Fifa's latest world rankings confirms who pot each team will be in and who is seeded and who is not for the 2014 tournament. Brazil being host makes them an automatic seeded team and therefore be in pot 1, even though they are not in the top 8 of the Fifa rankings. This means the top 7 teams in the rankings who have qualified for the WC will get the other 7 seeded spots along with hosts Brazil and be in pot 1. Here is the current Fifa rankings, ranked 1 - 7 who will be in pot 1 01 Spain 02 Germany 03 Argentina 04 Colombia 05 Belgium 06 Uruguay 07 Switzerland England will have to face in the group stages at Brazil one of these teams. Uruguay have not yet qualified as they have a play off game to play (against Jordan). If Uruguay fail to qualify then 8th placed in the rankings - Netherlands - will become a seeded team in their place. But realistically Uruguay should beat Jordan so Netherlands would be unseeded and be in pot 2. In pot 2 (11th seed is Brazil who is in poot 1 as they are host nation) 08 Netherlands 09 Italy 10 England 12 Chile 13 USA 14 Portugal 15 Greece 16 Bosnia-Herzegovina Portugal and Greece have not yet qualified. They are both in the play offs. If they both win then they will get put in pot 2. If one fail to qualify then 17th ranked team Ivory Coast would fall into pot 2. If both fail to qualify then Ivory coast and 18th ranked team Croatia would fall into pot 2 but Croatia still has to qualify yet and they are also in the play offs. Lets say both Portugal and Greece qualify. Pot 3 and 4 is just too difficult to pick the teams for each pot as still many teams yet to qualify. However pot 3 could have the likes of Ivory Coast, Croatia, Russia, Ukraine, France, Ecuador, Ghana, Mexico, Sweden, Romania and Costa Rica. There also would be a couple strong sides in pot 4 too along with some more easier teams. Japan and South Korea could be hard but Australia, Honduras and Iran should be more easier. There will be more group of death's than normal. Worse group for me for England would be getting from... Pot 1: Germany Pot 3: France Pot 4: South Korea Best group for me for England would be getting from... Pot 1: Switzerland Pot 3: Romania Pot 4: Iran I am looking forward to it though!
As the expectation is far more realistic and the press bandwagon has not started (yet) to hype up our chances as in previous tournaments, we (the unwashed) will get a chance to enjoy the England matches, whoever they are up against. Like most of us would prefer that we are not in a a so called group of death, however as we are unseeded we are not going to be in a weak group, that may be a positive thing. continuing to dampen down the press hype and our personal views of progressing past the group stages. Instead of we might be View attachment 26985 I am looking forward to the tourno as well CJ, perhaps for a change,we will all enjoy a beer or three as the tension and expectation, experienced watching previous England teams makes it a hide behind the sofa moment Perhaps It will take some not all of the immense pressure our players are under when they play international matches which is not a bad thing. COR
I'm not sure whether that Pot 2 is correct. normally they are split into regions with the remaining European teams in one, Africa/South America/Oceania in another and Asia/North america in the other, and if there is a 'spare' European team, like Serbia in 2006, they are in a special pot. Unless the method has been changed...
