The World Cup draw will be held Friday, April 1 at 1pm Brazilian time. As usual, 32 teams will be divided into 4 pots of 8 to be drawn one at a time into groups. 29 finalists are known, with the last 3 to be determined in June. The hosts will be placed in Pot 1 as a seeded time as is customary. The teams determined in June will be placed in Pot 4 automatically. All other teams will be placed according to their ranking in pots 1 through 4. Geographical restrictions apply, so: All groups must have at least one but no have more than two UEFA teams Teams from other confederations cannot face each other in the group stage The teams from the CONMEBOL x AFC playoff cannot be drawn into a group with an AFC or CONMEBOL team The teams in the CONCACAF x OFC playoff cannot be drawn with another CONCACAF team Simple, right? If you prefer to just press a button and have a mock draw done for you, here's one tool that does that: https://draw.inker.one/#/wc/gs (this is up to date, with Canada in pot 4 after tonight's round of CONCACAF qualifiers). Some of the big talking points this time around: Germany and the Netherlands in Pot 2. We could have Brazil x Germany in the first round, or one of those could get an easy group with the hosts. Pots 2 and 3 each have wildly different teams in terms of difficulty and World Cup pedigree. Pot 2 will have 7 teams Brazil can be drawn with (because Uruguay cannot be drawn in our group). Pot 4 will have only 6 teams that can theoretically be drawn with Brazil (because Ecuador and the CONMEBOL/AFC playoff winner cannot be drawn in our group). Too many other variations to mention. But feel free to post your mock draw or your hope for the best/toughest groups.
Globo has a good looking draw simulator available now as well: https://interativos.globoesporte.gl...do-mundo/especial/simulador-sorteio-copa-2022 Also, about the schedule/match-ups: The brackets will be ACEG x BDFH, meaning The winner of 1A x 2B in the Round of 16 will face the winner of 1C x 2D in the quarters and then face the winners of 1E x 2F vs. 1G x 2H This means teams in the same group cannot meet again unless they both reach the final. Definitely a wide range of groups available from several simulations. We could have Germany (or Denmark or USA as in CB's suggestion) or we could end up with the UEFA playoff winner as the only UEFA team, alongside Mexico and Iran, for example.
And Brasil FIFA ranked #1 . I don’t know how the hell italy is ranked #6 when they didn’t even qualify, lol.
All the previews for the draw are driving me nuts cause there are so many misconceptions. Whether it's ESPN debating a group with no Europeans or someone on Bandeirantes hoping Brazil avoids Uruguay (good news, Brazil and Uruguay cannot be drawn into the same group!)... Let me now rant about it too much. A couple of notes: If you used the globo draw simulator earlier and got a group that can't happen, try again. They fixed an issue with the UEFA team in pot 4. I did get a group with 3 Europeans (also can't happen) but hopefully that has been fixed too. The draw will be on TV of course, regardless of where you are, but you can also watch on youtube on FIFA's channel. With the extra twists of the playoffs adding to the usual geographical restrictions, and the snafu at the Champions League draw this year, plenty of people are wondering if something will go wrong tomorrow. I think FIFA will have everything in order, but we'll see. Messing up the WC draw would be something special.
Globo reporters in Qatar suggested a group with no UEFA team for Brazil... I can't wait for this madness to be over and the draw to happen. It's not that complicated!!!
That Globo simulator got Saudi Arabia in Brazil's group several times. I also saw Argentina and Mexico together repeatedly, as well as Spain and Mexico, and also England with the United States. Well, we'll see.
Earlier in the ceremony the World Cup mascot was announced: The official mascot of the 2022 World Cup 🏆 pic.twitter.com/AOvNPNjyXN— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) April 1, 2022 The draw is going to start... soon...
Cafu draws Qatar for group A just as a matetr of procedure, now the real randomness begins... B1 = England
D1 = France. This means that there's a potential France x England QF (Argentina, if they win C, will face the winner of A1 x B2 in Quarters)
Belgium = F1 Brazilian coaching staff gets its wish. Brazil will be in group G or H, with extra time for prep.
Which means if the top-seeded teams win their groups, Brazil can only face France or Argentina in the final. Brazil in group G.
H1 = Portugal. Potential QF vs Belgium, potential semi vs France or England. Now on to pot 2 where the real fun begins.