Mates, the World Cup is almost upon
us...well not really, but the World Cup draw most certainly is; December 7 AEST to be exact. The four Pots are ready, and Mr Batter has been polishing his
little balls in frantic preparation for his favourite players, managers and
supermodels to pull them out (of the pots) come Saturday morning (SBS 1, 2:45AM - 5:00AM). There will no need
for sledging to make this event a tantalising spectacle, but just in case,
Aussie 'perhaps to be Captain', Lucas Neil has been warming up on his own fans if the moment
arises and Australia (Pot 4) is drawn with England (Pot 2). Chances are the
Green and Gold will get Brazil ,
Italy , and France , which would not be a pleasant experience
for any Frenchman - forget about the 6-0 in Paris
Whatever happens next Saturday morning, Football4Mates will be there on June
12, 2014 to launch another Word Cup tipping competition. So while Sepp and friends will be playing around with those little balls on December 7, you don't have to worry because F4M will be back .....I cannot believe it's been almost four years already. If your up for the glory, or humiliation, you'll no doubt be joining in the usual excitement in tuning into games that
would otherwise not raise an eyebrow outside their respective...communities e.g.
Algeria vs Honduras. Oh yeah, bring it on.
In the meantime, you can play around with this groovey simulator that was created by the team at ESPN which displays the Group Seedings for the draw. Enjoy!
In the meantime, you can play around with this groovey simulator that was created by the team at ESPN which displays the Group Seedings for the draw. Enjoy!
This is most likely how the draw pots will shakeout, although any polite rebukes are welcome:
ReplyDeleteWorld Cup draw (place in FIFA ranking in brackets):
POT 1: 1. Brazil (11) 2. Spain (1) 3. Germany (2) 4. Argentina (3) 5. Colombia (4) 6. Belgium (5) 7. Uruguay (6) 8. Switzerland (7)
These will be drawn normally. These teams will be drawn from first.
POT 2: 25. USA (13) 26. Mexico (24) 27. Costa Rica (31) 28. Honduras (34) 29. Japan (44) 30. Iran (49) 31. South Korea (56) 32. Australia (57)
These will be drawn normally. These teams will be drawn from second.
POT 3: 17. Chile (12) 18. Ivory Coast (17) 19. France (21) 20. Ecuador (22) 21. Ghana (23) 22. Algeria (32) 23. Nigeria (33) 24. Cameroon (59)
POT 3 will be divided into three 'sub pots'. France will be placed in one, and Ecuador and Chile will be placed in the second. The five African balls will be placed in the third 'middle' bowl. stirred up, and then the five African balls will be placed randomly into the other two bowls one at a time, until the other two bowls have four balls in each of them.
The first (French) bowl will only be drawn from to fill Groups with Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, or Uruguay. The second pot will only be drawn from to fill the groups with Spain, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.
POT 4: 9. Netherlands (8) 10. Italy (9) 11. England (14) 12. Portugal (14) 13. Greece (15) 14. Bosnia and Herzegovina (16) 15. Croatia (18) 16. Russia (19)
This usually is drawn from last, as the round robin for the groups determine who in the first pot will play against for the last game of the groups' stage. And he schedule is mainly 'Pot' 1 vs 'Pot' 2. 'Pot' 1 vs 'Pot' 3, and 'Pot' 1 vs 'Pot' 4. With the exception of Croatia, and Russia, these teams are all in the top sixteen of the FIFA World Rankings from October.