Much thanks to Argentina for taking the friendly on such short notice and getting a serviceable squad organized. It's been sooo hard getting quality friendlies even from within our own federation and with missing AfCoN , there's been a major dearth of fixtures this year. Getting this friendly was an amazing coup to begin preparations and build confidence going forward. Massive props to Argentina...
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2017/m=11/news=pots-announced-for-final-draw-2920191.html http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/when...hannel-stream-guide/lqdy5qkpgpf21e8mih1toeie7 Friday, December 1, 2017... POT 1 *Russia Germany Brazil Portugal Argentina Belgium *Poland France POT 2 Spain *Peru *Switzerland *England Colombia Mexico *Uruguay *Croatia POT 3 Denmark *Iceland *Costa Rica *Sweden Tunisia Egypt Senegal *Iran POT 4 *Serbia Nigeria Australia *Japan Morocco *Panama *Korea Republic *Saudi Arabia *I starred my idea draws. Uruguay in particular might be vulnerable given the current form of Luis Suarez and I think that they will still depend heavily on him, plus I would just like to beat him and get revenge for Ghana in 2010... Some observations are that African teams are pretty lowly ranked overall and this has to do with how the FIFA rankings are weighted by Confederation coupled with how it's then difficult for lower ranked teams to then secure friendly matches. All of that is immaterial once the WC is played, but it does put a lot of pressure on teams to outperform a bad draw. However the draw does have flaws up and down the pot structure which presents opportunities for favorable draws throughout assuming that FIFA doesn't tip the scales to create ridiculous GoDs. There are several teams in Pot 1, for instance, that scream out for easy pickings. Poland is the most obvious seeded team who will likely go out early. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out, but what's important is that FIFA, and the rest of the world know nothing about African teams if they believe that the FIFA ranking have anything to do with the reality of how the teams in question are playing. But perhaps going in under the radar is the best means of pulling off a major run. Nigeria showed a really strong level of support in Russia which is no surprise given how many Nigerians live there. Alot like Portuguese ex-pats in South Africa, the conventional wisdom on where the crowd support will come from in this WC might be surprising there. Granted many teams will travel well regardless and pull support wherever they go. Brazil, for instance...
The goal for this WC for African teams has to be able to do one better on 2014 and qualify a minimum of three teams to the knockouts. It would be a record; it would mark two straight tournaments running in which they would manage multiple teams to the knockouts thus further relegating the ignominious performance of 2010 in the rear-view and it would increase the possibilities of a QF or SF run. Most importantly, it reinstates Africa's argument for the competitiveness of an expanded tournament. It also pulls back alot of the negative views on African football that creeped up since the turn of the century that overrode the mostly bright expectations of the 90s that they failed to live up to. Hopefully, that will allow them to settle into a happy medium where optimism and pessimism are more evenly distributed and African football can be something that can be examined on a more real and less subjective and hyperbolic manner. And the new seeding system might actually work out in their favor as it could set up more even and manageable groups whereby failure can no longer be blamed on an uneven draw. At the moment, I'd say that Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and Morocco all offer rather live opportunities to perform well here, but alot depends on how they further their tactics and roster management going into the tournament. Nigeria is probably furthers ahead as they seem to be showing an emerging tactical approach and are continuing to find more talent to add to the squad. We'll see as more friendlies approach.
Ideal sides to avoid in bold red; ie a good draw means that you might have no more than one of these sides in your group (Bold brown/tan/orange *depending on what your screen setting are* teams are CAF sides who cannot be drawn by other CAF sides increasing the odds for all other members of the group): POT 1 *Russia Germany Brazil Portugal Argentina Belgium *Poland France POT 2 Spain *Peru *Switzerland *England Colombia Mexico *Uruguay *Croatia POT 3 Denmark *Iceland *Costa Rica *Sweden Tunisia Egypt Senegal *Iran POT 4 *Serbia Nigeria Australia *Japan Morocco *Panama *Korea Republic *Saudi Arabia First off, no teams to really fear in pot 4 or even pot 3 really. I only included some of those sides as, their inclusion coupled with two difficult draws from pots 1 and 2 could create a difficult path to the knockouts. This is about ideal draws and I don't see anyone out of pot 4 truly raising the level of difficulty to any degree that far outstrips any other side. For me, they're all going to be teams that you have to be able to beat if you want to go to the knockouts. Denmark and Costa Rica can be problematic coupled with a difficult draw in 1 and two as they themselves might see themselves as strong contenders and will have no fear of any side. Even splitting a result with these two might be the difference between going out and moving on. Ideally, you want a team that you should expect to be able to get all three points against. As it stands, having CAF sides all concentrated in 3 and 4 spreads out the odds of drawing the more difficult sides in 1 and 2. Getting a stuffed group has less odds than before. Not that we should fear anyone, but it gives CAF sides a bit more breathing room and will allow them to sit back a bit more and employ a more even approach early on in the group. Nerves and tightness can kill a team even more than a lack of talent can.