2009 Confederations' Cup - The field is set - News [Possible R's]

[TimB4Last]

Two stories called my attention to next June's Confederations Cup.

First, New Zealand just rounded out the field of eight teams:

http://www.sa2010.gov.za/news/080908_congrats.php

....

{Oceania champions New Zealand join} European champions Spain, South American champions Brazil, reigning world champions Italy, Asian champions Iraq, CONCACAF champions United States, African champions Egypt and hosts South Africa who will compete in the Fifa Confederations Cup from 14 June to 28 June 2009.

....

Second, Blatter is about to visit South Africa to inspect the facilities:

http://www.sa2010.gov.za/news/120908_visit.php

Fifa President Sepp Blatter will visit South Africa from 14–17 September to personally asses the progress made on the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup™ and the 2010 Fifa World Cup™ infrastructure.

The 2010 Organising Committee (OC) on Thursday announced that Mr Blatter will travel to South Africa for a four-day trip.

“Mr Blatter will visit facilities in Cape Town and Johannesburg to get a first hand impression of the progress of the preparations for next year’s Fifa Confederations Cup and the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

Third (same link), the draw is scheduled:

....

The draw for next year's Confederations Cup groups is scheduled to take place on 22 November 2008 with the tickets for the tournament – seen as a test of World Cup infrastructure – going on sale the next day.

The Confederations Cup will be staged in four stadia across South Africa from 14-28 June next year.

**********

Thought we could have a thread discussing the event in general terms from our perspective, perhaps taking a closer look at the other seven teams as the event approaches, particularly our group opponents once the draw takes place.

[Roehl Sybing]

Let us hope for a piece of one of the stadiums to harmlessly fall down on an empty section of seats during live action.

Then maybe they'll move the World Cup.

Oh yeah, the tournament...it would be nice to get drawn into South Africa's group. We can take them and whichever minnow gets drawn with us. The alternative, I think, is the other group with two out of three in Brazil, Italy and Spain, which would be very tough.

[cpwilson80]

I'm hoping for the hardest group possible.

This is the tipping point for the US roster. I want our guys to be tested against the best possible competition. It will be an accurate reflection of what we need to improve upon for the next year, and I think we're a team that will define the group of death in 2010.

I'd much rather go 3 and out but learn definitively who can hang against the best teams than advance and have artificial confidence.

[Master O]

Who wants to start odds on Iraq being in the US's group?

[Adam Zebrowski]

agree the toughest group possible...

the ehx has 5 matches...confed cup, then 5 more hex matches...

i see the confed cup as a way of blooding guys like adu and altidore into the final 5 match hex phase...

and i would NOT use any MLS guys for confed cup...being it's in june...

[leppercut]

I'm hoping for the hardest group possible.

This is the tipping point for the US roster. I want our guys to be tested against the best possible competition. It will be an accurate reflection of what we need to improve upon for the next year, and I think we're a team that will define the group of death in 2010.

I'd much rather go 3 and out but learn definitively who can hang against the best teams than advance and have artificial confidence.

I sort of agree, but i'm 100% sure that if that happens BS would call for BB's head, and start saying how" we still suck", "we're not that good", kind of like after every game the US plays.

[Adam Zebrowski]

confed cup won't be copa america, but i do see some 2nd line guys getting into the confed cup....

we don't want to play the core group into the ground...after a long season, taking off june isn't all that bad....

or if you bring the core group, don't play them all three group matches..

the hex is more important, although the hex standings after 5 hex matches might drive some of the approach to confed cup..

[luftmensch]

I sort of agree, but i'm 100% sure that if that happens BS would call for BB's head, and start saying how" we still suck", "we're not that good", kind of like after every game the US plays.

And I'm 100% sure that if that happens, whatever BS calls for would have as little impact as it does right now.

[Marko72]

I sort of agree, but i'm 100% sure that if that happens BS would call for BB's head, and start saying how" we still suck", "we're not that good", kind of like after every game the US plays.

Pretty much. Hell, we did it after England/Spain/Argentina, like that was an easy schedule...

[Adam Zebrowski]

if you listen to the vox populi you end up with them

[KennyWoo]

I see the draw looking like this. There will basically be 4 pots of teams that are split up.

South Africa and Egypt won't be in the same group (Africa).
Italy and Spain won't be in the same group (Europe).
New Zealand and Iraq won't be in the same group, probably because of the Asia-Oceania overlap. Plus, these are viewed as the two weakest teams in the pool w/ the exception of South Africa. So they are likely to be split.
Brazil and USA are who is left.

I would bet on South Africa basically having their choice of opponents out of these pools. Bet on them getting New Zealand.

