World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

[JF_Gophers]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

why don't they just use KRACH???

all this supposition is confusing.

They need subjectivity so they have room to screw over certain teams.

 

[Priceless]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Argentina and Chile can't be in the same group.

Damn!

 

[Rolevio]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

You could say the same thing about Portugal.

and Ivory Coast

 

[realet]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Given the pots, doesn't that make it fairly likely that one of the groups that draws Mexico or the US will be the group of death? Since those are really the only two teams out of the pot that would make everyone else cringe?

I don't think we're making anyone cringe right about now.

I'm officially rooting for the USA, England, the Dutch, Honduras, and whoever's playing Mexico and France.

 

[Rolevio]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

So according to the SI, South Africa will not be playing an African team, so the lucky winners from Pots 2 and 4 will not just avoid a real seeded team but are also guaranteed to not play Ivory Coast or Cameroon? Those are going to be 2 lucky teams. Though I am sure it will probably be New Zealand and Slovenia (or Portugal).

 

[realet]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

So according to the SI, South Africa will not be playing an African team, so the lucky winners from Pots 2 and 4 will not just avoid a real seeded team but are also guaranteed to not play Ivory Coast or Cameroon? Those are going to be 2 lucky teams. Though I am sure it will probably be New Zealand and Slovenia (or Portugal).

Group A was going to be ridiculously easy anyway. Now it's even more of a free pass.

Pray for A!

 

[realet]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Here's my mock draw of the day. Also known as "F'ed in the A"

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Chile, France
Group B: Germany, South Korea, Nigeria, Greece
Group C: Spain, Japan, Ivory Coast, Switzerland
Group D: Italy, United States, Cameroon, Portugal
Group E: England, North Korea, Paraguay, Serbia
Group F: Argentina, Honduras, Ghana, Slovakia
Group G: Netherlands, Australia, Uruguay, Denmark
Group H: Brazil, New Zealand, Algeria, Slovenia

So many easy groups... and Group D.

F, ', d is starred? Seriously?

 

[realet]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Here are the potential schedules for the Yanks depending on which group they get drawn into.

A
June 11 - vs. South Africa, Johannesburg
June 17 - vs. Pot 4, Polokwane
June 22 - vs. Pot 3, Rustenburg

B
June 12 - vs. Pot 1, Johannesburg
June 17 - vs. Pot 4, Bloemfontein
June 22 - vs. Pot 3, Durban

C
June 12 - vs. Pot 1, Rustenburg
June 18 - vs. Pot 4, Johannesburg
June 23 - vs. Pot 3, Pretoria

D
June 13 - vs. Pot 1, Durban
June 19 - vs. Pot 4, Rustenburg
June 23 - vs. Pot 3, Nelspruit

E
June 14 - vs. Pot 1, Johannesburg
June 19 - vs. Pot 4, Pretoria
June 24 - vs. Pot 3, Rustenburg

F
June 14 - vs. Pot 1, Cape Town
June 20 - vs. Pot 4, Bloemfontein
June 24 - vs. Pot 3, Polokwane

G
June 15 - vs. Pot 1, Johannesburg
June 21 - vs. Pot 4, Cape Town
June 25 - vs. Pot 3, Nelspruit

H
June 16 - vs. Pot 1, Durban
June 21 - vs. Pot 4, Johannesburg
June 25 - vs. Pot 3, Bloemfontein

If the Yanks are drawn into Groups E, F, G, or H, they will not play in Port Elizabeth unless they reach the 3rd place game.

