The teams are set, the pots are, well, kind of known, and the draw is December 6th. The US are most likely in the second pot, the likely pot scenario is:
POT ONE
Brazil*
Argentina
Colombia
Uruguay
Spain
Germany
Belgium
Switzerland
POT TWO
Japan
Iran
South Korea
Australia
USA
Mexico
Costa Rica
Honduras
Netherlands
Italy
England
Portugal
Greece
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Croatia
Russia
*Brazil will be placed into Group A
** Chile & Ecuador will not be able to be in the same group as either Brazil, Argentina, Colombia or Uruguay due to the fact they can only be one South American team in each Group
*** France will not be able to to be in the same group as Spain, Germany, Belgium or Switzerland due to the fact FIFA won't allow more than two European teams in each group
It will be the most competitive World Cup in history and what better place to have it than in Brazil. There isn't a single nation in the world you could really argue failed epically to join the 32 (all the big guns are present and accounted for). You have the undoubted top teams from Africa, CONCACAF, and Asia which is rare and where most of the surprise minnows come from.
Can't wait for the draw. Every simulated group for USA makes me cry in fear. However, any nation would be saying the same thing. There will be no easy wins for the most part. In every group any one of at least three teams can come out of it with no arguments.
If you are a USA fan like me you are praying to get either Switzerland or Belgium from Pot A and Cameroon, Ecuador, Algeria from the Africa pot. The last pot just try to get like a Greece or Bosnia maybe and things could be positive. However this would be like winning the lottery.
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Spain is slipping (soon to be overtaken by Brazil for World #1 in my rankings blog in my Signature) and combine with the fact that Brazil will be at home they are the favorite. Brazil is reloaded as usual with Neymar, Fred, and Hulk (love those names) and they are so fun to watch. Spain will be trying to make one last hurrah for an aging core group that is arguably the best in history.
My darkhorse pick is Colombia and then the USA -- no seriously they are primed for a run; just look at all the bigtime moments they have pulled off in the past year. Win at Italy, win vs Germany, win at Azteca, draw at Azteca in qualifying, draw at Russia, comeback win at Bosnia (when they were the hottest team in the world). Albeit alot of them were friendlies, but they never even came close in those before now.
With a team as strong as Brazil playing in there home country, I really can't see this being "the most competitive world cup in history". They are easily one of the top 3 teams and are playing in their own country with fans that are absolutely bat**** insane.
As a second generation immigrant, I'm rooting for my mother's country, Portugal. I hope they do well, especially after being in the group of death in South Africa and meeting Spain in the first round of the Knockout Stage. I just ran quite a few simulations and outside of this last one, I was fairly happy with all of portugal's draw, coincidentally the Portuguese draw I was least happy with was the American draw I was most happy with. Portugal drew Brazil, Ivory Coast, and Mexico which looks like the hardest out of any group that could be drawn while USA picked up Uruguay, France, and Bosnia Herzgovina which I think America could make it out of rather easily in comparison to other options. There was also an American draw that had Cameroon, Columbia and England in it that I was pleased with.
With a team as strong as Brazil playing in there home country, I really can't see this being "the most competitive world cup in history". They are easily one of the top 3 teams and are playing in their own country with fans that are absolutely bat**** insane.
As a second generation immigrant, I'm rooting for my mother's country, Portugal. I hope they do well, especially after being in the group of death in South Africa and meeting Spain in the first round of the Knockout Stage. I just ran quite a few simulations and outside of this last one, I was fairly happy with all of portugal's draw, coincidentally the Portuguese draw I was least happy with was the American draw I was most happy with. Portugal drew Brazil, Ivory Coast, and Mexico which looks like the hardest out of any group that could be drawn while USA picked up Uruguay, France, and Bosnia Herzgovina which I think America could make it out of rather easily in comparison to other options. There was also an American draw that had Cameroon, Columbia and England in it that I was pleased with.
Yes Brazil is surely the favorite to win the whole thing as I stated. Spain and a couple others like Germany will contend I think. I was merely saying all matches will be competitive. I don't see any 8-0 thrashings being handed out to anyone here like we have had in the previous couple WCs.
