FIFA Announces World Cup Seeds; Karma Announces French Retribution.

December 2nd, 2009 | by: chris |

FBL-WC2010-DRAW-RSA The seedings for the World Cup draw were announced today and there were a couple of surprises. Namely the news that the great Fabio Capello has effectively wiped Euro 2008 from statistical history and that France will need a small miracle not to be drawn into a Group of Death.

Going into today’s meeting it was undecided which methodology FIFA would use to determine the seeds for Friday’s draw. It could’ve been the most recent FIFA rankings, it could’ve been the whims of the committee members or, and this one had to be considered the likeliest, it could’ve been whichever countries gave the biggest timepiece to Sepp Blatter. In the end they went with none of the above, instead using the all too rubbish October 2009 FIFA rankings when teams had played an equal number of qualifying games.

France making way for England is, obviously the bigger news, but a second glance over the names will reveal that somehow, someway FIFA have deduced that Maradona’s Argentina are one of the seven best teams in the world. This despite ample evidence to the contrary – that evidence being known as World Cup 2010 Qualifying*, of course.

* – Yeah, yeah – FIFA Rankings criteria spreads back aways.

South Africa as the host team gets a free pass. Based on their friendly form, so too will the other clubs in their group. Hopefully they’re merely the sleeping tiger ready to pounce once the cage is opened.

Otherwise, all standard.

Pot 1 (Seeded teams): South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany, Argentina and England.

Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania, North/Central America): Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Mexico and Honduras.

Pot 3 (Africa, South America): Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile and Uruguay.

Pot 4 (Europe): France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark and Slovakia.

Europe will, obviously, be the only continent allowed to two teams in the same group, simply based on numbers. And from there on it’s simple: pick one from each pot.

Now, if we were to be totally original and peg a Group O’Death on the back of this it would likely be: Brazil, Japan, Ghana, France. Or just as easily swap in Ivory Coast for Ghana should you so desire.

France are by some margin the biggest losers, and while the karma angle is easy, it’s really just down to the fact that they haven’t been very good for about two years now. Euro 2008 was a slight disaster and, by keeping that same astrologist on the sidelines, World Cup qualifying didn’t go a great deal more smoothly. You could even say it went less smoothly, given the backlash of the manner in which they qualified. (Notice I managed to avoid “manner in which they handed in their qualification”. Please pass this along to every announcer, journalist and boob assigned to next summer’s tournament.) So basically, it’s down to no one but themselves.

But if any Irish fans ask you, tell them France got their just desserts.

International Football News – World Cup Blog RSS Feed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8388001.stm Jose48

Wow. Group of Death… Portugal are

Brazil (don’t see them not qualifying for the knockout stages, whatever happens… Spain is a tick lower)

Portugal (still better than France nowadays, they were in the playoffs due to early qualifying mistakes).

Cote d’Ivoire (have the most individual talent of the African teams)

Mexico (people, they haven’t failed to qualify for the knockouts since 1994… only Brazil, Italy and Germany have a better streak than them)
sandrahn

No way are Argentina better than France.

France have reached the final in 2 of the last 3 world cups. How many countries can equal that record? One or two. So they cheated their way thru 1998 and 2006 too?
http://juventus.theoffside.com alessio

No, they just completely relied on the magic of one Zinedine Zidane, sandrahn. And as much of a disaster Argentina is…France is even moreso. Look at France’s Euro2008 qualifying record…not very good. Euro 2008 itself? An unmitigated flop. And WC2010 qualifying hasn’t been too smooth either.
http://thebeantownfrog.blogspot.com/ GFC

I cannot agree more that Les Bleus got what they deserved and not for the “hand of frog” but more because of their terrible performances over the past 2 years…thanks Dumbenech!!!

One angle that is overlooked is that the teams in Pot 1 cannot be too happy to see France slip to pot 4, for all their dysfunctional do any of the #1 seeds really want to see Les Bleus in their group? Not that seeing Holland or England (had they been in pot 4) been any easier.

My rant on Les Bleus – http://thebeantownfrog.blogspot.com/2009/12/world-cup-potsfrance-get-what-they.html
lefutur

I think all the post-handball whining has already negated all of France’s bad “karma”.
mj

how about a group like this
South Africa, New Zealand, Algeria, and Slovenia…

i dont think the system works.
mj

since we are talking about les blues what if instead of slovenia france get drawn…

south africa, new zealand, algeria, france

haha the world would go bonkers.
Coconut

and just to elaborate on what Jose48 said.

