hoya9797
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 4,219
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Post by hoya9797 on Dec 3, 2009 14:55:40 GMT -5
Group A with South Africa is going to be rigged with one of France, Mexico, or the US (huge long shot) getting drawn and getting a de facto seeded position. It sucks that CONCACAF wasn't put in the pot with the African teams. That would have given us a 1 in 3 shot at getting drawn with South Africa and avoiding a group of death. As it stands, I think another group of death looms for the American side.
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hoya9797
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 4,219
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Post by hoya9797 on Dec 4, 2009 13:28:07 GMT -5
Both France and Mexico got drawn into Group A. But, the US got a great draw in Group C with England, Algeria, and Slovenia. They have to be a favorite to advance.
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Jack
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,411
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Post by Jack on Dec 4, 2009 13:33:56 GMT -5
Brilliant draw for the US. The England match will be fun, then, regardless of outcome, take care of business and advance. Some odd teams will make it past the group stages- who do you like from Paraguay, New Zealand, and Slovakia? How did the Azzuri get such a draw?
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gutuna
Bulldog (over 250 posts)
Posts: 339
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Post by gutuna on Dec 4, 2009 14:08:04 GMT -5
Excellent draw. I couldn't have asked for more. I also love getting a crack at England who have been the weakest 'major' world team for almost two decades.
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hifigator
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,387
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Post by hifigator on Dec 4, 2009 14:25:14 GMT -5
Answer a question for a relative novice. I know that the 4 team pools play round robin with the top 2 teams from each pool advancing. I also know that in the event of a tie, they are broken with some strange goal differential formula. But how exactly are the pools determined? Obviously, from reading this thread there is some version of a blind draw, but is it that simple? Are certain teams seeded and then others drawn after that or are all teams thrown into a hat to begin with?
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theexorcist
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Post by theexorcist on Dec 4, 2009 14:50:08 GMT -5
Answer a question for a relative novice. I know that the 4 team pools play round robin with the top 2 teams from each pool advancing. I also know that in the event of a tie, they are broken with some strange goal differential formula. But how exactly are the pools determined? Obviously, from reading this thread there is some version of a blind draw, but is it that simple? Are certain teams seeded and then others drawn after that or are all teams thrown into a hat to begin with? The top eight are seeded based on previous performance. After that, teams get thrown into three pools ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_seeding shows them as Asia/North America, Europe, and Africa/South America. Teams also can't get someone else in their qualifying region. This is why the assumption was that the US was going to get a bad draw, because they were paired with Asia (middling Japan and South Korea and the weak North Koreans), Oceania (New Zealand), and the other CONACAF teams - meaning that they couldn't draw any of those teams. After that, it's a blind draw - you pick one from Group A, one from Group B, and one from Group C to put into a seeded team's group. The potential negative of this is that, in theory, you can get the top seed for the tourney (let's say Brazil) and the best teams from the other regions (let's say the US, Nigeria, and Portugal) all thrown in the same group.
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Dec 4, 2009 15:00:44 GMT -5
Great draw for the US. Crappy draw for the hosts. Is DKR's presence in the group of death a part of sanctions against them?
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Dec 4, 2009 15:12:54 GMT -5
Brilliant draw for the US. The England match will be fun, then, regardless of outcome, take care of business and advance. Some odd teams will make it past the group stages- who do you like from Paraguay, New Zealand, and Slovakia? How did the Azzuri get such a draw? Agree the England match will be a lot of fun for both sides. Great way to kick off 2010 for the United States. The Worldwide Leader tells me we've lost our last two friendlies against England by scores of 2-1 and 2-0. I can't remember those matches at all. How'd we play? After England, I really expect the team to take care of business. The memory of 2006 should spur solid and consistent play for the United States.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Dec 4, 2009 15:31:29 GMT -5
As my three favorite teams are the US, England and Italy, I didn't want to see any of them in the same group, but this actually works out pretty well.
As has been noted both those teams should be able to take care of business against the other two opponents, so this fist match (again) should be more about placement in the round of 16 -- granted, very important -- than who gets to advance.
Jack, all I can say about the Azzurri is God loves the Italians.
It will be weird not seeing #7 though. Come onnnnn....call him UP!!!! (he's only 35, after all)
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Post by redskins12820 on Dec 4, 2009 16:44:15 GMT -5
Great draw for the US. Crappy draw for the hosts. Is DKR's presence in the group of death a part of sanctions against them? Yeah I'm waiting for the conspiracy theories to start on this one. U.S. gets a great draw, but N. Korea gets put in the hardest draw imaginable? What can I say, Obama's still got that popularity abroad
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hifigator
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,387
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Post by hifigator on Dec 4, 2009 17:01:05 GMT -5
Thanks exorcist. I knew there was some regionality to it as well as some draw factor, but I wasn't sure of the details. So is England the seeded team in our bracket, and presumably the team along with U.S. most likely to advance? Also, what's the difference between "winning" the bracket and coming in second? In high school football, the winner and runner up of each district advance to the state playoffs -- with the key being that a district winner will always host a district runner up from another district. What's the prize for winning the bracket in this case? Is it simply being paired against an "easier" foe?
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whatmaroon
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 819
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Post by whatmaroon on Dec 4, 2009 18:11:45 GMT -5
The 2-1 game was played at Soldier Field in '05. I vaguely remember following it on MatchTracker online, but couldn't watch it.
The 2-0 loss was at Wembley, I believe, as part of the Spain/England/Argentina (@giants Stadium) stretch. I believe that was Josh Wolff's last start at forward at anything resembling an A-level full national team match, which should tell you all you need to know. I want to say Donovan didn't play and the U.S. came nowhere close to scoring a goal. Really, two teams that played a similar sort of hoofing style, only England had the better player at about every position, often by a large margin.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Dec 4, 2009 18:46:12 GMT -5
Also, what's the difference between "winning" the bracket and coming in second? Whether or not you have to play Germany in the Round of 16, that's the difference.
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by The Stig on Dec 4, 2009 19:11:55 GMT -5
If England lose to us, they're going to get the biggest roasting ever seen from their home media. This could be a lot of fun.
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