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World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

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

Jimjamesak said:
My draw:

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

So you'd have two ridiculous groups in Groups A and E and three Groups of Death in C, D, and H.

Basically, out of the 5 very good teams in pot 2 (USA, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, and Australia), 2-3 are basically going to get screwed with their draws.
Click to expand...

Japan and South Korea are ranked 43 and 52 in the world right now...how are they "very good?" USA, Mexico and Australia are the quality teams in Pot 2...the 5 worst teams by world ranking (excluding south africa) are in Pot 2...
 
Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

I got the US with Brazil, Cameroon, Slovakia.

Group A? South Africa, Uruguay, North Korea, Slovenia. Sweet.
 
Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

here's my draw.

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

How ESPN, the people that brought you the NBA Trade Machine, hasn't gotten in on this is anyone's guess.

My first crack at it today:

A: South Africa, Japan, Uruguay, Portugal
B: Italy, Australia, Cameroon, Serbia
C: Brazil, USA, Nigeria, Denmark
D: Argentina, Mexico, Algeria, Switzerland
E: Spain, New Zealand, Cote d'Ivoire, Slovenia
F: Holland, North Korea, Paraguay, Greece
G: England, Honduras, Ghana, Slovakia
H: Germany, South Korea, Chile, France

That group would have looked a lot nicer for the USMNT had we not fallen on our faces in Copenhagen a few weeks ago.

I gave it 10 more tries and here's the US groups I've got:

1. Group E: Argentina, Nigeria and Slovakia
The highlight of this draw was Mexico being put in H (for Hell) with Spain, Portugal and Uruguay.

2. Group B: Spain, Chile and Switzerland
Mexico got Holland, Portugal and Nigeria this time, while the holders get the absurdly easy group of North Korea, Uruguay and Slovakia.

3. Group H: Italy, Chile and Serbia
Worst one thus far. Meanwhile Brazil would qualify from its group (Honduras, Algeria, Slovenia) with three regulars, seven Rio street kids, and President Lula in goal.

4. Group A: South Africa, Uruguay and Serbia
From your 'mouth' to God's ears. The bad news is for Japan, who would have to face Holland, Cote d'Ivoire and France. Good luck with that.

5. Group D: Spain, Cameroon and Portugal
No, thank you.

6. Group C: Italy, Chile and Portugal
Also pretty bad. This draw featured the EPIC FAIL group of South Africa, North Korea, Paraguay and Greece.

7. Group E: Germany, Paraguay and Slovakia
Wouldn't have a problem with this one. NZ probably doesn't even get on the plane with this draw: Spain, Cote d'Ivoire and Portugal.

8. Group H: England, Cote d'Ivoire and Slovakia
Definitely tougher than average, but I'm kind of glad to see the US draw England for once. Being in the same group would do wonders for the exposure of the sport in this country, especially if there was some sort of upset.

9. Group C: Argentina, Nigeria and Switzerland
Very manageable, IMHO. With Spain, Ghana and Greece, Mexico would be in a much worse position.

10. Group D: England, Algeria and Portugal
Not exactly desirable, but it could be a lot worse.

Final stats:
Group drawn into most often — C (3 of 11)
Team drawn with most often — Nigeria, Portugal, Slovakia (3 of 11)
Teams never drawn with (of those possible) — Holland, Ghana, Greece, Slovenia, France
 
Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

3W said:
How ESPN, the people that brought you the NBA Trade Machine, hasn't gotten in on this is anyone's guess.
Click to expand...

My guess - this isn't the NBA and there's no opportunity for Stuart Scott to say "booyah."
 
Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

realet said:
My guess - this isn't the NBA and there's no opportunity for Stuart Scott to say "booyah."
Click to expand...

I actually could have sworn I saw it on there the other day, but now I can't find it.
 
Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

If FIFA were balanced (hahahahahaha) then the pots would look something like this:

Pot A: Spain Brazil Netherlands Italy Portugal Germany France South Africa
Pot B: Argentina England Cameroon Greece United States Mexico Ivory Coast Chile
Pot C: Switzerland Uruguay Serbia Australia Nigeria Denmark Algeria Paraguay
Pot D: Slovenia Slovakia Ghana Honduras Japan S. Korea New Zealand N. Korea

And they could still do a draw with all their rules intact. It might look like this:

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

Those groups are balanced and still offer exciting football. If they wanted to punish France, they could easily swap them out with England (I'm sure England would take their place in this draw).
 
