World Cup seeds, etc...

[Cousin Jeffrey]

FIFA announced the seeded teams for next year's World Cup:
Brazil
Spain
Germany
Argentina
Colombia
Belgium
Switzerland
Uruguay

Granted, I haven't followed world soccer like I once did, but there are some surprises in there. But all of those teams are in the FIFA ranking's top 8 (except Brazil given they haven't had to qualify as hosts). I wasn't exactly expecting the last four listed to be seeded. Uruguay even still has to play the intercontinental playoff with Jordan to qualify because they finished 5th in South American qualifying that didn't include Brazil.


This ESPN article speculates on the draw procedure:

If Uruguay win their playoff, then the geographical draw pots will likely be similar to that of 2006. One pot may contain eight European nations, another should have the four Asian countries and four from CONCACAF (or New Zealand), with a final pot of Chile, Ecuador and the five African qualifiers.


That would leave a separate pot for the lowest-ranked UEFA side, who would be drawn against a non-European team from the seeded pot - Brazil, Argentina, Colombia or possibly Uruguay, to ensure no more than two European teams are in one group.

There's no guarantee that it will be like that, but that's been pretty typical. And it's why the USA usually gets a tough group. Because of how they separate teams geographically, we'll get something like this:
1. a seeded team
2. a South American team or a second European team
3. an African team

(In each of the last two World Cups, we've been in a group with two European teams and an African team.)

If the pots are like in the article above, we CAN'T get an Asian team in our group, which hurts our chances of advancing out of the group stage.

I wish FIFA would at least seed the top 16 (top 8 teams and a second 8 teams). You could still ensure teams from the same region aren't drawn together in a group. I think this would go a long way to make the groups more even.

 

[patdog]

I hate the pot system. As you point out, it guarantees the USA will never play an Asian team in the World Cup. They should do the pots by ranking and not geography. Seed the top 8 1-8, then put the next 8 in a pot, the next 8 in a pot, and the last 8 in a pot. Of course, even then FIFA ranking are often way off from reality. The best example is Brazil. Currently #11 in the FIFA rankings. They destroyed everyone in the Confederations Cup tournament this summer and are ranked #1 by eloratings.net. Does anyone really think they're not at least one of the to 8 teams in the world?

 

[af102]

Go play with the group draw simulator and prepare to have your wool sheared- http://ultra-zone.net/2014-FIFA-World-Cup-Group-Stage-Draws

When the European playoffs are drawn next week, all Americans should be praying that Portugal and France are drawn together. It would eliminate one of them, and put a worse team in the Euro pot. The dream scenario would be for Romania, Iceland, Sweden, and Ukraine to win the 4 playoffs. It would eliminate France, Portugal, Croatia, and Greece. We probably have better talent than Greece, but they are a dangerous tournament team with their style of play.

The New Zealand/Mexico playoff has no bearing on us since they will end up in our pot. It would be great for Jordan to upset Uruguay in their playoff, but there is very little chance that it does.

I'm calling it now, Ghana ends up in our pool and they beat us yet again.

 

[MSUDC11]

The talent in world soccer is more evenly distributed throughout many countries now. Belgium has missed the last two World Cups and they are absolutely loaded for this next one. Colombia hasn't made the WC since 1998 and they suddenly have a deep team that includes the best pure striker in the world (Falcao).

Italy, England, and Netherlands are traditional world powers that are still very talented, and they aren't even in Pot 1 with the rest of the big dogs.

There's a very small chance that the US ends up in an easy group in this World Cup. We could wind up in the same group as Brazil AND Italy, or Germany AND Netherlands instead of just one of them like in most years.

Best case scenario is that madness takes place in the playoffs and we end up in the Switzerland/Burkina Faso/Iceland group. I would also be ok with playing in Uruguay's group. Good chance that every other opponent from Pot 1 would be a definite loss.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

I did it 6 times. Yikes.

 

[STATELAW]

any of you guys enter the FIFA WC ticket lottery?

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Geez. All these draws are depressing.

 

[CadaverDawg]

You soccer guys...

When are the pots selected?

What at is your best guess as to who we will be paired with? And pardon my ignorance, but do the top two in each pot advance, or just the winner?

 

[Kim Jong Um]

Seeds? Pot? I thought we were talking about a new marij. strain

Guess you know I know nothing about soccer.

 

[af102]

The last match days are November 13/14 and 20th, so the pots won't be finalized until after those games. The draw happens on December 6th down in Brazil.

If by who we are paired with, you mean who our pool of 4 will be, there is no way to predict that. They just draw names out of a bucket. And yes, top 2 from each pool advance. 8 pools of 4 -> round of 16 -> quarters -> semis -> finals

 

[RebelAlumnus]

I did it 5 times. Best I got was B&H, Switzerland, Algeria.

 

[af102]

I looked into it, but you had to enter payment info when you applied. I was committed to going at that point, and I didn't want to be stuck with tickets if I got them and ended up not going. They were surprisingly affordable.

 

[patdog]

This is nothing new. It's like this every World Cup. The system is set up to screw the USA. We'll probably be better off if we do draw Ghana. That's at least better than a South American team and two European teams.

 

[rem101]

best i've gotten was US, B&H, Chile and either Spain/Germany or US, Belgium, Ukraine, Chile.

edit - worst was US, Spain, Netherlands, Ecuador.

 

[Lou3000]

Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay and the Swiss will underperform despite their seeding. However, since these average teams have bumped the likes of Italy and England, it makes for some truly nightmare group possibilities for the US.

Think of this group of death: Germany, US, Chile, Italy.

 

[WeWonItAll(Most)]

Worst I got: Spain, US, Ivory Coast, the Netherlands. That is unimaginably brutal, especially if Ivory Coast is as good as they were last time.

Best: Colombia, US, Algeria, Croatia

I could be totally wrong about that being the best. I just know Colombia isn't a traditional power and Croatia is good, but not elite

ETA: wasn't the championship last time Netherlands vs Spain?

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Worst: Brazil, United States, Russia, Netherlands. There is no best as far as I know.