As for your Portugal, with Ronaldo anything is possible. What he did putting the team and country on his back vs. Sweden will be remembered by that nation, their fans, and anyone with Portuguese heritage for years to come.
I was well and truly hoping that Mexico would miss the World Cup, I've never been so conflicted over a Team USA win in my life.
I'm sad that Zlatan won't be there, he's one of my favorite players in the world, I'd much rather Sweden than Portugal(no offense meant to the poster above, just preference of Scandanavian Nations)
I really wish Denmark was in, though this lessens the chance of my two nations playing each other, haha.
Also - I'm not sold on Colombia, at all. I think they almost certainly get ousted in the group stage, unless they get a particularly weak group.
As much faith as I have in our boys, I think making the first knockout stage would be considered a great accomplishment, we still lack quality in some key areas, and while Altidore has been on absolute fire for the National Team, his disappointing form for Sunderland concerns me(as well as his lack of quality time[stupid move by Jozy]) Johannson may overtake his starting slot by World Cup time, as he's looked prime in his few games for the US. It'll be interesting if Gooch manages to get back into the squad.
I definitely see some 8-0 thrashings depending on the draw, specifically Iran or Australia and maybe Mexico if they play as poorly as they did in qualification.
And no offense taken on wanting to see Zlatan make it over Portugal. He's the best pure striker in the world and has a hell of a personality and it's a true shame that he isn't going to be in the world cup for what might be the last time he'll be participating in international play. If he wasn't against Portugal in qualifying I would have rooted for him to make it a bit harder, but I certainly don't take offense to wanting to see a great player who also happens to always be in the headlines for weird personality issues in the world's greatest soccer tournament
So, just for ha ha's I went and did two draws from the simulator that was linked, and here is what I got:
Draw 1
In this one, you can see the US pretty much got a dream pool. I was just going to post this but then did another one:
Yep, a virtual group of death for the US, but one that would at least be a true measure of how the US actually is. I am loving group A though just for the entertainment value.
I actually like the virtual group of death for the US. Both Uruguay and France have arguably underperformed during qualification, and those would be confidence boosting wins. I'd love to be in a group with England, if only for the bragging rights game. With virtually no keeper to speak of for England right now, the time is right for us to topple the English once again!
Also, I think it'd be interesting for us in the match vs France. While France has immense quality, and a Ballon d'Or candidate in Ribery, I think that if the US were able to impose their physicality on France(assuming we get a non-card happy ref) we could beat France. It's a pipe dream, and a best-case scenario type of thing, but man, escaping with wins against England and France, or England and Uruguay would just be fantastic.
Being Portuguese, I'm in love with either of those draws.
As an American, I don't think either of those draws were great and I actually like the one you called the group of death BETTER than the one you said was an easy draw. Belgium is significantly better than Uruguay, Russia is marginally worse than England, while France and Ecuador are complete wildcards. France played piss poor last time around, looked bad at the last euros and wasn't strong in qualifying, but has a team that looks excellent on paper. Ecuador is a bit unheralded but as a tremendously athletic team that managed to qualify in the Conmebol(and either beat or tied every team if the scores were aggregate besides Argentina). Honestly I might be more worried about an Ecuador squad that is more likely to overachieve than a French squad with the tendency to underachieve. Ideally a team of USA's strength would want Uruguay, the swiss, or Columbia out of Pot 1, anyone beside Chile or Ivory Coast in Pot 3 is fine but Cameroon, Nigeria or Algeria are clearly most favorable, and Pot 4 I think any american fan would just be happy to steer clear of Italy since there aren't any "good draws". Croatia probably being the best draw.
It is rigged, because by ranking France should be the team. They want a less heralded team like a Bosnia or Greece to be in Pot 2. I'd be shocked to see a high profile team like France, Portugal, Netherlands, or Italy. If it happens than you'd almost guarantee the first Group of Death ever since the nickname was coined.
