Friday, December 4, 2009

Analyzing the World Cup draw

1st, for those not amongst the 200 million in the TV audience, here are the groupings:

Group A
South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B
Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece
Group C
England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D
Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Group E
The Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F
Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G
Brazil, Korea DPR, Cote D'Ivoire, Portugal
Group H
Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

Group A:
OUCH! A tough group for the South Africans if they want to advance to the knock out stage, with only Uruguay being seen as a (relatively) weak squad. Mexico and France should fight it out for the group win, especially as they meet June 11th.

Group B:
Probably the softest group in the whole tournament, Argentina should have very little trouble winning.

Group C:
For Team USA, it's a very good group to be placed in, with the weakest African squad and the weakest European squad in the field. Only England could pose problems, but most experts agree that they're the weakest of the top seeds(outside of South Africa, rated 86th in the world by FIFA).

Group D:
This is a relatively balanced group with Germany looking like the favorite 6 months out. Australia, Ghana and Serbia will more that likely fight it out for 2nd.

Group E:
In terms of toughness, I believe this group will be the toughest to predict. All four teams could win it, or finish last. But it should go to the Netherlands, with Denmark, Cameroon and Japan close behind.

Group F:
Italy, the current holders, will have their toughest match against Paraguay right off the bat. Handling New Zealand and Slovakia should be a breeze for the Forza Azzuri.

Group G:
This is no group of death, it's the Group of Ultimate Death. For Brazil, one of the favorites, if not the favorite, it will be a difficult task to get out of group play, what with the strongest Pot 3 squad(Cote D'Ivoire) and one of the strongest Pot 4 squads(Portugal) in this group. One thing is for certain, Korea DPR is a 3 and done team. In fact, they may not be able to score any goals.

Group H:
In contrast to the Brazilians, the other major favorite, Spain, has a benign group to conquer. The fly in the ointment could be Honduras, who gave the USA a tough fight during their 2 CONCACF qualifiers.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Potology-The FIFA World Cup Draw projections

Yep, I had to do it. I just HAD to do a post on soccer. And the contents of that post, you ask? Well, it's an invitation to draw up projected groups for next year's FIFA World Cup. 1st off. here are the pots as drawn up by FIFA:

Pot A(Host country, plus top 7 seeds)
South Africa, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain

Pot B(Asia, North America and Oceania)
Australia, Honduras, Japan, Korea DPR, Korean Republic, Mexico, New Zealand, United States

Pot C(Africa and South America)
Algeria, Cameroon, Chile, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Paraguay, Uruguay

Pot D(Europe)
Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland

Noting the restrictions in place, I came up with this draw:

UPDATE(12:03 PM CT): This is the revised version, to comply with FIFA rules.

Group A
South Africa, New Zealand, Uruguay, Portugal
Group B
Brazil, Algeria, Korean Republic, Slovenia
Group C
Italy, Cote D'Ivoire, Slovakia, Australia
Group D
The Netherlands, Denmark, Cameroon, Korea DPR
Group E
Argentina, Japan, France, Nigeria
Group F
Germany, Chile, United States, Serbia
Group G
Spain, Switzerland, Mexico, Paraguay
Group H
England, Ghana, Honduras, Greece

If you want to make your own draw, please do so in the comments section of this post. Your entry must be submitted by Noon ET on Friday to count.

Note the following restrictions that are in place for group play:
South Africa will play in Group A and will not face an African team. Argentina and Brazil will not face a South American team.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Yeah, I'm bored

So I'm going to ask you a question. Who's the best conference thus far.