CONCACAF x OFC playoff gets drawn, can't go in B so it moves to E Spain's first match will be against Costa Rica or New Zealand.
UEFA repescagem team goes to Group B. England is obligated to win this group. The English had a good draw.
Cameroon drawn in F... but Morocco is already there, so guess who gets to play them? Brazil x Cameroon in the group once again! Brazil x Serbia Brazil x Switzerland Brazil x Cameroon That's our World Cup group
Cameroon goes to Brazil's Group - it'll be Brazil's final match. Not the worse draw, but definitely one which will require work. Serbia first, then Switzerland (probably the most difficult opponent), and Cameroon (who was also Brazil's final group stage opponent in 2014; Brazil won 4-1).
This is basically the nightmare draw as far as listening to pundits in Brazil. 90% of them thing Switzerland and Serbia are a joke and shouldn't challenge Brazil. But of course, they are solid and it's a tough group. Going to be hell listening to Brazilian pundits in the lead up to this WC.
For Brazil forum members who reside in the U.S.: Brazil's first match, against Serbia, is on November 24, 2022 - Thanksgiving Day. In other words, we get to watch our team's first World Cup contest while stuffing ourselves.
The good side of this is that Tite doesn't listen to these pundits. If he did, he'd have to change the lineup every match to accede to their quasi-conjectures as to what is the best starting XI. And given he's a student of the game, Tite will certainly study Serbia and Switzerland no less than he did for 2018. In the last World Cup, Brazil drew against Switzerland after opening the scoreboard and defeated Serbia 2-0. Brazil will need to play very seriously, but with Tite, that's never a problem.
If Brazil, along with Netherlands, Argentina, and Spain or Germany win their groups, these four teams could meet in the knockout rounds. If Brazil wins its group, it will face the runner-up of Group H, which includes Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, and Korea Republic.
So our path, if we win the group, is then: H2 (potentially Uruguay, for example) Winner of E1xF2 (potentially Spain or Germany) Winner of (A1xB2)x(C1xD2) (potentially Argentina)
I respect Uruguay, but I would be more concerned with Portugal. Spain and Germany are strong, and Argentina has found a pragmatic system. I expect a very close finish between Spain and Germany for first place and I would be surprised if Argentina does not finish first in its group. No one said winning the World Cup is easy, and 2022 will be no exception. But it's several months away.... We'll see what happens when the games begin.
These are just examples, based on typical favorites. In the end, the World Cup rarely plays out like that. There will be upsets that throw all of that off-kilter and who knows, we could face Korea, Costa Rica or Qatar down the line with Denmark in the final... or Portugal, Germany, Argentina, with France in the final. Or a mix of all of those possibilities.
True. No one ever imagined South Korea would have defeated Germany in 2018, but it happened. As well, no one ever thought that South Korea would have defeated Poland and Portugal in the 2002 group stages, or that the United States would have dominated Germany before losing 2-0 (with a handball which the Germans got away with) after the U.S. handily defeated Mexico. I also speculate few thought Japan would have defeated Denmark with relative ease, 3-1, in 2010, or that Argentina would have been sent packing in the first stage in 2002. No one thought defending champion Spain would lose to Chile and get clobbered by the Netherlands in 2014. Or that Cameroon would have defeated defending champion Argentina in 1990. The old dictum, "anything can happen during 90 minutes," is always true. Who would have thought Germany would be down 0-1 in a World Cup final at home within 1 minute without even touching the football? Or that Senegal, unheard of (at the world stage), would have defeated defending champion France in 2002? I for one thought Germany was on its way to its tetra in 2006 given the way it'd been playing, until Italy showed up and scored twice at the very end of the match. Yes, the traditional teams are always favored by history, experience, and much superior talent, but unexpected results can happen. This is why this game is so apaixonante. It's going to be a long wait until November.........
Among the stuff I've seen Brazilian shows get wrong today: Before the draw one show said that the knockout round match-ups were still TBD. This is not true. They've been known for a long time (A1xB2 etc.) They seemed to confuse the fact that match times could still be changed with the idea that matchups could still change. After the draw the same show spent there time analyzing that the ABCD half was tougher than the EFGH half. Trouble is the splits are ACEG x BDFH as I mentioned here. I know I rant about this but it's just, these are big networks and shows with producers. None of this should happen.
So it's 2018 2.0. Another "oil" World Cup, very similar group , similar team, same coach, Italy out again,etc. This could be seen as a do-over for us (or Germany, or Spain, Belgium, Argentina).
That particular one was Jogo Aberto I think, or another Bandeirantes crew. To be fair, I realize all these people live off of State, National and Libertadores news. Just like ESPN US and UK, who I mentioned above, live off of the big leagues and CL. No one is required to give as much of a damn as I do. But that's what producers are for. Prepare the shows and crew properly with basic fact. For the ESPN one they made an image with the dream group. Someone has to review and approve that kind of stuff and should point out it's an impossible group. Plenty of fan podcasts got stuff wrong, but those aren't pros, so it's whatever. And I get more worked up about it than I should anyways. But it is basic.
It's funny because this group is slightly harder than 2018's. and we have 2 of the same opponents and Cameroon is probably a little tougher than Costa Rica. Of course, Brazil is a stronger team now than in 2018, but I'd say so are the Swiss, and possibly the Serbs. It's an annoying draw for us and I think 7 points is a likely outcome.