Pretty great draw for us! Algeria is the weakest team out of pot 2 and Russia is fine considering the strength of pot 4. Korea out of pot 3 isn't perfect. I expect it's the second strongest team there, behind Japan (although significantly behind them, and probably about on par with USA and Mexico). So we should advance from this group without a problem.
The downside is we get paired against a very strong team in the second round. Portugal and especially Germany are among the top teams. USA might as well not show up by the way, considering Ghana is pretty much their nemesis as well.
It is rigged, because by ranking France should be the team. They want a less heralded team like a Bosnia or Greece to be in Pot 2. I'd be shocked to see a high profile team like France, Portugal, Netherlands, or Italy. If it happens than you'd almost guarantee the first Group of Death ever since the nickname was coined.
Wrong on both predictions I fear.
(Edit: Don't get me wrong, it's obviously a tough group with Italy getting the 'X' spot, but it's not necessarily tougher than Spain/Netherlands/Chile or Germany/Portugal/Ghana groups.
You really just need to embrace the rage. I keep a small colony of hamsters next to my computer and every time I lose a match to mana screw I throw one against the wall.
Group A: Brasil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon
Group B: Spain, Holland, Chile, Australia
Group C: Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast, Japan
Group D: Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy
Group E: Switzerland, Ecuador, France, Honduras
Group F: Argentina, Bosnia, Iran, Nigeria
Group G: Germany, Portugal, Ghana, USA
Group H: Belgium, Algeria, Russia, South Korea
Those are your groups, to absolutely no one's surprise, France and Brasil get easy as pie groups! England the US get handed arguably the toughest. We avoided any true "group of death" but England, Uruguay, Costa Rica and Italy is no cakewalk.
If the US can contain CR7, the Portugese are another run of the mill team, the only issue being if we focus all of our energies on containing CR7, there are still some good players to leave open. It'll be interesting to see.
Portugal is more than CR7. He's actually played poorly on the National Squad for a while (that changed a few months ago). We have talented players. What we miss is quality strikers. Oh, and our coach sucks, so he'll surely leave great players home...
Oh absolutely, but containing CR7 is going to be our top priority. CR7 has his bad days at the office, but CR7's worst days are still going to be a handful for the US's defence. If Besler and Gonzalez are our centre-halfs going in, they're woefully inexperienced, and I'm not sure if Cherundulo is even coming back to the National Squad at this point. Portugal is far more than CR7, but when it comes to the US Matchup, CR7 is going to run us ragged.
I don't see the US making the knockout stages though. Unless Portugal, Ghana or Germany falter hard, it won't be easy at all.
In my opinion, Germany will get the First place with 3 wins (even thought they'll slack up after being 2-0). I just don't see anyone scoring against Neuer. Sure, CR7 is a great goal scorrer, but I don't think our midfield matches up with theirs.
After that, I'd like to think Portugal is favorite for the #2 spot (now, this may be wrong. I tend to favor Portugal, since I'm... well... portuguese :p). That said, I don't think anything is clean cut beyond the #1. Ghana is a wonderful team and can even give Germany a run for their money. The US, being the weakest team on paper, have shown in the past that they can grow above expectation, so I expect then to fight for the slot.
In Practice, I think we have one team that's clearly in (Germany) and then 3 fighting for that 1 slot. Even with Portugal being the favorites (again, according to me), I still see it as a hell of a battle that will surely create great matches. Let's see what comes out of it
I would love to draw with Germany, be it 0-0 or 1-1, what have you, a draw against the Germans would just put the US over the moon. Portugal I think is the favorite to go through to the knockout stages, just because they have the quality. Both Ghana and the US have difficulty defending set pieces, and well, you guys are pretty good at those. The US in particular are horrendous at defending set pieces(like seriously guys, don't practice anything except defending set pieces for the next four months). The more I think about it, if the US escape with anything other than 3 losses, I'll be ecstatic. We have the fight in us, the question is, can we slow these games down enough to make it. Beasley is having CR7 nightmares already I reckon.