 

[Priceless]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Heres one I just did with the today's announced pots:
Group A - South Africa, North Korea, Paraguay, Portugal
Group B - Germany, South Korea, Chile, Greece
Group C - Brazil, New Zealand, Cameroon, Slovakia
Group D - Netherlands, Japan, Algeria, France
Group E - Spain, Australia, Ivory Coast, Denmark
Group F - Italy, Honduras, Ghana, Slovenia
Group G - Argentina, USA, Nigeria, Switzerland
Group H - England, Mexico, Uruguay, Serbia

Here are the pots by current world ranking, so you can see the best and worst teams in each pot:
Pot 1: 1) SPA 2) BRA 3) NED 4) ITA 6) GER 8) ARG 9) ENG 86) SAF
Pot 2: 14) USA 15) MEX 21) AUS 38) HON 43) JPN 52) SK 77) NZ 84) NK
(Note: by putting the US in this pot, FIFA drops the chances to 3/8 that the US will have a team outside the Top 32 in their group)
Pot 3: 11) CAM 16) CDI 17) CHI 19) URU 22) NIA 28) ALG 30) PAR 37) GHA
Pot 4: 5) POR 7) FRA 12) GRE 18) SWI 20) SER 26) DEN 33) SLV 34) SVK

Ridiculous that you could have a SPA-USA-CAM-POR (4 of the Top 14) group and a SAF-NK-GHA-SVK group (no one in the Top-32). So much for "fair play." FIFA is a joke.

So using the world rankings, we have:

Group A: 86, 84, 5, 30 = (205/51.25)
Group B: 6, 52, 17, 12 = (87/21.75)
Group C: 2, 77, 11, 34 = (124/31.0)
Group D: 3, 43, 28, 7 = (81/20.25)
Group E: 1, 21, 16, 26 = (64/16.0)
Group F: 4, 38, 37, 33 = (112/28.0)
Group G: 8, 14, 22, 18 = (62/15.5)
Group H: 9, 15, 19, 20 = (63/15.75)

The Groups of Death would be G, E and H, while A is ridiculously easy and C and F are easy. Italy would advance easily but the second spot would be a tossup. The USA would be in the third-hardest group with a lot of balance.

 

[unofan]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

So using the world rankings, we have:

Group A: 86, 84, 5, 30 = (205/51.25)
Group B: 6, 52, 17, 12 = (87/21.75)
Group C: 2, 77, 11, 34 = (124/31.0)
Group D: 3, 43, 28, 7 = (81/20.25)
Group E: 1, 21, 16, 26 = (64/16.0)
Group F: 4, 38, 37, 33 = (112/28.0)
Group G: 8, 22, 28, 18 = (76/19.0)
Group H: 9, 15, 19, 20 = (63/15.75)

The Groups of Death would be E and H, while A is ridiculously easy and C and F are easy. Italy would advance easily but the second spot would be a tossup. The USA would be in the third-hardest group with a lot of balance.

Group G should be 8, 14, 22, 18 = 62/15.5 = group of death with E and H.

 

[Craig P.]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Here are the potential schedules for the Yanks depending on which group they get drawn into.

Are you sure they've already set the schedule by the pots? In the past, after the seeds, they've also drawn for group position—our draw in '06 was bad not just because it was a strong group, but also because we drew Czechia in the first game and they wore down badly as the group stage progressed.

 

[jmh]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Here are the pots by current world ranking, so you can see the best and worst teams in each pot:
Pot 1: 1) SPA 2) BRA 3) NED 4) ITA 6) GER 8) ARG 9) ENG 86) SAF
Pot 2: 14) USA 15) MEX 21) AUS 38) HON 43) JPN 52) SK 77) NZ 84) NK
(Note: by putting the US in this pot, FIFA drops the chances to 3/8 that the US will have a team outside the Top 32 in their group)
Pot 3: 11) CAM 16) CDI 17) CHI 19) URU 22) NIA 28) ALG 30) PAR 37) GHA
Pot 4: 5) POR 7) FRA 12) GRE 18) SWI 20) SER 26) DEN 33) SLV 34) SVK

Ridiculous that you could have a SPA-USA-CAM-POR (4 of the Top 14) group and a SAF-NK-GHA-SVK group (no one in the Top-32). So much for "fair play." FIFA is a joke.

