as i am from serbia, i really feel put 4 is stronger than pot 3 only saudi arabia and panama are definitely below the others. but the other 6 teams in pot 4 are equal or slightly superior than those of pot 3. i think that comes with many teams failing to qualify that would have been sure bets for pot 2 or 3 like usa, chile, netherlands, italy.
@Skandal!!! ... you say you would like: Poland Peru Persians Panama Was that a deliberate attempt to create a Group of Pee?
The pots are based on FIFA's rankings, which obviously aren't gospel. But I am not sure there is any particular ranking system (e.g., ELO) or any ranking by any respected publication or group, which would produce pots that everyone would agree with. In any case, here is what the Pot 3 and Pot 4 would look like if we used: a) ELO rankings, b) Sports Illustrated power rankings, instead. ELO (ELO ranking in parenthesis) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Football_Elo_Ratings Pot 3 1. Denmark (17) 2. Sweden (20) 3. Iran (21) 3. Iceland (21) 5. Serbia (23) 6. Senegal (24) 7. Japan (28) 8. Costa Rica (30) Pot 4 1. Australia (33) 2. South Korea (37) 3. Nigeria (41) 4. Morocco (44) 5. Panama (47) 6. Egypt (48) 7. Tunisia (52) 8. Saudi Arabia (61) Sports Illustrated https://www.si.com/soccer/2017/11/16/world-cup-power-rankings-russia-2018 Pot 3 17. Denmark 18. Iran 19. Nigeria 20. Sweden 21. Morocco 22. Japan 23. Serbia 24. Egypt Pot 4 25. Senegal 26. South Korea 27. Peru 28. Costa Rica 29. Tunisia 30. Australia 31. Saudi Arabia 32. Panama
Based on what? Pot 4 maybe at least equal to pot 3 but definitely not better that what the latest results suggest. Denmark - Serbia 2:0, 3:1 (european qualifiers 2016). Egypt - Nigeria 1:0, 1:1 (african qualifiers 2017). Iran - South Korea 1:0, 0:0 (world cup qualifiers 2018). Senegal better than Morocco at the last africa cup. Tunisia seems less noticable but still stronger than Australia or any asian team, last time Tunisia beats Australia 2:0 at the confederations cup 2005. Costa Rica are much better than Japan, their 2014 world cup campaign is greater than any asian or african team ever had. Sweden beats France and Italy, whom in pot 4 to be able to do that, and Iceland were way impressive at euro 2016.
Belgium as number two in the world before euro 2016 were humiliated and toyed with a traditional team Italy who were way down on the FIFA ranking, the same happens against Argentina at world cup 2014 in an official big match. Best teams proves on pitch.
Rankings are based on results on the pitch. But that doesn't mean that there is any ranking system that gives a perfect insight nor that whatever you imagine would be the right rankings are necessarily the right ones either. And for every example of a "traditional team" such as Italy beating an up-and-coming side like Belgium, you have contrary examples such as Spain losing to Chile and Italy losing to Costa Rica and both being eliminated at the group stage in World Cup 2014.
The key for Sweden is a south american team from pot two...preferably Peru of course. No one will want to face Brazil I think.They have been great in qualifying. Argentina we have a history with from 2002 and a stronger argentinian team. We still managed a draw then and there,but our national side was also stronger back then. From pot four I don´t want the likes of Serbia or Nigeria. Dreamdraw for SWEDEN:Russia,Peru,SWEDEN,Panama Nightmare draw:Brazil,Spain;SWEDEN,Nigeria..or Morocco.
GOD: Poland, Mexico, Denmark, Nigeria Dream: Argentina, Spain, Iceland, Japan Group of Life: Russia, Peru, Iran, Panama
as an Iran fan, i could tell you that spain will definitely take 3 points from us. our weakness is teams who pass the ball well, teams with attacking players who are individually brilliant, and teams and that are physically taller/stronger. nobody passes the ball as well as spain. if we play defensive we can limit it to a 0-1 loss, but spain will eventually find the breakthrough. we thrive against non-possession obsessed attacking teams with average or below average defenses, because their non-possession and non-perfect passing game will not be enough to penetrate our defense, and we can hit their relatively weak defense on the counter. thats why i would like us to play south american teams except brazil/argentina.
These choices are for me as an Iranian fan: Poland, Mexico, Iran and Nigeria is also a good group for me. The most exciting group will be Brazil, Spain, Iran, Nigeria for me. And Argentina, Croatia, Iran, Nigeria will be almost repeat of WC 2014. In general The best group will be Argentina, England, Sweden and Nigeria The most boring group will be Russia, Peru, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia (certainly Peru will create few new holes in other teams in that group)
Interesting, but won't that depend on which of pot 2-4 are drawn from first? I think it is not save, that the sequence is 1-2-3-4, or is it? Because if the sequence is 1-4-3-2, each team of pot 4 might go to each team of pot 1. If the sequence is 1-2-3-4, then e.g. serbias chances of drawing each team from pot 1 is strongly limited, as several group then might have already 2 uefa teams included and serbia then might not go into that groups.
Same story for Iran. Iran can not end up in any group with another team from AFC and there are 4 AFC representatives in pot 4.
It seem that quite a lot of people (not just on here) think Poland are far weaker than their results say.
Their 4-0 thrashing by Denmark is the main result that suggest they are the 2nd weakest pot 1 team after Russia.
Spain would be heavily favored to win obviously.. although CQ definitely has his surprises. For example, he definitely stated that he knew we couldn't outpower Nigeria but that Nigeria's distribution would be poor so lets give them the ball. Then he stated Argentina's attacks need to be central so concede the wings and defend narrowly. Both worked brilliantly to an extent. I'm sure he will come up with a plan against any team we play(he is the #2 to SAF) but whether it works is TBD. I know though that if we played Spain guys like Jordi Alba/Carvajal/Sergio Ramos will be much more a problem than Thiago/Busquets/Morata. Just based on how we play.
This is not the point - the point is he puts them lower then Iceland and Costa Rica... Yes, Poland is second weakest in Pool 1 for sure. I wouldn't look much at Denmark game - they were too drunk to stand on the pitch... Piszczek couldn't even finish first half as he had to go and puke... Lewandowski's eyes during the game and the bags under them... Even Nawalka was taking "drunk" sub decisions... But it was a good wake up call for sure, they needed reality check.
Would like that too so you will fall in love with us ^^ after we beat argentina fair and square you will feel you are a Croatianita
I would like Croatia and Serbia to have one big team only in their groups but not 0. Something like: France Croatia Tunisia Panama Argentina Swiss Costa Rica Serbia The worst for me would be Croatia and Serbia ending in the same group.
Why is that? Other than Brazil or Argentina heading that group, of course - I (being well-removed from the situation, mind) would love to see that rivalry game at the World Cup itself.
Cause i am half half, i would rather see them advance from different groups. And a game between them would be also hard to keep safe there.