Drawing Lots

Churchill once said, "Great Britain and America are two nations separated by a common language."

Sir Winston's quote is validated by coverage of the World Cup. The oh-so-British commentators refer to a "pitch" instead of a "field", a "side" as opposed to a "team", and arbitrarily use the plural in place of the singular "The American side are controlling the pitch. Hip-hip, cheerio, and all that!"

Depending on the results of their matches today, the teams could finish in a flat-footed tie. The British commentators tell us that in that case advancement to the next round is determined by "drawing lots". What does this mean?

Will white boards and magic markers be set on the "pitch" and the "sides" engage in a drawing contest to most accurately depict the Biblical character, Lot? Will extra credit be given if Lot's wife is outlined in salt?

Or is "lots" an adverb as opposed to a proper noun? Is the winner of the drawing contest determined by quantity of output? "There's lots and lots of drawing on the American whiteboard. The US advance(s) to face Brazil with 174 separate figures on their board. The English have (has) only 172."

Is it throwing dice like the Roman soldiers "casting lots" for Jesus' robe on Good Friday? Is "drawing lots" the same thing?

In any case, ABC / ESPN's TV ratings hang in the balance. A USA - Brazil match next Saturday will draw a few more eyeballs here in the States than Slovenia - Ivory Coast.