Not a bad final pick at all, but I believe the knockout stage pairings will actually be like this: 1st A vs. 2nd B, 1st B vs. 2nd A, 1st C vs. 2nd D, etc. Here's an example of it with me picking the tournament from my scenario. Round of 16 Mexico (A1) vs. *Ivory Coast (B2) *Germany (C1) vs. Ghana (D2) *Spain (E1) vs. Serbia (F2) Switzerland (G1) vs. *Australia (H2) *England (B1) vs. Portugal (A2) Italy (D1) vs. *United States (C2) *Brazil (F1) vs. Netherlands (E2) Russia (H1) vs. *Japan (G2) *Ivory Coast vs. Germany *Spain vs. Australia *England vs. United States *Brazil vs. Japan Ivory Coast vs. *Spain England vs. *Brazil 3rd Place Match *England vs. Ivory Coast Final *Spain vs. Brazil The curse of the Confederations Cup strikes Brazil down in the final.
Rough guide as not everyone has qualified der. POT A - South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, France, England, Italy, Spain, Germany Pot B - Holland, Portugal, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, Denmark Pot C - Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Nigeria, Egypt Pot D - New Zealand, Australia, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Honduras, USA, Mexico Group A - SAfrica, Chile, Australia, Holland B - Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast, North Korea C - France, Ukraine, South Korea, Uruguay D - Germany, Paraguay, Slovakia, Mexico E - Argentina, USA, Nigeria, Russia F - Italy, Switzerland, Egypt, Honduras G - England, Serbia, Ghana, Japan H - Spain, Denmark, New Zealand, Cameroon Group A South Africa, Holland Brazil, Ivory Coast France, Ukraine Germany, Slovakia Argentina, Russia Italy, Switzerland England, Ghana Spain, Cameroon South Africa vs Ivory Coast - South Africa Brazil vs Holland - Holland France vs Slovakia - Slovakia Germany vs Ukraine - Germany Argentina vs Switzerland - Argies Italy vs Russia - Russia England vs Cameroon - England Spain vs Ghana - Ghana SAFRICA VS GERMANY - GERMANY HOLLAND VS SLOVAKIA - HOLLAND ARGENTINA VS GHANA - ARGENTINA RUSSIA VS ENGLAND - ENGLAND GERMANY VS HOLLAND - GERMANY ARGENTINA VS ENGLAND - ARGENTINA HOLLAND VS ENGLAND - ENGLAND GERMANY VS ARGENTINA - ARGENTINA That is even more far fetched than the twit I criticised
Well I think your predictions are just random guesses, but when I look at these groups I think there is not a single group with two clear favorites. I would love such groups.
I looked at my crystal ball and this is what it gave me: Winners in bold, 2nd in italic POT A - South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, France, England, Italy, Spain, Germany Pot B - Netherlands, Bosnia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Slovenia, Serbia, Denmark Pot C - Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Australia, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, New Zealand, Pot D - Honduras, USA, Mexico, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria A - South Africa, Serbia, Australia, Algeria B - Brazil, Ukraine, New Zealand, Mexico C - France, Netherlands, Chile, Ivory Coast - What a group! D - Germany, Denmark, South Korea, Nigeria E - Argentina, Bosnia, North Korea, Cameroon - haha Maradona F - Italy, Switzerland, Paraguay, Ghana G - England, Slovakia, Uruguay, USA H - Spain, Slovenia, Japan, Honduras Australia, Serbia Brazil, Mexico Netherlands, Ivory Coast Denmark, Germany Bosnia, Cameroon Italy, Paraguay England, Uruguay Spain, Japan Australia vs Mexico - Australia Brazil vs Serbia - Brazil Netherlands vs Germany - Germany Denmark vs Ivory Coast - Ivory Coast Bosnia vs Paraguay - Paraguay Italy vs Cameroon - Italy England vs Japan - England Spain vs Uruguay - Spain AUSTRALIA VS GERMANY - GERMANY BRAZIL VS IVORY COAST - BRAZIL PARAGUAY VS ENGLAND - ENGLAND ITALY VS SPAIN - ITALY GERMANY VS BRAZIL - GERMANY BRAZIL VS ENGLAND - BRAZIL GERMANY VS ITALY - GERMANY
As always, some big teams are completely underrated because of unconvincing qualifying campaigns. There are many examples of finalists or winners with dubious qualifying. France and Argentina have the best pools of players in world, with Brazil. Even Spain, Italy or England doesn’t have that quality/quantity. Of course, best players don’t mean best team. You need to take in account chemistry, coaching, confidence, etc… Still, writing off France or Argentina is stupid. Even with absolutely terrible coaches (yea, including Jacquet) for more than 20 years now, France has managed to win, during this period 1 WC, 1 EC, 1 WC finalist, 2 Confederation cups and several ranked spots. So yes, Serbia, Slovakia, etc… can beat France or Argentina. It is possible but VERY unlikely, especially in knock-out stages. Keep underrating us. Last time we, France, went to final and almost won it.
group c?? nigeria isn't the nigeria of the nineties anymore, and ukraine is rubbish too. united states have some good games now and then, but real shitty games often either.
ok guys this will give you a hint, it's on spanish but still you guys can realte the countries to the flags....
