Who is gonna end up in each group?

Explaining Drama Behind World Cup
By ANDREW DAS
Published: December 5, 2013 13 Comments


About the only thing that is certain about Friday’s World Cup draw (11:30 a.m. Eastern) is that the 32 teams will be divided into eight groups of four for the first round, and that none of those groups will be easy to navigate.

In most years, the biggest concern is a team’s being dropped into the hardest first-round matchup, the so-called Group of Death. This time, with the strongest field in memory — 23 of the top 25 teams in the world and every past winner qualified — there will probably be more than enough morbid talk to go around.

The four pots from which the teams will be drawn were announced Tuesday:

POT 1 (SEEDED TEAMS) Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Switzerland and Uruguay

POT 2 (AFRICA/SOUTH AMERICA) Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Chile and Ecuador

POT 3 (ASIA/NORTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA) United States, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Japan and South Korea

POT 4 (EUROPE) Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, England, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Russia.

As fans wait for the draw to begin, here are answers to some questions they might be asking:

What are Switzerland and Colombia doing in the seeded pot?

The seeded teams were set according to the October FIFA world rankings, which since 2006 have attempted to quantify a team’s performance over the previous four years by accounting for strength of schedule and giving more weight to recent results before assigning a rating. With everyone judged by the same mathematical formulas, the results make perfect sense. Or none at all — especially for those who think their team is better than, for example, Switzerland or Colombia, both of which are in Pot 1. (This year, the usual group of aggrieved fans is overwhelmingly Dutch, Italian and English.)

But despite the complaints, neither the Colombians nor the Swiss look to be walkovers for whichever teams are lucky enough to avoid Germany, Spain and Brazil. Colombia finished second in South American qualifying, behind Argentina, and in two recent friendlies it beat Belgium and tied the Netherlands. Switzerland also coasted in qualifying, allowing six goals in 10 games. And until they dropped a largely meaningless friendly in South Korea in November, the Swiss had not lost a game in a year and a half. Be careful what you wish for.

Why are the pots uneven?

This imbalance will be the first thing sorted out Friday. The main complication of the draw every four years is how to scatter the European teams — which account for more than a third of the field — among the various groups. This year, there are nine unseeded European teams. Before Friday’s draw, one will be randomly selected to join the African teams and the two unseeded South American squads in Pot 2. That will be a dangerous position, since the odd team out is guaranteed another European opponent out of Pot 4 but also has a 50-50 chance of drawing either Argentina or Brazil from the seeded pot.

In past years, that potentially difficult position would have gone to the lowest-seeded team from Europe. This year, that would be France, which clearly benefits from a random draw rather than an automatic placement into that precarious spot.

The decision to go with chance over precedent, announced only this week, rankled some in Europe (again, predominantly the Dutch, the Italians and the English) who assert that FIFA rewrote the rules as a favor to the powerful UEFA president, the former French star Michel Platini. He has pushed back against that insinuation, saying that he offered to leave the room when the decision was made but was told to stay. “I am not the only Frenchman in FIFA,” he said, in what was surely a curious defense.

Any other intrigue to watch for?

The United States is a victim of circumstance this time around, since the four teams from its region were grouped with the four Asian qualifiers. That means it has five of the six lowest-ranked teams in the field — Honduras (41), Iran (45), Japan (48), South Korea (54), Australia (59) — in its pot, and therefore cannot be drawn against any of them. In fact, the Americans, at No. 14, are clearly the best team in Pot 3. For once, that means most European countries are hoping to avoid them.

Other than that, the only gymnastics fans can expect will be those required to ensure that no more than two European teams are in any group. If a third is drawn, it will be placed in the first available spot that avoids that.

Are opponents the teams’ biggest worry?

Yes and no. Of course, if you are United States Coach Jurgen Klinsmann, a potential group of Colombia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Greece looks a lot better than one of Brazil, the Netherlands and Ghana. But the location of a team’s three first-round games could be just as big an obstacle. Brazil is the fifth-largest country in the world by area, and it could comfortably fit the three previous World Cup hosts — South Africa; Germany; and Japan and South Korea — within its borders. A result is that teams could face arduous travel in the first round from their home bases to matches in far-flung cities.

For example, the top seed in Group D will have to cover almost 3,000 miles hopscotching to games in Fortaleza and Natal in the north and São Paulo in the south. The top seed in group H, meanwhile, will get the much simpler task of ferrying between the comparatively nearby cities of Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo — three trips that in total cover less than 500 miles. Add in temperature variations and varying numbers of rest days, and it is clear, as England Manager Roy Hodgson noted this week, that it could be more important where a team plays than whom it plays.

GROUP A

1. Brazil
2. Croatia
3. Mexico
4. Cameroon

GROUP B

1. Spain
2. Netherlands
3. Chile
4. Australia

GROUP C

1. Colombia
2. Greece
3. Cote D'Ivoire
4. Japan

GROUP D

1. Uruguay
2. Costa Rica
3. England
4. Italy

GROUP E

1. Switzerland
2. Ecuador
3. France
4. Honduras

GROUP F

1. Argentina
2. Bosnia-Hercegovina
3. Iran
4. Nigeria

GROUP G

1. Germany
2. Portugal
3. Ghana
4. USA

GROUP H

1. Belgium
2. Algeria
3. Russia
4. Korea Republic

omfg England

I don't follow football but even I know this is bad for us.

England are ****ed

not my country against brazil in the first game

USA are Doa too smfh, Germany, Portugal, and Ghana are far superior.... Praying for miracles

GROUP A
Brazil
Croatia
Mexico
Cameroon

Mexico might make it past round 1, but they've been in the dumpster lately as a team.

GROUP G
Germany
Portugal
Ghana
USA

Poor US, I don't think they stand a chance against these teams. Portugal will dominate this group, and maybe Germany will make it to the second round. I never underestimate Ghana though.

Germany? They're playing Portugal first.

ddd

I mean croatia. I only live in germany, but I'm croatian

Colombia is ranked in the top 5 how dare u talk crap about dem ... they deserve to be a top seed


now my poor Gringos ... dios santo what group of death ugh

Our first game is in the Amazon rainforest.



It's being aired here in the UK at 2am in the morning.

Woof This is gonna be rough for us BUT IM SO EXCITED

I dint talk about Colombia,it's an article sweetie

Ohh, sorry

Countries who are going through from group stage.
BRA/MEX SP/NED COTE/GRE URU/ITA FRA/ECU ARG/NIG GER/GHA ALG/RUS.

some of these matchups are the definition of

Spain vs Netherlands. Ahahahaha Spain is screwed.

Costa Rica

The qualifiers are so obvious in 70% of the groups.
I'm stanning for Croatia, Greece and B&H because my country isn't competing again
Also poor England