So:

South Africa
New Zealand
Euro power (ITA or ESP)
Brazil or USA

This will ultimately come down to the following question: Does South Africa want to play a team they could beat at home (USA), or do they want a guaranteed dream date with Brazil? I think they'd take the dream date, personally. Getting to play Spain/Italy and Brazil at home would be something they'd want to do. FIFA could justify it by putting Italy in Brazil's group, thus splitting the UEFA and CONMEBOL champs.

That would give us a group of Spain, Egypt, and Iraq, which would still be tough.

[dcole]

Two things:

1. The eight teams get divided into two groups of four, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semifinals.

2. For the first time, the Euro champs (Spain) and Copa America camps (Brazil) are invitees and are not required to participate. To my knowledge, here hasn't been an announcement regarding whether either has accepted the invitation or what would happen if they refused. I imagine that the runner-up in their respective tournamentx would get the invite in their stead if Spain or Brazil refused. In 2005, Brazil had won the WC and the Copa, so one of their spots was first offered to the WC runner-up (which was Germany, which had a spot already as host nation) and then to the Copa runner-up (Argentina), so that seems like solid precedent.

[Beazley17]

Anyone have an idea on what channels the game will be on? ESPN, FSC, or Gol TV?

Anyways, will be great competition a year before the world cup, and we can weed the men from the boys. Can't wait for this tournament.

[luftmensch]

if you listen to the vox populi you end up with them

Say wha?

[braun]

I see the draw looking like this. There will basically be 4 pots of teams that are split up.

South Africa and Egypt won't be in the same group (Africa).
Italy and Spain won't be in the same group (Europe).
New Zealand and Iraq won't be in the same group, probably because of the Asia-Oceania overlap. Plus, these are viewed as the two weakest teams in the pool w/ the exception of South Africa. So they are likely to be split.
Brazil and USA are who is left.

I would bet on South Africa basically having their choice of opponents out of these pools. Bet on them getting New Zealand.

So:

South Africa
New Zealand
Euro power (ITA or ESP)
Brazil or USA

This will ultimately come down to the following question: Does South Africa want to play a team they could beat at home (USA), or do they want a guaranteed dream date with Brazil? I think they'd take the dream date, personally. Getting to play Spain/Italy and Brazil at home would be something they'd want to do. FIFA could justify it by putting Italy in Brazil's group, thus splitting the UEFA and CONMEBOL champs.

That would give us a group of Spain, Egypt, and Iraq, which would still be tough.

That would be a real opportunity for us. Iraq is very beatable. Egypt beatable.
Spain we'd hopefully tie instead of lose to.

[sidefootsitter]

The Confed Cup is turning into a weak field.

Elo has:

Iraq at 57.
South Africa at 93.
New Zealand at 55.

Egypt, USA, Brazil (depending on whether Dunga is still with them), Italy and Spain are the tougher bunch.

If the US gets into a weaker group with 2 of the 3 weaklings, it should be easily able to make it into the knock-out stage/semi-final.

If you seed by rankings :

Pool 1 - Spain, Brazil
Pool 2 - Italy, USA
Pool 3 - Iraq, Egypt.
Pool 4 - RSA, NZ

But the South Africans may get the seed, so everything is up for grabs here.

[American Arsenal]

Anyone have an idea on what channels the game will be on? ESPN, FSC, or Gol TV?

Anyways, will be great competition a year before the world cup, and we can weed the men from the boys. Can't wait for this tournament.

I'm 99 percent positive, ESPN.

[FnordUnitedFC]

I'm hoping for the hardest group possible.

This is the tipping point for the US roster. I want our guys to be tested against the best possible competition. It will be an accurate reflection of what we need to improve upon for the next year, and I think we're a team that will define the group of death in 2010.

I'd much rather go 3 and out but learn definitively who can hang against the best teams than advance and have artificial confidence.

100% Agree. Sign me up for Brazil, Italy/Spain and Egypt please. I have no wish to play Iraq, New Zealand, or South Africa in the group stage.

Let's find out what the boys can do when the competition is at its hardest.

[Adam Zebrowski]

in the past, confed cup has been on univision...

in the commercials for soccer on espn, there is NO mention of confed cup...

many nations like to go to a new venue to see what it's like, so i'd think brasil and spain would accept a bid to go, although there might be a few top line players bypassing it...

[ussoccerFan12358]

There are 4 teams her that I expect us to beat and theye're the caliber teams that we'll HAVE to be able to beat to have any hope at WC 2010. These being South Africa, Iraq, Egypt, and New Zealand. A group with any of those teams a year later is one we'd have to be happy with.

I realize Egypt are decent and defintely have some quality, but we should beat them.

So in theory we'll have two of those teams in our group with the other being Italy/Brazil. Why no Spain? They are the top ranked team in the world right now, and would get the other seed.

We hung with Italy in WC 2006 and we've definitely gotten better since, and the Brazil game in Chicago was at the very least entertaining. 7 points is a realistic possibility.