Group G is one of the toughest groups I have seen in any world cup. I can't recall any tougher ones off the top of my head, and is easily the "Group of Death" this time around. It's actually kind of heartbreaking to know that two of those teams will be gone after the group stage - I want all four to proceed
And must be nice to be France. That group is even easier than they '06 one. Argentina also has a pretty easy way to the second round, as should Brazil.
Group C is the one I have the most trouble predicting - the teams all seem fairly evenly matched to me. It'll be an exciting one.
Group D is also very exciting. There is always a lot of noise and hype around England and Italy, and Uruguay are definitely no slouches either. Costa Rica is well and truly on the outside looking in here.
Also, poor Chile and Australia. I do not see either of them advancing past Spain or the Netherlands. Two very clear favorites there.
Group H is the group "the rest" in my mind, and probably the one I'm the least interested in. However, if Russia can perform like they did in Euro '08, I'll be very excited to follow them along.
All I can say is if the United States advance past this group we HAVE to get some much earned and long-coming repect from the rest of the world.
Portugal really depends on what team shows up, but it's basically a Portuguese home game. Germany, yeah good luck. Ghana has our number and they are arguably the best African team because I think the Ivory Coast has taken a slight step back and Nigeria is overrated (but still a strong African side).
I think the only blessing is Ghana is first and despite our history they were close games. We can beat them, and revenge will be on the American minds. We win that and it will set the USA team up for success and if we can repeat 2002 against Portugal we're all set.
Any match in the Round 16 will be downgrade in competition against whatever comes out of Group H, so make it there and the USA can be a quarterfinalist.
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I realize some of my comments are wild, but I am driven by passion right now because I am dis-heartened by how difficult the USA got, but at the same time kind of excied about the opportunity to show the world. One of the biggest fans of International soccer at least in my area of the United States here so this one of the bigger days I get every four years.
All I can say is if the United States advance past this group we HAVE to get some much earned and long-coming repect from the rest of the world.
Portugal really depends on what team shows up, but it's basically a Portuguese home game. Germany, yeah good luck. Ghana has our number and they are arguably the best African team because I think the Ivory Coast has taken a slight step back and Nigeria is overrated (but still a strong African side).
I think the only blessing is Ghana is first and despite our history they were close games. We can beat them, and revenge will be on the American minds. We win that and it will set the USA team up for success and if we can repeat 2002 against Portugal we're all set.
Any match in the Round 16 will be downgrade in competition against whatever comes out of Group H, so make it there and the USA can be a quarterfinalist.
Yeah, really the way I see it is that in Group G, it is a race to six. If any team hits 6 points they are in and winning the group. Saying that I don't see the US winning the race. I DO see on the other hand 4 points with a good Goal Diff advancing as well. 5 SHOULD also be a workable number for the US, but I don't see two draws and a win.
That's definitely the strategy for the US to advance. Beat Ghana then park the bus in front of people better than them. Very disappointed that Portugal had to get such a strong group, and btw on Paper the US is both rated higher then Portugal and Ghana in the Fifa rankings.
Also, Chile has a better chance of making the Knockouts then the Netherlands does.
And I think Group D is the real group of Death here.
Here is how my rankings (From the Soccer Blog link in my signature) stack up in the groups. My ranking is more like an ELO Rating (which rates every match a team has played all-time) but is more in the middle because mine is based on the last three "WC cycles" or 12 years.
Group A
Brazil (2)
Mexico (9)
Croatia (15)
Cameroon (42)
Group B
Spain (1)
Netherlands (3)
Australia (19)
Chile (27)
Group C
Japan (13)
Colombia (16)
Ivory Coast (18)
Greece (24)
Group D
England (6)
Italy (11)
Uruguay (14)
Costa Rica (37)
Group E
France (7)
Switzerland (31)
Ecuador (38)
Honduras (45)
Group F
Argentina (5)
Iran (17)
Nigeria (26)
Bosnia-Herzegovina (46)
Group G
Germany (4)
Portugal (8)
United States (10)
Ghana (40)
Group H
Korea Republic (21)
Russia (22)
Belgium (43)
Algeria (69)
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So what I get from this is that Brazil will win A, but second could be a battle. Group B is stacked except that Australia is not as good as the rank they currently have and will be last IMO. Group C is truly evenly matched and any of them could contend in knockouts too. Group D is a three-way murderer's row. Group E is a walk in the park for France as we know, but Switzerland can and have been a thorn in many a-side over the years. Argentina might as well be penciled into the Round of 16 now. Group G is the obvious "Group of Death" as we all know by now. Group H really is that "Other Group" as stated before. Any team could take it, but will any them make a lot of noise???
