The Reward For Hard Work Means Nothing To FIFA
I'm alive. I don't really have anything funny or new today but I figured I'd transcribe this entry from my LiveJournal about the World Cup seedings that were announced this morning:
Um, fuck. The World Cup seeding this morning went pretty horribly from a United States perspective. The United States got placed in pool four (which for the most part is the third seeds) with the following teams: Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago, and United States
So the good news is that we get to escape Japan and South Korea in the group stage (though a match against Saudi Arabia would have been so nice from a political perspective).
However, the bad news is that we don't necessarily avoid Mexico.
Not that I don't think the United States can beat Mexico in Germany but who wants to play them there unless it's a knockout match?
The problem is that FIFA got their underwear in a bunch about the possibility of having three European teams in the same pool. So they created a pot of death (to be served with breadsticks) with seven of the eight unseeded UEFA qualifiers. The eighth, Serbia & Montenegro, will be placed with Argentina, Brazil, or Mexico automatically.
Pool Three: Croatia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine
Yes, one of those teams is going to be in the same pool as the United States and while I'm hoping for Croatia or Sweden, with the luck of the United States, it will probably be Holland.
Or maybe we'll get to play Poland for the fourth time in four years. :)
All this because the United States missed out on being seeded by one point in the FIFA formula (44 for Italy and Argentina; 43 for the United States).
Of course a big "thank you" (with one finger) goes out to FIFA for deciding to throw out second, third, and fourth seeds in general and grouping by geographical region.
I want to know whose bright idea that was!
What was the point in teams continuing to play at all after they qualified (not that a lot of teams didn't rest their best players anyhow) if there wasn't the golden ring of a two seed at sake?
If anyone complains about weak qualifying groups, they need to point the finger squarely at FIFA and their geographic grouping.
By the way, I just want to say that just because England was ranked number two in the seedings doesn't mean they have an easy road. I just love that the first thing posted about the draw in the premiership community on LiveJournal was:
"So no great surprise, but surely this means that England are amongst the favorites to win the World Cup."
Come on. This is from the same fandom that cried the sky was falling during the entirety of qualifying. What this guy seems to forget is that being seeded in the first round doesn't mean anything when it comes to the second! That's all dictated by your performance on the pitch.
Not to be mean or anything, but I hope that the draw sticks the Czech Republic in England's group for that comment alone. :p
Um, fuck. The World Cup seeding this morning went pretty horribly from a United States perspective. The United States got placed in pool four (which for the most part is the third seeds) with the following teams: Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago, and United States
So the good news is that we get to escape Japan and South Korea in the group stage (though a match against Saudi Arabia would have been so nice from a political perspective).
However, the bad news is that we don't necessarily avoid Mexico.
Not that I don't think the United States can beat Mexico in Germany but who wants to play them there unless it's a knockout match?
The problem is that FIFA got their underwear in a bunch about the possibility of having three European teams in the same pool. So they created a pot of death (to be served with breadsticks) with seven of the eight unseeded UEFA qualifiers. The eighth, Serbia & Montenegro, will be placed with Argentina, Brazil, or Mexico automatically.
Pool Three: Croatia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine
Yes, one of those teams is going to be in the same pool as the United States and while I'm hoping for Croatia or Sweden, with the luck of the United States, it will probably be Holland.
Or maybe we'll get to play Poland for the fourth time in four years. :)
All this because the United States missed out on being seeded by one point in the FIFA formula (44 for Italy and Argentina; 43 for the United States).
Of course a big "thank you" (with one finger) goes out to FIFA for deciding to throw out second, third, and fourth seeds in general and grouping by geographical region.
I want to know whose bright idea that was!
What was the point in teams continuing to play at all after they qualified (not that a lot of teams didn't rest their best players anyhow) if there wasn't the golden ring of a two seed at sake?
If anyone complains about weak qualifying groups, they need to point the finger squarely at FIFA and their geographic grouping.
By the way, I just want to say that just because England was ranked number two in the seedings doesn't mean they have an easy road. I just love that the first thing posted about the draw in the premiership community on LiveJournal was:
"So no great surprise, but surely this means that England are amongst the favorites to win the World Cup."
Come on. This is from the same fandom that cried the sky was falling during the entirety of qualifying. What this guy seems to forget is that being seeded in the first round doesn't mean anything when it comes to the second! That's all dictated by your performance on the pitch.
Not to be mean or anything, but I hope that the draw sticks the Czech Republic in England's group for that comment alone. :p
posted by incendiarymind at 8:13 AM
4 Comments:
The FIFA rankings are a strange and arcane process that I think exists primarily to give the pundits something to talk about. I wouldn't complain about possibly having to face Mexico, though -- I'd rather play them than any of the other top seeds. Of course, it's easy for me to say, considering that my team (Canada) didn't even come close to qualifying as usual.
Hello,
You ask who's bright idea it was it to have FIFA throw out second, third, and fourth seeds in general and grouping by geographical region.
The thing is, there has never been a second, third or fourth pot in any past World Cup. A lot of articles I read yesterday talked about allocating pots by ranking, but that has never been done. And the geo protect goes back at least to 1974. Should it, I don't know, but the answer to your question lies somewhere in 1930.*
Also note that the US cannot meet Mexico in the Group stage because FIFA does not allow 2 teams from the same confederation, except Europe, to play in the same group.
As far as it going horrible for the US, I think it actually went a bit better then I thought it would. In 2002, CONCACAF teams were placed in the same pot with teams from Africa. This time, we are with teams from Asia, meaning we might just end up playing an African team. Since the Asian sides look better then the African ones, this is a plus.
Would things be easier if we were seeded, maybe, but maybe not. If we were seeded we could have ended up with a group with Paraguay, Netherlands and Japan.
*The geo protection use to be even tougher. The rule up till 1994 was that teams that played each other in qualifiers could not play in the same group. So European teams also had some protection.
Just my thoughts.
mike h is correct.
There has never been seeding past the first seeds, and the US can not be put into Mexico's pot. I too like that we will not be seeing an Asia team in our group.
"I hope that the draw sticks the Czech Republic in England's group.."
Nope. We get them.
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