(Updated - Pots confirmed by FIFA on 03.12.13) Pot 1: Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Switzerland, Uruguay Pot 2: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chile, Ecuador Pot 3: Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia, United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras Pot 4: Bosnia, Croatia, England, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, France Note: A pre-draw will be held to move one of the nine European teams into Pot 2. That European team will then be drawn against one of the four seeded South American teams to preserve the geographical balance of the draw. The four South American seeds: Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina will form a temporary Pot X. The three teams not drawn against the European team in Pot 2 will return to the main draw. Date and time: The Final Draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup will take place in Costa do Sauipe, near the city of Salvador, on Brazil’s north-eastern coast. The 90-minute event is scheduled to get underway at 13:00 (Local Time) on December 6.
This pot looks the weakest on paper, but then that same combination in 2010 with two arguably weaker nations (Nth Korea and New Zealand in place of Costa Rica and Iran) produced 4 teams that made the round of 16 and one group winner in the USA. You never know until the games are played.
FIFA's Jérôme Valcke has begun tweeting about the Final Draw: Jérôme Valcke @jeromevalcke1h Arrived in Brazil for #FinalDraw. Look forward to seeing all artists, celebrating the diversity of Brazilian culture. pic.twitter.com/F3dK6eBfmk FIFA Media @fifamedia29 Nov The #FinalDraw in numbers: Available on TV to 193 countries, nearly 1,300 guests, 2,000 reporters. 17:00 CET. 6/12. http://fifa.to/1jSknpR Retweeted by Jérôme Valcke
Some intriguing matchups that we could see drawn: Uruguay vs. Ghana: This would be one of the most hyped matches leading up to the tournament, and that's saying a lot USA vs. Ghana: Like a vase of petuna flowers, USA fans will be thinking to themselves, "Oh no, not again" USA vs. Portugal: Let's just say we tend to do well against Portuguese legends who wear the #7 England vs. Argentina: Think it's time we dusted off this rivalry for another go round. England vs. Germany: Self-Explanatory Brazil vs. either Holland/Italy: Early fireworks involving world powers. Even moreso if it happens to be the opener. Holland vs. Belgium: The Low Country derby gets a World Cup matchup for the first time since 1998. South Korea vs. Italy: Let's just say Italy still holds a grudge over Ahn Jung Hwan. Argentina vs. Portugal: Messi vs. CR7 at the World Cup? Yes please. Spain vs. Portugal: Iberian hostilities resume.
"The draw procedures itself will start around 13:45 local time and will last for approximately 35minutes."
I am not saying anything new necessarily, when I mention how unbalanced several of these pots are, making the draw so much more important than it should be. In Pot 1, you can get hosts Brazil, or you can get Switzerland! I am sure its almost the same In Pot 3, you can get France, or you can get Algeria. Does it really matter? In Pot 4, you may end up with Italy, four time world cup winners (never mind I think one of their titles was undeserved), or you may end up with Bosnia, in their first ever World Cup. (You may also get Holland, last World Cup's runner up team, or you may get Greece, who have lost all but one of the 6 matches they have ever played in the World Cup). Since Iran is in Pot 2 and we won't face anyone from this pot, I am not going to worry about the differences in Pot 2, but when it comes to the rest of the pots, the differences are enough to determine the fate of some the teams based on the draw before the World Cup has even started. Thus, unless a team is aiming to finish as a semifinalist or better, I doubt it would rate its chances getting out of a group with say Brazil (Pot 1), Italy (Pot 4), France (Pot 3), and (fill in the blank from Pot 2)! I say that fully cognizant that both Italy and France sucked in the last World Cup. But although one of them will likely suck again in the kind of group I mentioned above, surely any team from Pot 4 would almost have to be delusional to think they would be able to advance from a group with 3 different recent World Cup champions. A group which would have all the teams that had won every World Cup since 1994 except the last one, a group with 3 teams with 10 World Cup titles between them. Conversely, there are several teams in Pot 2 which would be completely favored to advance from a group with say Switzerland, Greece, and Algeria. And all of the teams in Pot 2, even Honduras, would rate their chances of advancing from such a group as being decent!
I would LOVE for Iran to be in a group consisting Brazil, Italy and France. Seeing as how we will not advance, regardless of what group we end up in, we might as well hope for at least playing some exciting teams! I would hate to end up with teams like Switzerland and Algeria
I don't rate our chances as low as you do. We should get 3 points from Algeria if we play near our potential; and there are plenty of teams from Pot 4 such as Greece, Bosnia, or even Russia or Croatia, which we might get result against and qualify to the next round. And even seeded teams like Switzerland aren't beyond reach. Anyway, the main point in any case is about how unbalanced these groups might turn out to be. Too unbalanced if you ask me.
Only because you are in the seeds pot. We couldn't beat you in the opening match of Euro 96 despite playing at Wembley. We had a much better team then than we do now and I'm sure you would agree that your team is better. Whilst the draw is important there will be a number of teams who outperform expectations and others who underperform. In some ways I wouldn't mind a group of death for England as it will at least ensure we play some good teams. It will also take the pressure off. The worst thing would be flying home early after being knocked out of an "easy" group.
It's been a few year since I have seen the logo and I can't still get over the fact it looks like a guy face palming
Why is it that the draw procedure has not been announced already? One of the most important things that FIFA's braintrust could work on, and they are going to convene and decide one day prior to the draw?
It's FIFA. For e.g. if you go to their website you'll find on the main page there is a headline saying "WC draw just months away". lol
Should we be more concerned with where rather than who? http://www.theguardian.com/football...-england-venues-opposition-hodgson-rio-brazil - ignore the incorrect draw location in this article, the Guardian is well-known for its mistakes. Those who think they have a chance of winning must surely regard the venues as being vitally important. You do not want to be exhausted in the later stages. Lesser sides might even hope that harsh conditions work as a leveller. Which positions would you like to be drawn in? B3 looks good to me. Cuiaba, Rio then Sao Paulo in the group stage.
I wish they would do away with the 4 pot system and go to a draw a region first, then the country from that region second. They could still have 8 seeded teams. There is no reason CONCACAF teams should not be able to be in a group with Asian teams. There still might be groups of death, but at least it would be less pre-determined.
The could do it even without a draw, based on rankings, albeit keeping teams from the same confederation (except UEFA) apart. Something like what I did here. P.S. You might like Group E, if they employed the system I have advocated. I certainly do. The numbers in parenthesis are the FIFA rankings for these teams last month, before the newest rankings were released. Group E Colombia (#4) USA (#13) Russia (#19) Iran (#49)