Don't mind group C for us (Aussies) - definate chance for 2nd behind Germany. Group A yet again Group of life. Group F is closest to G.O.D for me, with D and H not too far behind.
Wow. That came early this month. Looks like they've pushed the release date to early in the month now. I got used to looking for this around the 15th - 20th.
I'm pretty sure South Africa will get teams easier than Japan and Paraguay. Something along the lines of Uzbekistan and Venezuela sounds a lot more like it.
Host, Ecuador, Poland, Costa Rica - 2006 Co-Host, Belgium, Russia, Tunisia - 2002 Host, Denmark, South Africa, Saudi Arabia - 1998 Host, Romania, Switzerland, Columbia - 1994 Host, Czechslovakia, Austria, USA - 1990 Yes, random.
Ok, one last time. This is a hypothetical draw. It is random. It doesn't take into account any cheating that may or may not go on during the actual draw. Which this isn't. Jeesh.
You need to calm down madam. Why do I have to be talking about one or the other? Until my last post, I was commenting on the draw that the site had predicted in reference to the actual draw (that will take place). Kind of like the same thing 'Gold is the Colour' was doing. Are we understanding each other now?
hihi, why do you think south africa will get easier teams like uzbekistan and venezuela? It sounds like you feel that the draw favors the host nations into getting easier draws, is this correct?
FIFA and it's various confederations are notorious for having tournament hosts get very "lucky" draws. I don't know if anyone's done a statistical analysis, but the circumstantial evidence seems to point to a distinct lack of the supposed randomness that comes with a draw.
Will England start 2nd in the group stage or 1st As they didnt qualify for the Euro 2008, how much will that dent them ?
Re: Will England start 2nd in the group stage or 1st Are you talking about WC Qual? If so, than yes. England was in pot B because they were the #10 European team in the FIFA rankings with only 9 groups.
Re: Will England start 2nd in the group stage or 1st I mean if they qualify for the WC 2010, out of the 4 will they be automatic top or second
Re: Will England start 2nd in the group stage or 1st Are you looking for information found in this thread? https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=649227
I'll take a wild guess without doing math and say that it's possible. Since they're not in the Euro Cup this summer, Portugal could rack up points and go past them in the rankings. Netherlands, Czech Republic and Croatia could rack up points as well, but with that big gap between those three and England, I think its unlikely they could move past them. But someone that knows the math better than me can probably give a more substantive and numerically supported opinion.
I think that Portugal is the only one with a realistic chance of overtaking England. Based on WC points (1/2 the formula) England started with a 4 points edge over Portugal, 7 over Mexico 10.67 over South Korea and 11.67 over Netherlands. 1/6 of the second half (FIFA ranking) is also in, if Netherlands, Croatia and Greece make it to the WC, then Portugal made up 2/3 (4/6) of a point and Netherlands 1/2 of a point. Por, Ned & Eng are currently 9th, 10th and 11th. By Dec Eng might fall as low as 13th but no much lower (if Eng doesn't do well in WCQ they will not be in the WC so non of this makes any difference). Por could end up 3rd, but for that they will need Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, France and Greece to fail (Portugal is only 49 a head of 12th ranked Romania, but 65 points behind 8th ranked Greece). They also need Ned to not pass them (they are only 8 points back). Realistically the best they Por or Ned can expect by Dec is 5th (great Euro run and near perfect start for WCQ). For Ned that will not be enough, gaining 2.67 points (2*8/6) will still leave them 8.5 points behind so they will need to be 17 places ahead of England (out of 32 WC teams) bu Nov 2009 in order to make that up - this is not going to happen if Eng is in the WQ. For Por this is doable, if they can finish 6 places ahead of Eng this year the will close the gap to 1.33 points, this means that they will only have to be 3 places ahead of Eng in Nov 2009 to take over 7th place (If Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy, Spain and France qualify). If any of the teams between Por and Eng, fails to qualify they are not counted which means that Por will probably need another place or two ahead of Eng in the FIFA ranking.
Easiest to hardest: A - Sth Korea could win this group B - France and Croatia C - Spain or Ghana just over Bulgaria . - Break in quality G - Even group but all could struggle in other groups (don't underestimate the Uzbeks!) . - Break in quality D - Germany and Netherlands should have it over Japan and Egypt, but no certainty H - Argies first, Cameroon just over USA and Czech E - Brazil first, Australia and Nigeria to battle for second just over Greece F - Mexico just squeezed out by other three in G.O.D My tips: R16 KOR - CRO ESP - NED BRA - POR ENG - CAM* FRA - SCO GER - GHA * CIV - AUS* ARG - UZB QUARTERS CRO - NED BRA - CAM FRA - GHA ARG - CIV - match of the cup SEMIS NED - BRA CIV - GHA FINAL NED - CIV THIRD BRA - GHA * I have given a lot of creedence to it being an African cup - hence CIV beating Italy and Portugal and Cameroon and Ghana doing well.
You really think that Ghana could beat Germany, France and Brazil? And only three European teams in the quarters but three Africans??? Even 2002 by far the worst Tournament for european teams, they had still 4 teams in QF and 9 in round of last 16.
D E F H are all very rough groups, while the others are substantially weaker. It would be a great tournament.