World Cup Draw

Parent Cafe
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<p>Well the draw is over and the US is in a very favorable Group. They will play England, Algeria and Slovenia in the first round. Looking at current rankings show the team rankings in the world are England #9, US # 14, Algeria #28, Slovenia #33. US came hopefully make out of this group. Cannot wait for World Cup Soccer this summer from South Africa. </p>

<p>[FIFA.com</a> - 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa - Final Draw](<a href=“http://www.fifa.com/live/competitions/worldcup/finaldraw/index.html]FIFA.com”>http://www.fifa.com/live/competitions/worldcup/finaldraw/index.html)</p>

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<p>Cool! Thanks.</p>

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<p>so which group do you all think is the “Group of Death”?</p>

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<p>Group G would be my vote for “Group of Death” - Brazil, Portugal, & Korea, Ivory Coast can be solid too.</p>

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<p>I agree with doschicos - with Didier Drogba Ivory Coast is definitely a team that can surprise anyone.</p>

<p>I already have June 12th circled on my calendar - USA/England should be a good match.</p>

<p>Looks like the French and Spanish got relatively lucky draws…I work for a Spanish company so things should be fun here!</p>

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<p>

I think the best definition of the Group of Death is which group has the 3rd best team. </p>

<p>[World</a> Football Elo Ratings](<a href=“http://www.eloratings.net/]World”>http://www.eloratings.net/)</p>

<p>B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece.</p>

<h1>7, #28, #32, #23.</h1>

<p>E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon.</p>

<h1>3, #17, #17, #20</h1>

<p>G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal</p>

<h1>1, #82, #22, #12</h1>

<p>I think group E has the highest average team strength.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>That would be North Korea, though I would agree that it narrowly beats out group E</p>

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<p>

I don’t understand this. It’s much harder for the “best” team to advance in Group E than in Group G.</p>

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<p>Well,</p>

<p>I expect that crowds will not be too favorable towards France after the illegal double handball by one of the Gillette trio, Thierry Henry, which lead to the goal that got France into the tournament instead of Ireland. Two down, now. I hope Roger doesn’t do anything to make me think he is a jerk, too.</p>

<p>I’ll be rooting for Spain and USA.</p>

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<p>If the crowd doesn’t like France, it might be because they are playing the hosts that day. Henry’s handball will be a distant memory by June 2010.</p>

<p>The ratings are a joke. How can Argentina be #7 and given a seed when they were 8-6-4 in Latin American qualifying? They finished 4th behind Chile and Paraguay. If there is anyone to root against, it’s Argentina with that crackhead coach Maradona and using that seed to draw an easy group with Greece, S Korea, and Nigeria.</p>

<p>There is no way North Korea is the 82nd best team in the world having qualified as #3 or #4 in Asia.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>It’s just an opinion. It would be silly to pretend there’s some known, objective truth about which group is the best, most difficult, or whatever.</p>

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<p>

I think most would agree with my opinion though. Either that or the definition of ‘group of death’ is just flawed.</p>

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<p>As far as difficult goes, watching a preview show last night I learned that the way the knockout round goes, it will end up being a team from groups A/B/C/D playing a team from groups E/F/G/H in the final (I think this is new, someone correct me if I’m wrong). I think overall getting out of E/F/G/H would be much tougher…</p>

<p>I also read there has been an FIFA disciplinary case opened up against Henry, wonder how that will turn out…</p>

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<p>I don’t know how that will turn out, Rachacha, but it won’t be forgotten by June. The handball of Maradona, who is in a 2-month FIFA sanction as a coach, still is remembered all these years later. I really think Argentina could be a better team without him as a distraction. I love watching Leo Messi (Golden Ball 2009) play.</p>

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<p>Sticking with my opinion on Group G. I have a NYT endorsement. :slight_smile:
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/sports/soccer/05iht-SOCCER.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=group%20of%20death&st=cse[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/sports/soccer/05iht-SOCCER.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=group%20of%20death&st=cse&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>It is very simple… Holland is going to win it this year. I am dusting off my orange shirt!</p>

<p>Hup Holland Hup</p>

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<p>Our family concurs w/Group G</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>To qualify for the World Cup, they beat these teams:</p>

<p>Turkmenistan
Jordan
UAE (2x)
Saudi Arabia</p>

<p>I’m waiting to be impressed.</p>

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<p>North Korea definitely deserves their ranking. They are terrible.</p>

<p>The US is ranked higher than deserved, and still has zero players with any kind of dribbling skills… except Adu, who probably won’t make the team because Bob Bradley will need the large lumbering oaf Casey who seems to dribble worse than high school players and Brian Ching who is terrible. I guess Dempsey has decent dribbling skills… I don’t know if they are good enough to beat someone 1 on 1 though. The worst dribblers on the Brazilian team are better than the USA’s best. The USA is going to have trouble finding the back of the net.</p>

<p>That said, if we don’t get to the knockout stage, it will be a complete failure. This is probably the best group (in terms of our chances to advance) we have ever drawn at the World Cup. After that it’s a toss up… 2nd place team from our group will likely get Germany.</p>