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The park in front of the goal strategy is appealing and has long been the USA strategy for years...until Klinsmann took over. This is a more attack oriented USA than we'd had for a longtime. This may be our demise against Portugal and Germany. If Altidore, Bradley & Johnson wreak havoc up front this U.S. can challenge anyone in the world but hopefully not allow lethal counter-attacks to flourish in the process. If we get anything from Dempsey it's even stronger. If Donovan even makes the final 23, who knows he could provide another magical moment (i.e. vs. Algeria 2010) but don't hold your breathe. The defensive alignment has had moments where it has shined and shown some consistency with Gonzalez, Evans, and Besler. We have one of the Top 5 keepers in the world too. I'd love to hold a 0:0 or 1:1 draw but don't count the Americans out of a 4:3 shootout as well. I know we'd all cringe seeing if we could keep up with teams in a game like that. Unfortunately I can see us sending guys forward against Germany and find ourselves down 2:0 by the half-hour mark. LOL
That's definitely the strategy for the US to advance. Beat Ghana then park the bus in front of people better than them. Very disappointed that Portugal had to get such a strong group, and btw on Paper the US is both rated higher then Portugal and Ghana in the Fifa rankings.
Also, Chile has a better chance of making the Knockouts then the Netherlands does.
And I think Group D is the real group of Death here.
yes, but personally I don't put much stock into anything FIFA does.
Well to be fair, using Elo and ESPN's SPI rankings yield the same result.
I'll take the ELO and concede that, but let's not pretend like ESPN is credible anymore(their footie coverage is still pretty lawl worthy)
Either way, we know Ghana is much better than their ranking indicates, and Portugal just has quality everywhere. I'd probably personally rank them Germany, US/Portugal, then Ghana. Still a pretty tough group.
POT ONE
Brazil*
Argentina
Colombia
Uruguay
Spain
Germany
Belgium
Switzerland
POT TWO
Japan
Iran
South Korea
Australia
USA
Mexico
Costa Rica
Honduras
POT THREE
Chile**
Ecuador**
Ivory Coast
Ghana
Algeria
Nigeria
Cameroon
France***
POT FOUR
Netherlands
Italy
England
Portugal
Greece
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Croatia
Russia
*Brazil will be placed into Group A
** Chile & Ecuador will not be able to be in the same group as either Brazil, Argentina, Colombia or Uruguay due to the fact they can only be one South American team in each Group
*** France will not be able to to be in the same group as Spain, Germany, Belgium or Switzerland due to the fact FIFA won't allow more than two European teams in each group
If you feel like simulating a draw
http://ultra-zone.net/2014-FIFA-World-Cup-Group-Stage-Draws
In my first draw, the US got Germany, Ghana and England, a group that would be most entertaining if only for the US/England tie
Thoughts? Who you rooting for? Who you got winning(Germany? Italy? Spain?)
Can't wait for the draw. Every simulated group for USA makes me cry in fear. However, any nation would be saying the same thing. There will be no easy wins for the most part. In every group any one of at least three teams can come out of it with no arguments.
If you are a USA fan like me you are praying to get either Switzerland or Belgium from Pot A and Cameroon, Ecuador, Algeria from the Africa pot. The last pot just try to get like a Greece or Bosnia maybe and things could be positive. However this would be like winning the lottery.
