Win, Lose, Draw
Ahead of the World Cup draw on Friday, I’m going to bore you non soccer fans with my take. If you indeed are not a soccer fan, it's okay. We can't all be perfect. First, an explanation of how the draw is done:
32 teams enter the World Cup in 8 groups of 4. To determine those groups, the 32 teams are broken down into 4 “pots” from which 1 team each is chosen:
Pot 1 is made up of 8 “seeded” teams, presumably the best 8 teams in the world as determined by some points system I’m unfamiliar with. The seeded teams this go-around are: Argentina, Brazil, Germany, England, Italy, Mexico, Spain and France.
The USA missed out on seeding by 1 point via the points system (though had they had 1 more point, there would have been a 3 way tie with Argentina and Italy, which meant 1 of those teams would have to be left out anyways. Who knows who it would’ve been.
Pot 2 is made up of 8 teams from Africa, South America, and "Oceania": Australia, Angola, Togo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Tunisia, Paraguay, and Ecuador.
Pot 3 is made up of 8 teams from Europe: Croatia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Ukraine.
Pot 4 is made up of 7 teams* from Asia and North America: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Costa Rica, USA, and Trinidad and Tobago.
* = Serbia & Montenegro (that’s one team) are off on their own. The groups do not allow for more than 2 teams from any one region, which is why they are broken down as they are. Since there are 8 teams already from Europe in Pot 3, and S&M are the lowest ranked, they will be placed in a group headed by a non-European seeded team (Pot 1) to ensure that there aren’t more than 2 European teams in their group. Got it?
I’m infuriated by the fact that the USA did not make seeding and Mexico did. Then again, it will make it all the sweeter if we face them in the knockout stage of the tournament (after the group stage) and beat them 2-0 one more time. If I had my way, our draw would end up this way:
Pot 1: Italy (in my view, the weakest of the seeded teams not named Mexico)
Pot 2: any team except Australia and maybe Paraguay – though I feel we can beat either
Pot 3: Croatia / Poland / Switzerland / Ukraine – the lower half of the 8 Euros here
Pot 4: USA
Path of least resistance? I can dig it.
32 teams enter the World Cup in 8 groups of 4. To determine those groups, the 32 teams are broken down into 4 “pots” from which 1 team each is chosen:
Pot 1 is made up of 8 “seeded” teams, presumably the best 8 teams in the world as determined by some points system I’m unfamiliar with. The seeded teams this go-around are: Argentina, Brazil, Germany, England, Italy, Mexico, Spain and France.
The USA missed out on seeding by 1 point via the points system (though had they had 1 more point, there would have been a 3 way tie with Argentina and Italy, which meant 1 of those teams would have to be left out anyways. Who knows who it would’ve been.
Pot 2 is made up of 8 teams from Africa, South America, and "Oceania": Australia, Angola, Togo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Tunisia, Paraguay, and Ecuador.
Pot 3 is made up of 8 teams from Europe: Croatia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Ukraine.
Pot 4 is made up of 7 teams* from Asia and North America: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Costa Rica, USA, and Trinidad and Tobago.
* = Serbia & Montenegro (that’s one team) are off on their own. The groups do not allow for more than 2 teams from any one region, which is why they are broken down as they are. Since there are 8 teams already from Europe in Pot 3, and S&M are the lowest ranked, they will be placed in a group headed by a non-European seeded team (Pot 1) to ensure that there aren’t more than 2 European teams in their group. Got it?
I’m infuriated by the fact that the USA did not make seeding and Mexico did. Then again, it will make it all the sweeter if we face them in the knockout stage of the tournament (after the group stage) and beat them 2-0 one more time. If I had my way, our draw would end up this way:
Pot 1: Italy (in my view, the weakest of the seeded teams not named Mexico)
Pot 2: any team except Australia and maybe Paraguay – though I feel we can beat either
Pot 3: Croatia / Poland / Switzerland / Ukraine – the lower half of the 8 Euros here
Pot 4: USA
Path of least resistance? I can dig it.
posted by I-66 at 3:06 PM
9 Comments:
Not only did you bore us non-soccer fans, you did it twice! You are a sadist!
Thanks! I did it on 'yeah so i'm' also... I had no clue I'd done it here.
On the other hand, you could end up in a group with Brazil, Netherlands (easily the strongest of the unseeded teams), and Paraguay (or Australia or one of the strong African sides).
I kind of have the feeling that FIFA tweaked its seeding guidelines in order to ensure Argentina and Italy made it as seeded teams.
I also posted about the pot-seedings at my blog.
Heh... you identify Australia as a team you'd like the US to avoid after Bruce calls them "one of the weaker teams" (admittedly, after saying that all the teams now are stronger than in '02)
If the seeds are for the best 8 teams in the world, the US should not be seeded. We're around 10-12 in quality, regardless of FIFA's own rankings. That being said, we did deserve a seed more than Mexico.
that's not to say that the Socceroos are strong, but they are the stronger of the teams in that pot, by my estimation.
I disagree with your "if I had my way..." scenario (I think that's possibly the toughest position the US can be put in).
There are certain teams that do very well in World Cup Play regardless of their 'level' going into it. Italy is one of those teams (others include Brazil, Argentina, England, Germany ... basically a lot of the top seeds).
Now: Ukraine, Croatia, Poland, Holland and Czech Republic ... are no joke. I think if the US draws in any group with either of the above five, they're done.
The african teams have been pleasant surprises in previous World Cups (Cameroon in '90, Nigeria in '94, Senegal in '02). My personal opinion is that Ghana and Ivory Coast are the strongest this time around. Again, bad news for the US if it draws with Ghana.
This is the best scenario for the US:
MEXICO
AUSTRALIA
SWITZERLAND
USA
Teams to watch out for:
Czech Republic
Croatia
Ukraine
Iran
Ghana
Ivory Coast
The US and Mexico cannot be in the same group, else I'd definitely prefer to have them out of all of the seeded teams.
I just read that, sounds fair. I think Spain is the next "easiest" team to go up against.
(They did have to play an extra round against Slovenia to even advance ... and they're the only other team who hasn't previously won the world cup).
Knowing that we're gonna get someone, Spain isn't a bad alternative.
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