first two games of the group in Edmonton, including the first on the opening day of the tournament, Saturday June 6. They finish the group in Montreal nine days later. Being seeded means they will be one of the favourites to win the group but there will be tough teams in pot two that they will be looking to avoid. In case Canada finish second in the group keep an eye out for whoever is placed in Group C. It is one thing for Canada to be given a difficult group but if C is seen as one of the weakest this could help Herdmans side in the knockout stages. If they take that route look to see who get seeded in Group D as they would be the likely quarterfinal opponents. USA, Japan and Germany will come to Canada as the true favourites to lift the World Cup. Canadians may be hoping none of those teams are given D1 but that is the seed spot those teams will want. Unlike the Mens World Cup, with 24 teams featured, there are only six seeded teams to top groups at the draw but four are less favourable than A1 and D1 as a quarter final match awaits against a group winner in all of the other groups. The winners of Groups A and D not only play a team that finished third in the last 16 but also a group runner up in the last eight. In other words, should Canada win the group they will likely avoid bigger obstacles that will face many of their opponents and wont meet a group winner (C or E winners, should they progress) into the semifinals. There is much work to be done before then but following the tournament on paper is about to get even more fun starting with the draw. Grab a pen and begin the exciting journey with us on TSN starting Saturday. Shayne Gostisbehere Jersey .C. -- Cam Newton wasnt flawless on Sunday. Jaromir Jagr Jersey . The Twins announced Thursday the 28-year-old Albers cleared waivers. He will join the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization. http://www.officialflyersfanstore.com/authentic-eric-lindros-flyers-jersey/ . -- Aaron Rodgers looked fine on the practice field Thursday. Wayne Simmonds Jersey . The 40-year-old midfielder was put in charge on Tuesday when David Moyes reign ended after 10 months with the defending champions in seventh place in the English Premier League. Bill Barber Jersey . - After a back-and-forth battle throughout the season, Alex Guenette has earned the 2013 rookie of the year award for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 by just one point over Ryley Seibert.CHARLOTTE - Reaching .500 is usually not the recipe for first place in any sport but thats exactly where the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers find themselves as the two NFC South rivals get ready to meet on Thursday Night Football. The winner of tonights contest at Bank of America Stadium will take over sole possession of the top spot in the division, a testament to just how bad the NFC South has been thus far. A Week 8 loss to Seattle dropped the Panthers to 3-4-1, percentage points clear of New Orleans, which is 3-4 and coming off its most impressive win of the season, a 44-23 drubbing of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. The 2-6 Falcons and 1-6 Buccaneers round out the disappointing foursome. If you said at the start of training camp or OTAs, hey, you have a chance in Week 9 to be playing for first place, would you take it? Yeah, Id take it, offensive coordinator Mike Shula told the Panthers website. Thats the mindset. You have to keep moving forward and forget about whats happened. The Saints will arrive in the Queen City knowing they are 0-4 away from the Bayou this season and have lost seven straight regular-season games away from New Orleans dating back to 2013. Carolina has its own concerns, most notably a 1-4-1 record over the last six games following a 2-0 start to the season. The truth of the matter is we had opportunities and we didnt make them on both sides of the ball, said Panthers coach Ron Rivera. You have to take advantage of opportunities in the red zone by putting the ball in the end zone. When you have third down and long, you have to be able to stop them. The Panthers were inside the red zone on their first two possessions last Sunday against Seattle and came away with two field goals. Later, they suffered a turnover inside the 20-yard line. As a result, all of the Carolina scoring in a 13-9 loss came from three Graham Gano field goals. The Seahawks, who have never lost three straight games with Russell Wilson under center, were on the verge of doing exactly that in Charlotte before Wilson willed his team to a come-from-behind road victory, firing a touchdown pass to tight end Luke Willson with 47 seconds remaining to lift Seattle to the hard-fought win. Cam Newton struggled for the second straight week for Carolina, completing just 12-of-22 passes for 171 yards and an interception. He missed both of his throws and was sacked twice on the Panthers final possession. We didnt play our best