1PM Mountain: I suppose if I wanted people to read this I should have announced it ahead of time. Ah, well. If you happen to wander by in the next hour you'll want to refresh your browser to keep this post current.
Anyway, here's how it works. The 32 teams that qualified over the last two years will be drawn into eight groups. Each group will contain one top seed, those being Brazil, Germany, England, Spain, Mexico, France, Argentina and Italy.
The US didn't get a top seed in spite of finishing ahead of Mexico in qualifying.
1:10 While ESPN interviews Damarcus Beasley I'll remind you of the top ten worldwide rankings according to FIFA:
1 Brazil 2 Czech Republic 3 Netherlands 4 Argentina 5 France 6 Spain 7 Mexico 8 USA 9 England 10 Portugal
I can imagine some Limeys are quite galled about being ranked behind the US. Yay.
1:16 Highlights on the tube of US qualifying matches. US over Mex 2-0 back in Sept. First place finish in the North, Central America and Carribean region.
The importance of this draw today is the nature of the competition in the 1st round of the WC. Each group of four teams plays a round robin. Only the top two in each advance to the 16 team playoff. If your country is drawn into a tough group your chances of advancing diminish greatly... For instance, The Czech Rep and the Netherlands aren't seeded. Whichever group they are in will likely see them and the top seed advance. The other two teams will be in tough shape even before the event begins.
1:25 Marcelo Balboa says the US has a chance to win the whole thing. I think Germany has to be considered a favorite even with the lowly 16th world ranking, because of home advantage. Brazil of course, another. One of the things that make WC competition interesting is international parity. A dozen different teams might win. Other team sports don't have that.
1:35 ESPN dude - I forget his name - says Spain or France would be favorable top seed opponents for the US. I want France! But as someone already noted, there are no easy games in the Cup.
1:39 Can we get this started? At least show us the ceremonies from Leipzig. I hear Heidi Klum is MC...
1:40 Cobi Jones, ex US Star, has one of 12 spots on the draw stage. Nice.
1:45 First seeds are assigned, fun starts in a few seconds
1:47 England will open against Paraguay. Good for them.
1:50 Australia finds Brazil's group! Tough, tough.
1:52 Going quickly now that it's started. Group C so far Argentina, Ivory Coast and The Netherlands. Hope the US isn't the fourth...
2:02 North Am draw coming up?
2:03 It's Costa Rica against Germany! Poland and Ecuador in that group A, too.
2:05 USA is in group E with Italy, Ghana and The Czech Repub.
2:07 Not bad for the US, but not easy. Italy not one of the better top seeds, ranked only #12 in the world. The Czechs, though, are ranked #2. ESPN talkers are calling it the toughest group, with three of the top 12 in the world. (US being # 8). Look out Italy, we're coming for you!
2:16 Here's the final draw:
Group A Germany, Costa Rica, Poland, Ecuador
Group B England, Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago, Sweden
Group C Argentina, Ivory Coast, Netherlands, Serbia & Montenegro
Group D Mexico, Iran, Angola, Portugal
Group E Italy, Ghana, USA, Czech Repub.
Group F Brazil, Croatia, Australia, Japan
Group G France, Switzerland, South Korea, Togo
Group H Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia
Mexico, Brazil, Spain, and Germany have favorable draws, the US much tougher. That's the difference between being a top seed and being one of the crowd.
2:27 US games will be as follows:
-vs the Czech Republic June 12 in Gelsenkirchen.
-vs Italy June 17 in Kaiserslautern
-vs Ghana June 22 in Nuremburg.
If anyone would care to buy my some airline tickets I would be forever grateful. Otherwise I'll be watching on TV here Stateside. We'll have to start planning the parties now.
Posted by Walter at December 9, 2005 01:08 PMUSA!
Posted by: Fan at December 9, 2005 01:23 PM"Ah, well. If you happen to wander by in the next hour...."
Speaking as one, I have no idea if you're talking about the Madonna video I happen to be listening to ((I have no excuse), or about sports, or what.
Whether this is poker, or miniature golf, or ass*f*cking, or swimming, or what, I have no idea. All I get from your description is that there are seeds and draws, which are commonplace among "sports."
I guess people who follow sports enjoy that sort of thing. Cool.
Matching numbers against numbers can be interesting. I tend to find it more interesting in science, but whatever.
Yes, I literally have no idea what you are talking about. Vollyball? Nascar?
I guess it involves kids against kids. Though.
I tend to pay more attention to what they've done in science class. I wish more people did.
Posted by: Gary Farber at December 9, 2005 03:30 PM Gary. It's. The. World. Cup.
It's the biggest sporting event in the world. I would expect someone who has no clue about cultures outside our national boundaries would not be aware of this event, but you? I expect more from you.
Sorry I didn't know you were doing this in advance, Walter! Good stuff. So, on to the traditional question: Which is the grupo de muerte? I nominate Group C, although I'm not sure Ivory Coast will be that tough.
Posted by: Colorado Luis at December 9, 2005 04:57 PMIt's gotta be E according to the rankings. Every other group has one or two top teams, except E, with Italy, the US, and the Czechs. At least one of those will fail to make the second round.
Unless, like many Europeans, you think the US is overrated.
One of the fun things about this is it never works out as expected. There will be upsets and the group of death might be some other that looks tame right now.
Posted by: Walter at December 9, 2005 08:27 PMI can go with that. I don't think the USA is overrated. However, I probably was vulnerable to thinking that by definition the group with the USA in it can't be the group of death.
For the record, though, I'm not complaining that Mexico got a top seed and the US didn't. They're going on historical World Cup records and we finished last in the field in France '98. We will be in good shape for a top seed in South Africa 2010.
Posted by: Colorado Luis at December 10, 2005 10:25 AM