No way the USA (or Mexico) gets drawn into a group with a real weak side (other than SA, and they don't really count because of the crowd and officiating benefits that hosts get) because the weakest team in pots 1, 3 and 4 is stronger than the strongest non-USA/MEX team in 2. Great.

Granted, I think we can all agree that the FIFA rankings aren't the best way to rank anything, but I also think a better ranking system would show you basically the same thing.

Still, getting pulled in a group with, say, Paraguay and Slovenia wouldn't be so bad, but that's just not going to happen.

 

[unofan]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

I don't think we're making anyone cringe right about now.

Compared to the rest of our pot, though? Everyone else will be cursing if they draw us or Mexico, because it means they don't get one of the other Pot B teams. We may not be great right now, but if the choice is us or North Korea?

 

[BoomGoestheDynamite]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

No way the USA (or Mexico) gets drawn into a group with a real weak side (other than SA, and they don't really count because of the crowd and officiating benefits that hosts get) because the weakest team in pots 1, 3 and 4 is stronger than the strongest non-USA/MEX team in 2. Great.
Granted, I think we can all agree that the FIFA rankings aren't the best way to rank anything, but I also think a better ranking system would show you basically the same thing.

Still, getting pulled in a group with, say, Paraguay and Slovenia wouldn't be so bad, but that's just not going to happen.

I'd probably take the Aussies over Uruguay and Algeria, but the point remains roughly the same.

Hopefully South America's 5.5 bids in 2014 make FIFA break this mold. We really get screwed for the sake of geographic convenience.

 

[Priceless]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Group G should be 8, 14, 22, 18 = 62/15.5 = group of death with E and H.

Thanks. I made the correction.

The 32 seeds are an average rank of 24.94. So ideally the average rank of each group would be 25. Five groups come in more difficult; three as easier. Will be interesting to see how close the real draw is to this.

 

[unofan]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Thanks. I made the correction.

The 32 seeds are an average rank of 24.94. So ideally the average rank of each group would be 25. Five groups come in more difficult; three as easier. Will be interesting to see how close the real draw is to this.

Yeah, but this is one case where median probably works better than mean, since the average is dragged down by 3-5 teams (South Africa, North Korea, and New Zealand especially). Put another way, 27 of the 32 teams are 40th or better, and 17 of the top 19 teams are in the field, putting the median at 18.5.

 

[AMC]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Two points on the Xerez-Barca game on ESPN2 right now:

1. Really w/ the uniforms Barca? I liked the orange, and really liked the teal, but pink is a bit much.

2. Learn to finish Xerez! Jeesh.

 

[Jimjamesak]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

That's excessively hyperbolic. There was one official who had responsibility for seeing and making that call, the assistant referee. It was a serious error to miss it, but understandable considering the point in the game, the number of other things he has to be thinking about (offsides and the second-last defender), and the natural reluctance of the assistant to make a big foul call, particularly when it's in the referee's quadrant of the field (even though, in this case, the referee was necessarily screened).

Craig, I'm telling you this from a professional point of view as a referee: Stop. Shut up. Please, you're way off on this.

The responsibility for that call was from the referee, not his assitant. To expect any AR to see through 20 players and see that handling of the ball on the far post is ridiculous. To even speculate that he saw anything is ridiculous. Ther fault lays upon the referee for not being in a deeper position on the free kick, closer to the goal line, instead of being out towards the top of the penalty arc. Had the referee been in the correct position none of this mess would be happening.

 

[Jimjamesak]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Ridiculous that you could have a SPA-USA-CAM-POR (4 of the Top 14) group and a SAF-NK-GHA-SVK group (no one in the Top-32). So much for "fair play." FIFA is a joke.

Remember this is the same FIFA that put ITA-CZE-USA-GHA (3 of the top 10 teams in the rankings at the time) in a group at the 2006 World Cup.

 

[JF_Gophers]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Blackburn moves on in the Carling Cup with a win over Chelsea @Ewood (3-3 draw, 4-3 pen win). Woo Rovers!