So FIFA wants to avoid surprises. Clearly they want heavy favorites play in the second round and further. These seedings are real stupid.
As a fan that isn't an "elite team" I think they suck. I think the rankings should play into a little but and outside the top 8 seeds they really didn't use them and to be fair Italy and Holland should probably be seeded ahead of Switzerland. South Korea and Australia are like 55 and 60 in the rankings yet are in the same pot as the US and Mexico. That's bullshit. Cameroon is like 50 yet they are in the same pot as Chile who is a top 15 team. It's rigged. By ranking them this way the US essentially gets stuck with 3 other teams that are about the same if not better in the rankings than they are. Could you imagine a group of Spain #1 in the rankings, the US #14 , Ivory Coast #17 and Italy #7 in the rankings. That would be ridiculous.
Uruguay who had to beat jordan. In a play off is seeded. Lol As you say Barry its rigged. Australia will likely be stiffed too.
I think Australia has less of a gripe than the US as the US is #14 (albiet FIFA Rankings suck) and Australia is like 59 or 60. A true tournament that is fair seperates teams based on rankings as opposed to what geographic area they play. In all fairness the US would be potted with teams of similar rankings. The pots should have been like this Pot 1 Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Uruguay, Colombia, Belguim Pot 2 Switzerland, Chile, Greece, US, England, Holland, Portugal, Croatia Pot 3 Cote D'Ivore, Mexico, France, Bosnia, Ghana, Russia, Ecaudor, Algeria Pot 4 Hondurus, Costa Rica, Australia, Iran, S. Korea, Japan, Cameroon, Nigeria
It'd be kind of impossible to do a draw without having confederation 'tiers' though since you do have the rule of not having more than two European teams or one team from any other confedaration in each group. Plus the FIFA rankings blow anyway (like someone said it's a joke Uruguay's seeded) so going by them for the whole draw isn't ideal either. Ideally you go by the rankings for seed but get disqualified from being in the first pot if you didn't get an automatic berth. In Uruguay's case they really finished sixth in a ten-team confederation since Brazil would be ahead of them if they had meaningful games the last three years. Sub them out for the Netherlands (the highest remaining seed and a group winner) and you also eliminate the need for Pot X cause now there'd be three South American teams in the first pot and five European teams. If you're really going to do it by rankings all the way through then there's no need for a public 'draw' cause there'd be little suspense, you could just plug in a computer and figure out who goes with who based on the confederation parameters.
These rankings are as of October (the final rankings they used): CAF rankings - Ivory Coast, 17, Ghana 23, Algeria 32, Nigeria 33, Cameroon 59 CONCACAF rankings - USA 13, Mexico 24, Costa Rica 31, Honduras 34 (Mexico being rated higher than the other two when they weren't an automatic qualifier is also a joke btw) South American rankings - Argentina 3, Colombia 4, Uruguay 6, Brazil 11, Chile 12, Ecuador 22 Asian rankings - Japan 44, Iran 49, Korea Rep. 56, Australia 57 European rankings - Spain 1, Germany 2, Belgium 5, Switzerland 7, Italy T-8, Netherlands T-8, England 10, Portugal 14, Greece 15, Bosnia 16, Croatia 18, Russia 19, France 21
There are ways around confederation issue, you can eliminate certain teams from the pot once you run into that issue. Ultimately you have to beat the teams in your group to advance but it would certainly be much easier of the US got a group with say Italy, Japan and Cameroon as opposed to one with Italy, Netherlands, and Chile
Pretty excited about the draw. The draw is on 11 AM ET You can follow it from here if you aren't in front of a TV http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/final-draw/draw.html
Germany Portugal Ghana USA Win against Ghana, draw with Portugal and expect Portugal stumble against Ghana. I hope our first game is against Ghana and we can win.
Headlines everywhere in USA's group: history with Germany and Portugal. Klinsmann vs Germany Ghana eliminated the US last time Cristiano Ronaldo vs USA Damn it is going to be exciting, the US better be prepared...We also have the worst travel schedule out of any team at the World Cup
Yeah, we (US) got screwed. I think they can get out of the group but not likely. Effin Ghana has our number, Germany....pfft, count that as an L..we've stunned Portugal before in WC so there's my hope......there's a couple of softies in there (C, E, F, H)