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Spain is slipping (soon to be overtaken by Brazil for World #1 in my rankings blog in my Signature) and combine with the fact that Brazil will be at home they are the favorite. Brazil is reloaded as usual with Neymar, Fred, and Hulk (love those names) and they are so fun to watch. Spain will be trying to make one last hurrah for an aging core group that is arguably the best in history.
My darkhorse pick is Colombia and then the USA -- no seriously they are primed for a run; just look at all the bigtime moments they have pulled off in the past year. Win at Italy, win vs Germany, win at Azteca, draw at Azteca in qualifying, draw at Russia, comeback win at Bosnia (when they were the hottest team in the world). Albeit alot of them were friendlies, but they never even came close in those before now.
As a second generation immigrant, I'm rooting for my mother's country, Portugal. I hope they do well, especially after being in the group of death in South Africa and meeting Spain in the first round of the Knockout Stage. I just ran quite a few simulations and outside of this last one, I was fairly happy with all of portugal's draw, coincidentally the Portuguese draw I was least happy with was the American draw I was most happy with. Portugal drew Brazil, Ivory Coast, and Mexico which looks like the hardest out of any group that could be drawn while USA picked up Uruguay, France, and Bosnia Herzgovina which I think America could make it out of rather easily in comparison to other options. There was also an American draw that had Cameroon, Columbia and England in it that I was pleased with.
Yes Brazil is surely the favorite to win the whole thing as I stated. Spain and a couple others like Germany will contend I think. I was merely saying all matches will be competitive. I don't see any 8-0 thrashings being handed out to anyone here like we have had in the previous couple WCs.
As for your Portugal, with Ronaldo anything is possible. What he did putting the team and country on his back vs. Sweden will be remembered by that nation, their fans, and anyone with Portuguese heritage for years to come.
I'm sad that Zlatan won't be there, he's one of my favorite players in the world, I'd much rather Sweden than Portugal(no offense meant to the poster above, just preference of Scandanavian Nations)
I really wish Denmark was in, though this lessens the chance of my two nations playing each other, haha.
Also - I'm not sold on Colombia, at all. I think they almost certainly get ousted in the group stage, unless they get a particularly weak group.
As much faith as I have in our boys, I think making the first knockout stage would be considered a great accomplishment, we still lack quality in some key areas, and while Altidore has been on absolute fire for the National Team, his disappointing form for Sunderland concerns me(as well as his lack of quality time[stupid move by Jozy]) Johannson may overtake his starting slot by World Cup time, as he's looked prime in his few games for the US. It'll be interesting if Gooch manages to get back into the squad.
In Klinsmann we trust!
And no offense taken on wanting to see Zlatan make it over Portugal. He's the best pure striker in the world and has a hell of a personality and it's a true shame that he isn't going to be in the world cup for what might be the last time he'll be participating in international play. If he wasn't against Portugal in qualifying I would have rooted for him to make it a bit harder, but I certainly don't take offense to wanting to see a great player who also happens to always be in the headlines for weird personality issues in the world's greatest soccer tournament
Draw 1
In this one, you can see the US pretty much got a dream pool. I was just going to post this but then did another one:
Yep, a virtual group of death for the US, but one that would at least be a true measure of how the US actually is. I am loving group A though just for the entertainment value.
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Also, I think it'd be interesting for us in the match vs France. While France has immense quality, and a Ballon d'Or candidate in Ribery, I think that if the US were able to impose their physicality on France(assuming we get a non-card happy ref) we could beat France. It's a pipe dream, and a best-case scenario type of thing, but man, escaping with wins against England and France, or England and Uruguay would just be fantastic.
