The Bladder hints at a different way to seed the WC groups

[ursula]

Whoa:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/4340386.stm


..............
Blatter also hinted the seedings for the 2006 World Cup finals will be based purely on world rankings.

The system previously used by Fifa takes into account the average world rankings during the past three years as well as performances at the past three World Cups.

Using those criteria, England are level with France in seventh place, (Skip: England is actually ahead of France) two behind Argentina and Italy, but just one ahead of the Netherlands.
.................
The current rankings?
1 Brazil 0 839 2
2 Netherlands 1 785 5
3 Argentina -1 778 -4
4 Czech Republic 0 777 0
5 Mexico 0 771 1
6 France 3 770 33
7 USA -1 768 0
8 Spain 0 750 11
9 Portugal 0 743 6
10 Sweden 5 740 32
11 England -4 738 -5
12 Turkey 0 731 19
13 Italy 0 725 14
14 Denmark 4 721 25
15 Germany -4 718 -4


Since Germany has an automatic #1 seed the 7th spot becomes all important if this is the case and guess who's #7!


I actually think this is a poor way to do things, but hey if we have to take a #1 seed I won't trurn it down!

[jason1551]

Grant Wahl had written an article a few months ago along similar lines. The US is pretty close to getting one of those top seeds, but needs some strong performances before the draw takes place. The real question is how much impact the Costa Rica loss will have on our ranking (same for England and the Wales defeat).

EDIT: Found the article:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/grant_wahl/08/17/us.rankings/index.html

[scaryice]

Any change is good because we won't be getting one the way it's done currently.

[Norsk Troll]

Since Germany has an automatic #1 seed the 7th spot becomes all important if this is the case and guess who's #7!
Look at number 4 - they haven't even punched their ticket for Germany yet.

[MasterShake29]

I suppose it would have been too much to ask to have FIFA figure this out ahead of time?

[Rahbiefowlah]

Someone bring Nesta a fresh pair of Italian underpants.

[speedcake]

Interesting.

[LittleMaradona]

Blatter also hinted the seedings for the 2006 World Cup finals will be based purely on world rankings.
That will all change when somebody reminds him that the United States is currently ranked #7.

[Shaydee]

That will all change when somebody reminds him that the United States is currently ranked #7.


maybe he wants to change it so the US is seeded. A good US performance likely means more people here get into the sport which means more money for FIFA

[NASL Fan]

it's all about politics.... and England and Italy carry a lot of weight in FIFA: because their leagues are cash cows. No way will the US be seeded at the expense of those two.

[Ronaldo's Idol]

WTF kind of organization waits until 2-3 months before the drawing when they had 4 years to figure it out? Absolute bush league.

But, if it does get the US a seed I am all for it.

[Super White Boy]

I doubt that they will go with purely the rankings, but after winning our hex, the Gold Cup and our present ranking you would think that we would at least be in a decent position to get a seed. Although the possibility of the US being a seeded team would be absolutely abhorrent to pretty much the rest of the soccer playing world, and they would dismiss us out of hand.

[Super White Boy]

WTF kind of organization waits until 2-3 months before the drawing when they had 4 years to figure it out? Absolute bush league.
But, if it does get the US a seed I am all for it.

They also like to introduce new balls in the tourney and I think they've instituted some new regulations in past WC's as well, though I may be mistaken in the latter.

[MattMathai]

They also like to introduce new balls in the tourney and I think they've instituted some new regulations in past WC's as well, though I may be mistaken in the latter.

They still might introduce the balls that have the chips in them to sense when they've crossed the goal line.

[Ronaldo's Idol]

They also like to introduce new balls in the tourney and I think they've instituted some new regulations in past WC's as well, though I may be mistaken in the latter.


I thought they generally tried out new regulations in youth tournies or non-important tournies like confed. cup before trying them at the WC.

As for new balls...I don't think there's any problem with that. Doesn't really affect the game much.

It is the complete lack of understanding of (or brazen disregard for) the desire of the the world to know ahead of time whether their team has a chance to get a seed, and if they do, what it is they need to do to get one. It would be nice to be able to know that this result or that would get the US a seed, but instead it is essentially a black box and we have no idea whether we'll be seeded or not because the committee hasn't told anyone how they are choosing. If they are truly changing they way they do it from the past, there are going to be some very angry countries that get bumped out of seeds like England, who deserve one over the US in every way imagineable.

[Lord15]

They also like to introduce new balls in the tourney and I think they've instituted some new regulations in past WC's as well, though I may be mistaken in the latter.

I would love it if they instituted the auto yellow for touching the ball after a whistle. That was a GREAT rule in the past U20s.

Amazing how much more actual game time there was.

[sidefootsitter]

Considering how much crap Blatter has spewed forth within this week alone, I'd say the chances for the "straight FIFA ranking seeding" happening aren't all that high.

[superdave]

From the article:

"And on the field of play they should have at least six players eligible for the national team of the country where the club is playing."

WTF??? FIFA can't overrule the EU, chump.

I agree with the general sentiment...it's a bad idea. Imagine if our performances against Guatemala and CR (remember, losing 3-0 hurts you more than losing 1-0) had dropped us behind Spain. That'd be pretty f'ed up, wouldn't it?

[Stogey23]

Considering how much crap Blatter has spewed forth within this week alone, I'd say the chances for the "straight FIFA ranking seeding" happening aren't all that high.
It's pretty important to note that there isn't actually any quote where Blatter "hints" at a seeding change. He may very well have, but apparently it wasn't worth quoting for the story.

[Asprilla9]

It is the complete lack of understanding of (or brazen disregard for) the desire of the the world to know ahead of time whether their team has a chance to get a seed, and if they do, what it is they need to do to get one.but that's so they can keep up the status quo of corruption.