According to the "pot" thread, this is a bunch of crap. But I don't know Spanish, and have no knowledge of the veracity of the source (Marca).
This looks correct according to how it was done last ime, and assuming the "obvious" teams win the playoffs. The only changes would be (1) if Ireland defeat France then (most likely) Holland will become a seed (although it is still possible for Portiugal?) and Ireland moves to pot 2 and (2) if Costa Rica overcome Uruguay then New Zealand would move to pot 3 and Costa Rica to 4.
A European team has NEVER won a WC held outside of Europe. I highly doubt it will happen next year. There will be major upsets, especially by African teams. I have a feeling that, depending on the draw of course, Italy will not even qualify for the 2nd round. Spain and England are the best European bets to lift the trophy, but my money will be on Brazil, Argentina or an African nation.
I seeded ALL of the teams, with South Africa #1, France #8 all the way to #32 Korea DPR. Then I placed them into groups using a snaking method. I wanted to make sure that the groups with Euro seeds didn't have more than 2 Euro teams and also the other confederations didn't have more than two representatives from their respective continents. I came up with these groups: Group A South Africa Paraguay Serbia Korea DPR Group B Brazil Russia Ghana New Zealand Group C Germany Mexico Denmark Honduras Group D Italy Switzerland Cameroon Chile Group E Spain United States Australia Slovakia Group F England Ukraine Japan Egypt Group G Argentina Netherlands Korea Rep. Nigeria Group H France Portugal Uruguay Cote d'Ivoire Winners and 2nd place of groups: A: South Africa, Serbia B: Brazil, Ghana C: Mexico, Germany D: Cameroon, Chile E: Spain, USA F: England, Egypt G: Argentina, Netherlands H: Cote d'Ivoire, Portugal 2nd round: Winners with "*" 1) South Africa vs. Ghana* 2) Mexico vs. Chile* 3) Spain* vs. Egypt 4) Argentina* vs. Portugal 5) Brazil* vs. Serbia 6) Germany vs. Cameroon* 7) England* vs. USA 8) Netherlands vs. Cote d'Ivoire* Quarters: Winners with "*" 1) Ghana* vs. Chile 2) Spain vs. Argentina* 3) Brazil* vs. Cameroon 4) England* vs. Cote d'Ivoire Semis: Winners with "*" 1) Ghana vs. Argentina* 2) Brazil* vs. England 3rd Place: Winner with "*" Ghana* vs. England Final: Winner with "*" Brazil* vs. Argentina
sure they do, european teams consistently get the home field advantage when the cup is held there. home field is so much bigger in wc. it took south korea to the semi finals! african teams as much more talented than south korea and with a home advantage look for the euro teams to fall. argentina and brazil are consistently the most talented nations and will probably survive to the semis.
The reality is that your insistance on the home field advantage masking out the fact that European teams may just be doing much better within certain time zones, did you think of that? And let's not bring up South Korea, their rise in 2002 was nothing more than very careful and very corrupt officiating.
Ah, you mean African teams have a home advantage on their own continent? Just like China and Saudi-Arabia had in 2002? Your prediction is btw. highly unrealistic, even in 2002 UEFA provided always at least 50% of the teams in each stage (9,4,2,1).
Yeah and I can predict a North Korea - South Africa Final, it is still unrealistic. Come On, Italy out vs Cameroon and Chile? Also you give Cote d'Ivoire way too much credit, just look at their last results vs non African teams. (Now they're probably going to thrash Germany after I said this.. ) Btw. I had to look up "dolt" in the dictionary, that's quite some insult.
I think Brazil will not go as head into group B. I tip them for E, because they are the most attractive still and the head of E will play in Soccer City, Durban, Cape Town, the 3 biggest stadia. Italy or England will propably go to group D. I guess, it will be France in B as it seems they are not so strong than the other seeded europeans and FIFA must simply take into consideration, that South Africa will finish maybe second and then face the winner of group B and this should not be Brazil, in their point of view.
Re: what time is the wc draw? A: South Africa, Greece, Uruguay, New Zealand B: England, Portugal, Cameroon, South Korea C: Germany, Slovakia, Chile, Mexico D: Brazil, Netherlands, Ivory Coast, USA E: Italy, Serbia, paraguay, North Korea F: Spain, Denmark, Ghana, Japan G: France, Slovenia, Algeria, Australia H: Argentina, Switxerland, Nigeria, Honduras