Are we ready for Wednesday's Confederations Cup Draw?

who gives a dump about the draw?



but i do hope we get a chance to play against France and Brazil.

 

I do. It will determine which games I'll be able to watch live in Lyon.

 

I also do. I want to see France in the first round since I live here it would be a lot of fun. And 1,000,000 times more if we win.

 

How can you NOT care about this draw? I'm pumped for it.

 

In light of the current political controversy between France and the US, a US-France matchup might make some noise in the media.

 

Captain, I would think you'd be able to make it to venues other than Lyon! Once you've gotten that far it really doesn't take much more to reach any other city in France. How far are you from Lyon?

 

i do, for the simple reason...

it will tell me whether a trip to france will be worth while for the cup.

 

Our group makeup will determine whether a trip to France would be worthwhile to see the U.S. play in the Confed Cup?

 

what makes it worth the trip?

Brazil Turkey or France Colombia?

(uploading now btw)

 

sorta, i have a friend who lives in france.

so where the games are will make a big difference.

i'll still probably go, but ya know, i like the free housing option.

 

cool. thanks.

 

completely understandable.

But like I said before, it doesn't take alot of time nor alot of money to get from anywhere in France TO anywhere in France. Especially if the TGV is involved. I lived there for over half a year and was happy with being able to see alot of the country on a small budget.

 

and since Lyon is about 2 hrs from Paris, and St. Etienne 40 mins from Lyon, you would be able to go back the same night (maybe a rough night on a train, but...)

So since speedcake and I have settled that, see you in June

 

je vous verrai en juin

< nique les français, allez les etats-unis >

 

Exactly! I will have made my move to Norway in early May and there is a chance I will be able to talk my fiance into taking an extended honeymoon back to France. Our wedding is on May 31st, so...I may have alot of fast talking ahead of me, but I may just be able to swing it. I'm a GENIUS!

 

RF, check your PrMsgs

 

back at ya.

 

Slightly off topic, but current indications are that France is planning on taking this thing pretty seriously. They are not involved in Euro 2004 qualifiers so will probably look to this as a chance to start building toward that competition (and to start to put Japorea behind them). My guess is that the FFF will see anything less than winning it (except possibly in a final against Brazil, depending on who they send out) as not acceptable.

As a result, if the US does get drawn with France, I would not be surprised to see us going against Henry, Trez., Zidane, Pires, and co. (Note that Arsene Wenger has already started complaining that because of this competition his players won't have any time off this summer...)

My pair of tickets to every match at Stade de France should be in the mail...

 

Me too, since that will mean we made it to at least the semi-finals.

 

It isn't only Arsene Wenger against this tournament, but supposedly there was a bog meeting between FIFA and UEFA with representatives of all major clubs including Arsenal, Man U. threatning not to relese their players and calling for cancelation of this tournament as well as World Club Competition scheduled for 2005. The big clubs are totaly against any new tournaments because their star players have no time to rest.

There are two things to this issue, one being that it is right that the players have no rest, the other point is that Europe seems to be against sharing their succes with the rest of the world. Maybe the answer is to cut down on domestic competitions have games only on weekends giving more time to rest. But I am all for international tournaments. Do we need the confederations cup? not necessarely, do we need a World Club Competition, yes definetly. It is a matter of choice , the right choice.

 

Correct. The match starts at about 20:45 local time, so halftime should be somewhere around 21:30 (i.e. 3:30 in the afternoon NY time). I will be watching the match, but not likely to be on-line to post how it comes out. Maybe Flan will...

The FIFA web site might have it...

I tend to agree with Soccerfan about the attitude of UEFA and the big European clubs. Their complaints would be a little more credible if they did not always seem to be willing to schedule expanded European events or marketing junkets (the summer tours of Asia...ManU's trip to the US this summer) as long as they think there is cash in it for themselves.

 

Here is the article about the draw from FIFA.com

"The draw for the FIFA Confederations Cup France 2003 is all set to take place today, Wednesday, 12 February, at 7pm CET. Even before the teams are pulled out of the hat, the rules of the draw mean four of the eight sides already know the identity of one of their opponents - Colombia will line up in the same group as France, while Turkey are set to face Brazil in a mouth-watering repeat of last year’s FIFA World Cup™ semi-final. As for the other encounters, we will just have to wait until Laurent Blanc does the honours during this evening’s ceremony at the Stade de France. In the meantime, here is a brief explanation of the rules that govern the draw, which you can follow live on FIFA.com.
Two rules determine how the draw will be conducted. Firstly, the two top seeds have already been designated and assigned to separate groups - current European Champions, hosts and FIFA Confederations Cup holders France will play in Group A and reigning world champions Brazil in Group B. Secondly, the two South American sides and the two European teams cannot meet each other in the group round.

As a result, we can look forward to a clash between old friends Turkey and Brazil, who crossed swords in two memorable matches at the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan, and an equally scintillating head-to-head between European champions France and current Copa América title-holders Colombia.

Provided that they qualify from the group phase, France and Brazil will meet either at the semi-final stage, as in their last FIFA Confederations Cup encounter back in 2001, which Les Bleus won 2-1, or in the Final. A France-Brazil final at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis…..now that really would be a case of déjà vu! France need to advance from Group A first (with their matches played consecutively in Lyons, Saint-Étienne and Saint-Denis) and whatever the draw, Brazil will face a tough challenge to emerge unscathed from Group B (Saint-Denis, Lyons and Saint-Étienne).

Revenge is sweet
The great footballing nations await their fate – and dream of revenge. Brazil, Cameroon and Japan were pitted against each other in the same group at the FIFA Confederations Cup Korea/Japan 2001, and Cameroon will surely hope for a better showing should they draw the same opponents this time around. The African champions lost both games two years ago, leaving Brazil and Japan to share the points in their match to qualify for the semi-finals.

Back in 1999, Brazil, the United States and New Zealand were drawn together. The Seleçao won both their matches that year and went on to reach the Final. The Americans won their head-to-head with New Zealand, so the All Whites will no doubt be looking to avenge that defeat should the draw give them the chance."

It seems that the two groups will look something like this:

Group A:
France
Colombia
C:
D:

Group B:
Brazil
Turkey
C:
D:

The other four teams are:
NZ
USA
Cameroon
Japan

For the US, the best draw would be France, Colombia, USA, NZ. I think that we could win two of the three. If we could get a point from France, that would be great.

The worst group would be Brazil, Turkey, USA, Cameroon. I think the US would have a difficult time advancing with this group.