Brasil 2014 Fifa World Cup Potential nightmare group scenarios
The next step is the World Cup draw on December 6th, where the teams will be divided into all-important groups.
The draw process is simple. There are four “pots” with eight teams each. The final groups consist of one team from each of the four pots, and they are randomly drawn from a hat. So teams from
Pot 1 can’t be in groups with teams from Pot and so on.
Pot 1 is the top-eight teams in the world according to FIFA’s rankings.
Pot 2 is four teams from Asia and four teams from North America.
Pot 3 and is five teams from Africa, two teams from South America, and one team from Europe.
Pot 4 is eight teams from Europe.
Three unlucky teams will be placed in a group with hosts Brazil, fresh from winning the 2013 Confederations Cup and raring to get going in front of a raucous home crowd. Three more unlucky teams will land with Argentina, three with Colombia, three with Uruguay, and even if you avoid those, Chile and Ecuador may be lying in wait later in the draw.
If you pick up a group containing Belgium, Chile and South Korea, it’s still a tough draw considering you could have landed Ghana or Honduras (depending on the pots) instead of La Roja on their home continent.
With the pots (largely) predictable, you can begin to forecast a potential “Group of Death” scenario, which incorporates four of the strongest teams that can feasibly be drawn together.
Brazil, as hosts, could head a group that contains Italy, France and Mexico. Argentina could feasibly be paired up with the Netherlands, the Ivory Coast and Japan.
At the other end of the scale, Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso and Australia could all be drawn together, making for a nip-and-tuck scenario between all four sides.
The draw process is simple. There are four “pots” with eight teams each. The final groups consist of one team from each of the four pots, and they are randomly drawn from a hat. So teams from
Pot 1 can’t be in groups with teams from Pot and so on.
Pot 1 is the top-eight teams in the world according to FIFA’s rankings.
Pot 2 is four teams from Asia and four teams from North America.
Pot 3 and is five teams from Africa, two teams from South America, and one team from Europe.
Pot 4 is eight teams from Europe.
Three unlucky teams will be placed in a group with hosts Brazil, fresh from winning the 2013 Confederations Cup and raring to get going in front of a raucous home crowd. Three more unlucky teams will land with Argentina, three with Colombia, three with Uruguay, and even if you avoid those, Chile and Ecuador may be lying in wait later in the draw.
If you pick up a group containing Belgium, Chile and South Korea, it’s still a tough draw considering you could have landed Ghana or Honduras (depending on the pots) instead of La Roja on their home continent.
With the pots (largely) predictable, you can begin to forecast a potential “Group of Death” scenario, which incorporates four of the strongest teams that can feasibly be drawn together.
Brazil, as hosts, could head a group that contains Italy, France and Mexico. Argentina could feasibly be paired up with the Netherlands, the Ivory Coast and Japan.
At the other end of the scale, Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso and Australia could all be drawn together, making for a nip-and-tuck scenario between all four sides.