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Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

How is giving South Africa a top seed fair? I don't care that they're the host. I'm being sincere here...is there anything from the pots/draw that sticks out as being incredibly unfair?
 
Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

J.D. said:
How is giving South Africa a top seed fair? I don't care that they're the host. I'm being sincere here...is there anything from the pots/draw that sticks out as being incredibly unfair?
Click to expand...

Well, every other host nation has been extended that courtesy.

Beyond that, it's usually good for business to give the 'home' team a better chance of advancing, no?
 
Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

J.D. said:
How is giving South Africa a top seed fair? I don't care that they're the host. I'm being sincere here...is there anything from the pots/draw that sticks out as being incredibly unfair?
Click to expand...

I think the FIFA strategy of giving the host an automatic top seed to ensure they play the opening game is stupid. Why can't you guarantee the opening game to South Africa and keep them out of the top bracket?

Seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Also, lets use the SPI index instead of FIFA's own rankings because they are awful.

Brazil
Spain
England
Netherlands
Argentina
Germany
Portugal
Chile

top 8 seeds

Ivory Coast
Uruguay
France
Italy
Serbia
Cameroon
USA
Paraguay

Mexico
Denmark
Australia
Honduras
Switzerland
Greece
Nigeria
Japan

Ghana
Slovenia
South Korea
Algeria
Slovakia
South Africa
New Zealand
North Korea

Disallow top seeds from playing teams in the second group if they are in the same region.
 
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Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

blockski said:
Beyond that, it's usually good for business to give the 'home' team a better chance of advancing, no?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think giving the home team a top seed has nothing to do with being fair, and everything to do with keeping profit and enthusiasm high.
 
Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Rolevio said:
Yeah, I think giving the home team a top seed has nothing to do with being fair, and everything to do with keeping profit and enthusiasm high.
Click to expand...

Well that right there would be something I have a problem with, but whatever. I know the host is always given that luxury, I just don't agree with it. South Africa just being in it and guaranteed three games is enough.
 
Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

J.D. said:
Well that right there would be something I have a problem with, but whatever. I know the host is always given that luxury, I just don't agree with it. South Africa just being in it and guaranteed three games is enough.
Click to expand...

The host generally spends a lot of money to put on this show so I have no problems with FIFA "rewarding" them with a seed. What I do have a problem with is rigged draws *cough* Confederations Cup *cough* that are designed to guarantee a crappy host makes it out of the group stages. Can't wait to see Slovenia, Uruguay, and New Zealand in Group A.
 
Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

BoomGoestheDynamite said:
The host generally spends a lot of money to put on this show so I have no problems with FIFA "rewarding" them with a seed. What I do have a problem with is rigged draws *cough* Confederations Cup *cough* that are designed to guarantee a crappy host makes it out of the group stages. Can't wait to see Slovenia, Uruguay, and New Zealand in Group A.
Click to expand...

My problem is FIFA's last minute decisions on the rules for all draws. Rules for European playoff draws, World Cup seeding, pot composition should have all been determined long ago before qualification began.

Let's reward France and Portugal for having large fanbases in the Euro playoffs by seeding them, now let's punish France for cheating by using October's rankings instead of Novembers, it's all too sketchy.
 
Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Rolevio said:
My problem is FIFA's last minute decisions on the rules for all draws. Rules for European playoff draws, World Cup seeding, pot composition should have all been determined long ago before qualification began.

Let's reward France and Portugal for having large fanbases in the Euro playoffs by seeding them, now let's punish France for cheating by using October's rankings instead of Novembers, it's all too sketchy.
Click to expand...

You'll get no argument from me on FIFA's sketchiness. It makes the BCS/Bowl selection system look open and above board.
 
Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Is anybody posting in this thread going to the World Cup? I think it would be a great time. Don't really know if it's realistic at this point in terms of getting tickets and other things since it's such a bid deal. Is it too late? Any thoughts?
 
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