2014 FIFA World Cup: Final Draw 06.12.13

Makes total sense that teams ranked #13 and #49 should be in the same pot after spending 2+ years qualifying.

 

^ That would be an interesting group.

Just hope one of these countries won't start a war when the other ones beat them.

 

So, France will be in a Pot outside of the rest of the European teams, so therefore must be drawn against a South American side from the Seeds.

So one of Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay awaits them, throw in another side from the European pot and you could have one hell of a group of death, then you could just as easily get a Ghana or Ivory Coast in there with them.

 

Yes, the assumption is based on what happened in 2006 when Serbia & Montenegro were placed in the special pot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_FIFA_World_Cup#Groups

 

How likely do you guys think it would be for FIFA to surprise everyone with an all-new drawing scheme?

 

Tuesday. http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/...world-cup-draw-news-pots-to-be-known-tuesday/

Seems unlikely, but that would sure spice things up. Maybe they'll do it to distract from the crappy logistical news.

 

Well, in 1998 there was already

Germany
Iran
USA
Yugoslavia

So you never know. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to drink until I purge France '98 from my memory as my 7 year old self can't handle it anymore

 

Although you may have a point, its important to also remember that FIFA's rankings aren't gospel by any means. Iran's ranking has improved to #45, taking us from #2 in the AFC according to FIFA, to #1 in the AFC. In the meantime, Japan is now #48 and #2 in the AFC!

While many would be all too happy to underrate Iran, I think most realize that if the US is #13, Japan is not #48! And I don't see what spending 2+ years qualifying have to do with it. All these teams spent time qualifying!

But don't get me wrong, as much as you hate seeing the US not have the chance to play Asian teams, being grouped in the same pot (if this is how FIFA decides things after all), Asian teams aren't happy that they won't get the chance to play teams from the Concacaf region. Even the best of them, which undeniably seems to be the US at the moment.

Which is why I would gladly take the Group E I had listed over many other groups we might end up with!

 

Iran has this extremely popular television program devoted to football that runs late night on Mondays. The program, called Navad in Persian (90 in English), has an SMS poll that it conducts every time with several million viewers often taking part in the poll. The poll last night asked Iranian fans to choose the top seed they prefer to have in Iran's group. The results, though not perfectly consistent, show that Iranian fans are mostly interested in seeing Iran get exposure and experience against top teams than having an easier route to the knock out rounds!

Here are the results from Navad's SMS poll in percentages among approximately 1.8 million responses that were received:

Argentina (39%)
Spain (15%)
Brazil (11%)
Switzerland (10%)
Germany (10%)
Belgium (7%)
Colombia (4%)
Uruguay (4%)

 

I want Iran to shock the world and make it out of their group

 

The pots will be announced at a press conference around 4:30 pm cet I just read on fifa.com

 

A press conference will be held in Costa do Sauipe, Bahia (Brazil) on 3 December at 12.30 local time (16.30 CET), following the meeting of the Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup™.

At this meeting, the allocation of pots for the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 Final Draw, as well as the prize money for the tournament, will be determined.

The press conference will be attended by FIFA President Blatter, Jose Maria Marin, the LOC chairman, Aldo Rebelo, Minister of Sport, Jérôme Valcke, FIFA Secretary General and Ronaldo, Member of the LOC Board of Administration.

The press conference will be streamed live as of 12.30 local time (16.30 CET) on FIFA.com and FIFA on YouTube.

*If you are in the FIFA app, you will have to click on the related link to launch the live streaming.


source: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/final-draw/news/newsid=2238114/index.html

 

Dream draw for Australia:

Switzerland
Australia
Algeria
Greece

Nightmare draw:

Brazil
Australia
France
Netherlands.

It will be a complete massacre.

 

I'm not fond of the "difficulty multiplier" used by the FIFA ranking. Seems like circular thinking to me ("they are better, hence they get more points, and since they have more points, they are better").

Using the current ranking plus previous achievement in World Cups (2 previous ones; qualification matches included) should be used, IMO. Ranking alone to assign pots would work with a better system (like Elo). In this case, with the multipliers and the fact that sometimes you get more points by losing than by winning (depending on the rival), tells me all is not ok with the math behind the system.

How can Japan be so low, and Switzerland so high? Luck in the qualification group, plus selecting friendlies carefully, can mess up the system.

FIFA feed for this announcement here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/FIFATV

27 minutes left.

 

Anyone predicting a shake-up from the expected geographical pots? I am hoping, but seems unlikely.

 

How else would they organize them? Strictly by rank?

 

They could surprise us and do just that. In fact, that's what I'm hoping for. Just make sure there aren't continental clashes.

 

I still see a "will start soon" message at the FIFA link. Anyone else have a live feed?

 

same here

 

This is FIFA, who have Switzerland as a seed above Italy, Holland and Portugal. Anything is possible.

 

It's starting now

 

started. Shut up all you guys, who apparently like hearing yourself talk. Get to the point....

 

i know... they can't get to this fast enough lol... i love everything about this though

 

Love it? Love them blatantly ignoring their own stadium deliver deadlines?