<p>Can’t say that the USA had much luck in this draw:</p>
<p>[2014</a> FIFA World Cup Brazil? - Final Draw - FIFA.com](<a href=“http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/final-draw/draw.html]2014”>http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/final-draw/draw.html)</p>
<p>Oh la la, the Frenchies are quite “cocus!”</p>
<p>It’s called soccer. And I’ll pass.</p>
<p>The US’s draw is terrible. It will take a miracle for the US to advance.</p>
<p>Wow! That is one bad, bad draw!</p>
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<p>It is called soccer in a few places. It is understandable that in the US the term football refers to American Football, as the American view of world tends to be reduced to provincial navel gazing. And that is we have World Series in which only North American teams compete! We probably are working on a World Championship of Cheerleading! </p>
<p>Although I assume you might know this, but the WC is described as: </p>
<p>The FIFA World Cup™ is the biggest single-event sporting competition in the world and is contested by the senior men’s national teams from the 208 Member Associations of the F</p>
<p>The draw is indeed unfavorable to the USA. It should be noted that the reigning WC did not get any special treatment as ended up being the 9th European team and had to move to Pot 2. </p>
<p>The seeding of the WC remains a problem, as everything else at the FIFA that has to balance many political issues. It is a shame that the teams emerging from the group are not redrawn as opposed to have a determined path. However, there are no bigger scandals than the way the continents are divided. For instance, Sweden will not make it but the winner of the games Uruguay-Jordan and especially Mexico - New Zealand did. The fact that 4 teams of the six Concacaf finalists progress without having barrages against European teams is a pure scandal.</p>
<p>Looking forward to this, and even more to the Women’s World Cup to be held here in Canada in 2015!</p>
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<p>[Stop</a> freaking out about the United States? World Cup draw | For The Win](<a href=“http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/12/united-states-2014-world-cup-draw-portugal-germany-ghana/]Stop”>Stop freaking out about the United States’ World Cup draw | For The Win)</p>
<p>I think the US should try to get Ronaldo to defect to the US.</p>
<p>“The FIFA World Cup™ is the biggest single-event sporting competition in the world”.</p>
<p>Geez, I believe that. I got to witness the hugest sports traffic ever at the qualifying match between Costa Rica and Honduras in Baltimore. I’ve run into Ravens, Redskins and Orioles traffic plenty of times but this dwarfed all of that by a huge amount. Luckily I was going the opposite direction.</p>
<p>I looked up the rankings and they are worse than I thought - Germany #2, Portugal #5, US #14, and Ghana #24. If they beat Ghana and beat or tie Portugal then they have a shot.</p>
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<p>Hard to imagine a worse draw.</p>
<p>I am hooked on the English Premier League telecasts. Probably the best and most international national league in any sport. Hard to watch MLS after seeing even Aston Villa play.</p>
<p>Let me try again without voice commands.</p>
<p>It should be noted that the reigning World Champion did not get any special treatment as the team ended up being the 9th European team and had to move to Pot 2. </p>
<p>Pot 2 included the African qualifiers and the remaining two South American teams Chile and Ecuador with only seven teams in that pot.</p>
<p>Pot 3 was made up of Asian and North American teams.</p>
<p>Pot 4 included the remaining European teams that weren’t included in Pot 1 with the top seeds. There were nine teams in Pot 4, and one had to be moved to Pot 2 – a less attractive destination considering they would have to meet a top seed from Pot 1 as well as one of the remaining 8 teams from Pot 4 which were all Europeans and expectedly stronger than the rest of Pot 2 and Pot 3. </p>
<p>It was thought that France, the lowest ranked among the European teams, would be switched. However, Fifa decided that was unfair and instead decided one of the teams would be picked at random.</p>
<p>It turned out to be the luck Spain. And anyone can see how the draw is different for the Bleus by switching France and Spain. </p>
<p>Not that I like Spain.</p>
<p>Not feeling optimistic for the US…</p>
<p>but looking forward to watching great football.</p>
<p>Went to the World Cup games in Chicago when S1 was 9…what an experience! And have gone to all the US gams in Columbus.</p>
<p>Spain was a Pot 1 seed.
Italy was put in Pot 2.</p>
<p>xiggi, I’m with mokusatsu on this one. Spain was never going to be moved from Pot 1.</p>
<p>I know you don’t like Spain. France “wins without playing”. They got really lucky.</p>
<p>It was called soccer in England for a long time, and the Australian team in the Socceroos.</p>
<p>In the last WC, the US lost unfairly to Ghana.</p>
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<p>More places than you’d think. I really don’t care about soccer, but I like language so I came across this. Thought it was interesting: <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_association_football[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_association_football</a></p>
<p>Haha, I goofed about Spain and Italy and the Pot Gate. Price you pay to read stories on a phone.</p>
<p>I am, however, not wrong about football versus soccer. Romani, you should read the quote Wiki entry again. There are indeed a few --English speaking – countries who have used the term derived from Assoc. But think how many use a variation of football such as futbol,fussbal, voetbal, or football in French. Count the countries or number of people.</p>
<p>I was not counting non-English speaking places since it was between “football” and “soccer” not other language variations. It was just interesting to me because I thought “soccer” was an American invention and it is not.</p>
<p>It really wasn’t that important. Carry on.</p>
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It’s football! </p>
<p><em>mumbles</em> Bloody Americans…:rolleyes:</p>