As an American, I don't think either of those draws were great and I actually like the one you called the group of death BETTER than the one you said was an easy draw. Belgium is significantly better than Uruguay, Russia is marginally worse than England, while France and Ecuador are complete wildcards. France played piss poor last time around, looked bad at the last euros and wasn't strong in qualifying, but has a team that looks excellent on paper. Ecuador is a bit unheralded but as a tremendously athletic team that managed to qualify in the Conmebol(and either beat or tied every team if the scores were aggregate besides Argentina). Honestly I might be more worried about an Ecuador squad that is more likely to overachieve than a French squad with the tendency to underachieve. Ideally a team of USA's strength would want Uruguay, the swiss, or Columbia out of Pot 1, anyone beside Chile or Ivory Coast in Pot 3 is fine but Cameroon, Nigeria or Algeria are clearly most favorable, and Pot 4 I think any american fan would just be happy to steer clear of Italy since there aren't any "good draws". Croatia probably being the best draw.
Brazil
Argentina
Colombia
Uruguay
Belgium
Germany
Spain
Switzerland
Pot 2
Algeria
Cameroon
Ivory Coast
Ghana
Nigeria
Chile
Ecuador
Pot 3
Australia
Iran
Japan
South Korea
Costa Rica
Honduras
Mexico
USA
Pot 4
BIH
Croatia
England
France
Greece
Italy
Holland
Portugal
Russia
FIFA ruins this game on a near daily basis. There's going to be a "secondary" pot draw to draw a Pot 4 team into Pot 2, i mean... what?
Also, this means a potential group of Brazil, Italy, USA AND Holland.
Why do I even bother getting excited?
The downside is we get paired against a very strong team in the second round. Portugal and especially Germany are among the top teams. USA might as well not show up by the way, considering Ghana is pretty much their nemesis as well.
Wrong on both predictions I fear.
(Edit: Don't get me wrong, it's obviously a tough group with Italy getting the 'X' spot, but it's not necessarily tougher than Spain/Netherlands/Chile or Germany/Portugal/Ghana groups.
Group B: Spain, Holland, Chile, Australia
Group C: Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast, Japan
Group D: Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy
Group E: Switzerland, Ecuador, France, Honduras
Group F: Argentina, Bosnia, Iran, Nigeria
Group G: Germany, Portugal, Ghana, USA
Group H: Belgium, Algeria, Russia, South Korea
Those are your groups, to absolutely no one's surprise, France and Brasil get easy as pie groups! England the US get handed arguably the toughest. We avoided any true "group of death" but England, Uruguay, Costa Rica and Italy is no cakewalk.
If the US can contain CR7, the Portugese are another run of the mill team, the only issue being if we focus all of our energies on containing CR7, there are still some good players to leave open. It'll be interesting to see.
Oh absolutely, but containing CR7 is going to be our top priority. CR7 has his bad days at the office, but CR7's worst days are still going to be a handful for the US's defence. If Besler and Gonzalez are our centre-halfs going in, they're woefully inexperienced, and I'm not sure if Cherundulo is even coming back to the National Squad at this point. Portugal is far more than CR7, but when it comes to the US Matchup, CR7 is going to run us ragged.
I don't see the US making the knockout stages though. Unless Portugal, Ghana or Germany falter hard, it won't be easy at all.
I would love to draw with Germany, be it 0-0 or 1-1, what have you, a draw against the Germans would just put the US over the moon. Portugal I think is the favorite to go through to the knockout stages, just because they have the quality. Both Ghana and the US have difficulty defending set pieces, and well, you guys are pretty good at those. The US in particular are horrendous at defending set pieces(like seriously guys, don't practice anything except defending set pieces for the next four months). The more I think about it, if the US escape with anything other than 3 losses, I'll be ecstatic. We have the fight in us, the question is, can we slow these games down enough to make it. Beasley is having CR7 nightmares already I reckon.
And must be nice to be France. That group is even easier than they '06 one. Argentina also has a pretty easy way to the second round, as should Brazil.
Group C is the one I have the most trouble predicting - the teams all seem fairly evenly matched to me. It'll be an exciting one.
Group D is also very exciting. There is always a lot of noise and hype around England and Italy, and Uruguay are definitely no slouches either. Costa Rica is well and truly on the outside looking in here.
Also, poor Chile and Australia. I do not see either of them advancing past Spain or the Netherlands. Two very clear favorites there.
Group H is the group "the rest" in my mind, and probably the one I'm the least interested in. However, if Russia can perform like they did in Euro '08, I'll be very excited to follow them along.