football, Newton admitted. The next opportunity awaits on Thursday and Im anticipating that to be a great game for us. Rookie wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin continued to be a bright spot offensively for Carolina, recording four catches for 94 yards, including a career-long 51- yard reception in the fourth quarter to set up one of the teams three field goals. Benjamin currently leads NFC rookies with 571 receiving yards and five touchdowns. For the Saints, Drew Brees tossed three touchdown passes in Week 8 as New Orleans pulled away in the second half during the triumph over Green Bay. The game was deadlocked at 16 at halftime, but the Saints intercepted the red- hot Rodgers twice over an 11-attempt span in the final 30 minutes, quite the accomplishment because the veteran QB hadnt tallied a pick in his previous 213 throws. Brees, meanwhile, completed all 11 of his passes in the second half and finished 27-of-32 overall for 311 yards. Mark Ingram carried the ball 24 times for 172 yards and a touchdown and Brandin Cooks caught six passes for 94 yards and a score and added a 4-yard TD run for the Saints, who squandered a fourth-quarter lead for the third time this year in the prior weeks 24-23 loss at Detroit. Jimmy Graham hauled in all five of hiss receptions for 59 yards and a touchdown in the second half in the triumph.dddddddddddd I think the tempo was better today and I think thats something well continue to emphasize, Brees said. Division foes since Carolinas inaugural NFL season in 1995 -- first in the NFC West from 1995-2001 and now the NFC South beginning in 2002 -- the Panthers and Saints will be meeting for the 39th time with Carolina holding a slim 20-18 advantage in the all-time series. The two clubs will meet again in Week 14 in New Orleans. WHAT TO WATCH FOR Brees generally excels at night. Since joining New Orleans in 2006, the star signal caller has led the Saints to an impressive 22-10 mark in primetime games, the third-best record of any team during that span. And despite their pedestrian record the Saints have been as explosive as ever offensively and are tops in the NFC, averaging 445.4 yards per game, far ahead of Carolina (332.5 YPG). Brees in second in the conference with 2,227 passing yards but the issue has been ball security and New Orleans has a minus-six turnover ratio coming in, a stark contrast to the Panthers positive plus-four mark. Certainly theres all sorts of goals and theres big picture, small picture and I think what weve tried to do is really focus on the smallest picture - and thats our own team getting better, Saints coach Sean Payton said. New Orleans cleaned up things against the Pack and were plus-two in that game so its possible the worm has turned or at least the impact of Ingrams game against the dismal Green Bay run defense created more balance and enabled Brees to stop forcing the issue. If thats the case, the recipe could be there for a sequel because the Carolina D is a far cry from the unit that dominated in 2013 and is surrendering 378.5 YPG, slightly better than the often-maligned NOLA stop unit which is giving up about 12 yards more per contest. The Panthers gave up at least 37 points-or-more in four of their previous games until righting the ship a bit against the Seahawks. The main struggle has been to stop the run, as Carolina has surrendered 135.2 YPG on the ground, 28th best in a 32-team league. Offensively the Panthers hope to solve their red-zone woes and turn those Gano 3s into 7s. Carolinas 46.2 percent TD efficiency inside the 20 is also 28th in football. Its tough when you dont score touchdowns and miss opportunities, Rivera said. You have to make hay down in the red zone. The offense could be in line for a boost with the potential return of running back DeAngelo Williams, who has missed the previous four games with a balky ankle. Itll be a nice boost, said Rivera. When he and Jonathan (Stewart) get rolling and doing the things they do thats a huge thing for us. That could be a nice shot in the arm. OVERALL ANALYSIS Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me five times? Lets just say its tough to pick the Saints away from the Superdome but this is the team trending in the right direction and no one is happy about the way Carolina is looking. Furthermore, despite that lack of road success, New Orleans has been very close to getting over the hump, leading into the fourth quarter in three of their four road setbacks this season and losing those games by a total of just six points. So, lets be a glutton for punishment one more time here and figure on Payton and Co. finally figuring out a way to finally win one outdoors. Theres no more important game than this quick turnaround, the Thursday night game at Carolina, said Brees. This was the team that won the division last year. We are going to need our best performance to beat them. 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