France, Portugal, Ukraine, Greece, Romania, Iceland, Sweden and Croatia are the European unfortunates, so good news for Spurs fans with only Lloris and Gylfi Sig from the 1st team having the extra travel and gametime these (unecessary imo, but thats another thread) matches create. Vlad is with Romania of course, but that won't affect life too much at Spurs though while the rest of the team enjoy a quiet International Break from Nov. 10th after we play Toon. 2 weeks then to prepare for Man City at the Etihad who are first up after break on Sun 24th! Christian Eriksens Denmark did finish second but because there are 9 European groups, they dip out as the 'worst 2nd place team'...for want of a better description. Good for us, bad for him! Around the rest of the World, Uruguay end up playing Jordan and New Zealand play Mexico. The African groups are decided today, but all these have no effect on Spurs really. The dates for the Play-offs are Nov 15th and 19th.
We may not have many playing in the play-offs, but there will be many other Friendlies, so our Internationals are still at risk. England are supposedly playing Germany (Townsend v Holtby possibly) and Argentina (Townsend v Lamela).
The play-offs are interesting this time around... Seeded teams: Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Ukraine Unseeded teams: France, Iceland, Romania, Sweden Last time there was an outcry when seedings were based solely based on FIFA World Ranking which, coincidentally, meant the big teamns (France, Portugal, Russia...and Greece) wouldn't play each other so the minnows (Ukraine, Ireland, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovakia) were supposed to turn up, roll over, and go home - although someone forgot to send the memo to Slovakia or Ireland, given Slovakia turned over Russia whilst the French had to resort to underhanded tactics (pun intended) to overcome Ireland. Given that Portugal, Croatia, Greece and Sweden (as well as Denmark) all rank ahead of France in the current World Rankings, that wouldn;t be possible. So expect some other kind of jiggery pokery to happen closer to the draw...
Denmark are extremely unfortunate to be out, especially as two of the other groups seemed to lack a big side, whilst Spain and France ended up in the same one. Group E and Group G were both very weak, but I think the former edges it. Switzerland, Iceland, Slovenia, Norway, Albania and Cyprus? Really? How did that happen? Sigurdsson's country will be the smallest to every qualify for a finals if they make it through, apparently. This was the squad's reaction when they heard they had made the play-offs: [video=youtube;uO98gFFrsNs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO98gFFrsNs[/video]
I suppose that FIFA being based in Switzerland and Blatter being Swiss are purely coincidental to Switzerland getting such an easy grouping?....
Apparently the top pot for the World Cup is likely to be Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Colombia, Uruguay (Holland, if Uruguay fail to beat Jordan). Potentially leaving Italy, England, Portugal, Holland, Croatia and France in another pot(s). Could be shaping up for some extremely competitive group stages for a change and a potentially brilliant competition.
While I'd rather Gylfi not have to play, I have gotten a little swept up in the all the enthusiasm over a nation exactly the size of my city (320,000) getting into the playoffs. My ideal world would be Iceland knocking out Croatia, as I may have mentioned. It seems a man who wears a cockerel on his shirt has a lifetime knack for hitting the woodwork. We saw Townsend last night, we know all too well Gylfi's seemingly uncanny knack, (not to mention Bale's to kick off last year), we've seen the stats which confirm our suspicions, and now I've found out the man, the myth, the legend, Helder Postiga, hit wood five times in leading Portugal to their WC qualifying best of 13.
It's based on the world rankings due to be released tomorrow (I think). Apparently Italy drawing their last two qualifiers meant that they've dropped below Switzerland who've been unbeaten throughout qualifiers and recently friendlies. Colombia were 5th in the last rankings and have done well in recent matches so stay in the top eight. I think there's a scenario where France could end up in the 3rd pot which seems crazy, I guess due to the fact they've had less qualifiers to build up points and defeat to Spain in the group. Strange how they work it out, but could make for some cracking games.
Seedings based on current rankings is dubious. Does anyone really think Switzerland are better than Holland? These rankings are bunkum because the teams are not playing the same opponents. You might feel aggrieved if you are playing Brazil, Argentina, Colombia & Uruguay once in every ten games rather than middle or lower ranking European sides like Iceland, Albania, Cyprus, Slovenia and Norway (as in Switzerland's case) .
We've never been better than Brazil on the pitch in a competitive game, all bar one friendly too that I can think of, but a few years ago they were'nt even in the top 10 I think it was, while we were!!??
Switzerland certainly not. Colombia's reasonable, though I'd say Chile's more deserving. Spain were lucky to get a draw at home in a game Chile dominated. Colombia only got a draw at home because the officials robbed Chile. I could come up with a better WC qualifying system and a better seeding system in about a minute and a half, as could just about anyone else, I think. What says it all is that nations sink in the rankings for winning friendlies. I don't understand how anyone as corrupt as FIFA could also be so idiotic.
All very true, RWAEB. Friendlies shouldn't have any influence on the rankings at all. Ludicrous concept.
Not fair if you are hosting the next tournament. A way has to be found to give Brazil a proper ranking, not right they are sliding down without the chance to turn it around.
Aren't the hosts seeded for the tournament anyway? Simply remove them from the rankings entirely and replace them when it's over at the same position.