It'll be fun
Portugal really depends on what team shows up, but it's basically a Portuguese home game. Germany, yeah good luck. Ghana has our number and they are arguably the best African team because I think the Ivory Coast has taken a slight step back and Nigeria is overrated (but still a strong African side).
I think the only blessing is Ghana is first and despite our history they were close games. We can beat them, and revenge will be on the American minds. We win that and it will set the USA team up for success and if we can repeat 2002 against Portugal we're all set.
Any match in the Round 16 will be downgrade in competition against whatever comes out of Group H, so make it there and the USA can be a quarterfinalist.
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I realize some of my comments are wild, but I am driven by passion right now because I am dis-heartened by how difficult the USA got, but at the same time kind of excied about the opportunity to show the world. One of the biggest fans of International soccer at least in my area of the United States here so this one of the bigger days I get every four years.
Yeah, really the way I see it is that in Group G, it is a race to six. If any team hits 6 points they are in and winning the group. Saying that I don't see the US winning the race. I DO see on the other hand 4 points with a good Goal Diff advancing as well. 5 SHOULD also be a workable number for the US, but I don't see two draws and a win.
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Also, Chile has a better chance of making the Knockouts then the Netherlands does.
And I think Group D is the real group of Death here.
Group A
Brazil (2)
Mexico (9)
Croatia (15)
Cameroon (42)
Group B
Spain (1)
Netherlands (3)
Australia (19)
Chile (27)
Group C
Japan (13)
Colombia (16)
Ivory Coast (18)
Greece (24)
Group D
England (6)
Italy (11)
Uruguay (14)
Costa Rica (37)
Group E
France (7)
Switzerland (31)
Ecuador (38)
Honduras (45)
Group F
Argentina (5)
Iran (17)
Nigeria (26)
Bosnia-Herzegovina (46)
Group G
Germany (4)
Portugal (8)
United States (10)
Ghana (40)
Group H
Korea Republic (21)
Russia (22)
Belgium (43)
Algeria (69)
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So what I get from this is that Brazil will win A, but second could be a battle. Group B is stacked except that Australia is not as good as the rank they currently have and will be last IMO. Group C is truly evenly matched and any of them could contend in knockouts too. Group D is a three-way murderer's row. Group E is a walk in the park for France as we know, but Switzerland can and have been a thorn in many a-side over the years. Argentina might as well be penciled into the Round of 16 now. Group G is the obvious "Group of Death" as we all know by now. Group H really is that "Other Group" as stated before. Any team could take it, but will any them make a lot of noise???
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The park in front of the goal strategy is appealing and has long been the USA strategy for years...until Klinsmann took over. This is a more attack oriented USA than we'd had for a longtime. This may be our demise against Portugal and Germany. If Altidore, Bradley & Johnson wreak havoc up front this U.S. can challenge anyone in the world but hopefully not allow lethal counter-attacks to flourish in the process. If we get anything from Dempsey it's even stronger. If Donovan even makes the final 23, who knows he could provide another magical moment (i.e. vs. Algeria 2010) but don't hold your breathe. The defensive alignment has had moments where it has shined and shown some consistency with Gonzalez, Evans, and Besler. We have one of the Top 5 keepers in the world too. I'd love to hold a 0:0 or 1:1 draw but don't count the Americans out of a 4:3 shootout as well. I know we'd all cringe seeing if we could keep up with teams in a game like that. Unfortunately I can see us sending guys forward against Germany and find ourselves down 2:0 by the half-hour mark. LOL
yes, but personally I don't put much stock into anything FIFA does.
Well to be fair, using Elo and ESPN's SPI rankings yield the same result.
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I'll take the ELO and concede that, but let's not pretend like ESPN is credible anymore(their footie coverage is still pretty lawl worthy)
Either way, we know Ghana is much better than their ranking indicates, and Portugal just has quality everywhere. I'd probably personally rank them Germany, US/Portugal, then Ghana. Still a pretty tough group.