So who do we want in our World Cup group?

[DaGaffer]

Now that England have been ranked second in the world..., who do we fancy in the qualifying rounds? The pots are:

World Cup draw

Pot One: Germany (hosts), Brazil (champions), Italy, France, Argentina, Spain, Mexico, England

Pot Two: Australia, Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Tunisia, Ecuador, Paraguay

Pot Three: Croatia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine

Pot Four: Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago, United States

Special pot: Serbia-Montenegro

Australia, (we owe the 'Socceroos' one) Switzerland and Trinidad & Tobago would do nicely thanks


NB. Can't believe Mexico and Spain got the nod over the Dutchies and Portugal as seeds.

 

[JingleBells]

NB. Can't believe Mexico and Spain got the nod over the Dutchies and Portugal as seeds.

I believe it's done on recent qualifying and world cup performance (and possibly the moon phase). The dutch weren't at the last world cup (portugal and ireland pipping them in qualification), and WC2002 was Portugal's first world cup in a long time. Spain have been to every world cup since 82 at least (cba checking any later), and Mexico last failed to make an appearance in 1990.

I think England are second because we've only missed 1 tournament in 20 years, 1994 (thank you Mr. Turnip), and we've averaged reaching the 1/4er finals (taking 86 - 02) which is at least a top 8 place in the seeds.

As for the best group, I'd like Togo, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia (remember their 8-0 thrashing in 02 )

 

[DaGaffer]

I believe it's done on recent qualifying and world cup performance (and possibly the moon phase). The dutch weren't at the last world cup (portugal and ireland pipping them in qualification), and WC2002 was Portugal's first world cup in a long time. Spain have been to every world cup since 82 at least (cba checking any later), and Mexico last failed to make an appearance in 1990.

I think England are second because we've only missed 1 tournament in 20 years, 1994 (thank you Mr. Turnip), and we've averaged reaching the 1/4er finals (taking 86 - 02) which is at least a top 8 place in the seeds.

As for the best group, I'd like Togo, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia (remember their 8-0 thrashing in 02 )

I know how its done, but it kind of makes a farce of the FIFA world rankings doesn't it? Plus, while Mexico and Spain have qualified for loads of World Cups, they've done fuck all when they got there. TBH the Dutch deserve the ranking more than England do; you could also make an argument for Czechs, and frankly I hope we don't get either in the group stage.

 

[JingleBells]

I know how its done, but it kind of makes a farce of the FIFA world rankings doesn't it? Plus, while Mexico and Spain have qualified for loads of World Cups, they've done fuck all when they got there. TBH the Dutch deserve the ranking more than England do; you could also make an argument for Czechs, and frankly I hope we don't get either in the group stage.

The FIFA rankings ARE a farce, USA are above England and Portugal, and there is no way teams like Sudan and Libya are better than Northern Ireland, yet the rankings say they are. USA and Mexico are going to be in the top 10 for a long time as they are always going to beat the lil islands in their qualifying groups.

 

[Bodhi]

I'd quite like Brazil, Argentina and Italy in your group, but thanks to the facist sassenachs at FIFA you can't have any of them, so I'm going for Ghana, The Czech Republic and South Korea.

 

[Ormorof]

so England ends up with Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago, and Sweden

all in all none of the groups look too challenging for the top teams (seem to be able to identify the 2 "top" teams in all groups)

should be an intresting world cup anyway

(very much looking forward to Italy vs Czech Republic anyway )

 

[Nedo]

As a Swede im happy to get england from "group" 1. Rest of teams are whole lot more scary to face.

Think Paraguay may be a nasty one for both Sweden and England though. Took alot of points vs the hard opponents in their qualifiers (Brazil and Argentina both lost points vs Para)

 

[DaGaffer]

As a Swede im happy to get england from "group" 1. Rest of teams are whole lot more scary to face.

Think Paraguay may be a nasty one for both Sweden and England though. Took alot of points vs the hard opponents in their qualifiers (Brazil and Argentina both lost points vs Para)

"No easy games at this level" etc. etc. but the general view is that Paraguay don't travel well (England beat them 4-0 a couple of years ago). Barring huge fuck-ups it will be England and Sweden vying for the group win in that last game, and it will be an important game because the runner-up will probably face Germany in the next round...

The Arentina/Holland group will probably the most interesting group for 'neutrals'.

 

[Nedo]

ye would prefer Poland (if I look at that group right) then Germany in round after group thats for sure. Sweden is to injury dependant though. If some of the key players are injured we have nooooooooooooooothing to replace em with.

 

[ECA]

England never seem to do particularly well against the swedes, maybe we would be better playing potatoes.

 

[Nedo]

England is better if you take player by player, Sweden is better if you put em all 11 in same team Prolly a matter of not being possible with 11 people considering themselves THE star in same team imo