Comments on: Predicting the World Cup Lineup of 32

By: Mitz

Mitz — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:21:50 +0000

Just a quick comment about the pots: The top 7 sides in the world by FIFA ranking are currently Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Russia and England, with Argentina 8th and France only 10th. This may change by December 3rd of course, but if the draw were made today then that top 7 (assuming Germany, Italy and Russia all qualify, which seems likely) plus South Africa would be the 8 seeds. Argentina and France (assuming they both qualify) will be in pot two instead of Netherlands and Russia.

Unless I have mis-interpretted the official competition rules, all 32 qualifying nations will be placed in the 4 pots in order according to their FIFA ranking, not geographically. However, when the draw takes place, teams from the same continental area will be kept apart “as much as possible” – obviously, as there will be 13 European teams and only 8 groups, 5 groups will feature two teams from Europe, but no other continents will be represented more than once in each group.

By: ish

ish — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:19:08 +0000

brazil might lose just on purpose so that it makes argentina’s job even harder.

By: Fernando

Fernando — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:34:12 +0000

99% of the players on the Ecuador National Team are really from the Surinam… with the exception of the goal keeper I doubt anyone of those guys was actually born in Ecuador.

By: Jose

Jose — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:50:27 +0000

I’ll put in my two cents, Group of Death would be:

Brasil, Netherlands, Cote d’Ivoire, Australia (or South Korea, Mexico, USA)

Group of Life:

South Africa, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Ecuador, North Korea

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:45:09 +0000

Neither of those groups can happen, it doesn’t work such that you pick one out of each 4 lines, as you cannot have 2 teams from the same confederation play eachother. (i.e. south africa and algeria can’t be drawn together and neither can brazil and paraguay)

By: MoMONEY

MoMONEY — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:56:35 +0000

I really hope all do though if I have to pick one to miss its Portugal. Hoping Egypt can sneak in over Algeria as well

By: John

John — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:34:07 +0000

Good predictions, but:
France, Argentina, Portugal – One of those teams will not qualify, I guarantee it.

By: Oli

Oli — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:07:27 +0000

How about Brasil, Netherlands, Paraguay and USA.

Alternatively, what about South Africa, Bosnia, Algeria, North Korea

By: Oli

Oli — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:52:25 +0000

Spot on, Chris. I agree totally.

By: Jose

Jose — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:54:34 +0000

Nice work!

The pots for the draw would then be:

Seeds: South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, England, Italy, France, Germany

Rest of Europe: Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Slovakia, Serbia, Portugal, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Russia

Africa/CONMEBOL: Tunisia, Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon, Chile, Paraguay, Ecuador

Asia/CONCACAF: Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Australia, Bahrain, USA, Mexico, Costa Rica

Make groups from that as you will…