Mexico were disqualified in ‘90, but also attended the ‘86 world cup.

so one can say, out of the WC’s Mexico has been able to participate in, they’ve consecutively been to the last 5 World cups! not to mention if they Hadn’t been disqualified, they would have probably attended the ‘90 WC as well.
United

Algeria and South Africa, while very far apart, are part of the same continent, so they cannot be drawn in the same group.
vespo

@Jose48 and Coconut – Mexico’s done well to reach so many consecutive World Cups, but that doesn’t make them any more or less likely to advance in South Africa. I think Australia are probably the best team in Pot 2, with the USA and Mexico a close second.
CB

AS a dutch fan I am confident enough to say “We want Portugal”!!!!!!!!
Coconut

@vespo, i havent really been following Australia, but i have heard good things about them!

I’m confident that Mexico will once again, 5 times in a row, will make it to the round of 16. Aguirre has returned as head coach and has brought Mexico a long way from what Sven Erikson left us, not only that, but i have high expectations from Vela/Dos Santos, and if we get Blaco to play in this WC, we’ll also have experience to guide us far!

All i know is that USA is lucky not having to face us or Australia this time around!

Cheers and good luck to Australia!
nwjake

For whatever seeded team gets France, it’s not the easiest draw, but there are many teams in the tournament that will be very strong challenges. There are only a few minnows – and let’s hope none get drawn together! (I count 3: S. Africa, Honduras, and New Zealand. Possibly N. Korea.) If the path to (and through) the knockout stage was easy, it wouldn’t be much to celebrate.
http://madaboutfutbol.net Juan

Group 3 is terrifying.
Pseudinho

I think you’ll find Honduras is stronger than you think. In CONCACAF they’ve been a constant underachiever. They aren’t a typical central american side with loads of technique but no speed or physicality. David Suazo, Wilson Palacios, and Carlo Costly are all players who can play in most leagues.

I rate Australia, Mexioc, and USA all level in pot 2 with Korea Republic right behind them followed by Honduras and Japan and rounding out pot 2 I would North Korea and New Zealand.
Jose

“I think Australia are probably the best team in Pot 2, with the USA and Mexico a close second.”

Mexico USA and Australia are about equal I’d say (Australia is definitely not better than either), but I gave Mexico the edge in Group of Death inclusion based on their past consistency.
Seth

Best case scenario for Portugal would be to draw against either South Africa or Holland (who we always trash lol).
nwjake

@Pseudinho – From what I saw in qualifying, Honduras at their best matched up well with USA or Mexico on their average days. But I don’t think they’ll cause the seeded team they get grouped with any problems. I’m willing to be surprised by them, though. I think a lot of people will underestimate the Pot 2 teams.

@Seth – I’d love to see that matchup! I thought the Netherlands were the better team in ‘06 but lost. I think they’re still the better team today, but that would be a huge game. I don’t think that’s a matchup Portugal should be hoping for.
alex

ummmmmm…argentina barely qualified on the last day of the qualifiers, they shouldnt b a seeded team, i think the US should got a seed cuz of the confed cup, and they won there group (barely by a point)

i hate this european & brazil/argentina bias
Coconut

even though Argentina is weak, they’re still way better and higher ranked than USA.

Get over it, already. I’d rather have Argentina seeded than USA, or god forbid, France.
Coconut

not to mention, USA didnt even win the Confed cup, so i dont even know what youre talking about Alex.
http://Mexico Daniel

Dreams and fears about teams in the world cup

If I were to choose the apparently most weak opponents for Mexico or many other participants, I would take South Africa, Algeria, and Slovenia. I say apparently because most world cups have surprises. Apparently weak teams may turn out to be strong opponents, and apparently strong opponents may turn out to be weak.

Argentina has great players in Messi, Tevez, Mascherano etc. But Maradona is a disaster as coach. So I measure Argentina the second most weak of the seeded teams.

What about the death group? If Mexico were in the death group and I were to choose, I would take Spain, France, and Ivory Coast. Why? I think Mexico still would have good opportunities of advancing if it played to its best. I would say the same about U.S. and Australia.

I consider France a declining team that may be even less strong next year when Henry will be a year older. Ivory Coast is very strong but African teams turn to be inconsistent. Spain is the strongest team on earth on paper but it has still to justify its mental strength in world cups.

I’m not saying that Mexico would beat Spain if they faced each other in the 2010 world cup, although I don’t think it is impossible because no team is unbeatable. Any team that beats Brazil can beat any other team in the world and Mexico has beaten Brazil several times. As far as I know, Spain has never reached the semifinals, at least in modern time. Whatever best in world cup about Spain is still to be written. But for the moment, talking about mental strength, I fear most Germay, Brazil, and even U.S. Those teams have an outstanding capacity of recovery. Spain will win perhas with great margin of goals. But what about being in adversity two or three goals down. Would they recover? We know what happened in Confederations cup against U.S. Spain was a shodow of itself.
Albo

>>>France have reached the final in 2 of the last 3 world cups.>>>

Sandrahan,
True, but you are not mentioning that 2 WCs ago (2002), France was the very first team to be sent back home. And that was on 1 of the last 2 WCs.