2010 World Cup Group Stage Predictions

[BrySmalls]

Since today ends the qualification rounds, soon afterwards FIFA will announce more details about the seeding with the official draw being held on December 4th, 2009. I am calling on the CCSLC to try and correctly pick all eight groups.

Please have your picks in by Friday, December 4th, 11:15 AM EST (8:15 PST) as the draw from South Africa begins at 12 PM EST.

Scoring Breakdown:

Maximum Points Achievable: 126

Points Per Correct Position (excluding South Africa): 2 (62 points Maximum);

Points Per Correct Group: 8 (64 points Maximum).

Group A:

A1: South Africa

A2:

A3:

A4:

Group B:

B1:

B2:

B3:

B4:

Group C:

C1:

C2:

C3:

C4:

Group D:

D1:

D2:

D3:

D4:

Group E:

E1:

E2:

E3:

E4:

Group F:

F1:

F2:

F3:

F4:

Group G:

G1:

G2:

G3:

G4:

Group H:

H1:

H2:

H3:

H4:

Please have your picks in by Friday, December 4th, 11:15 AM EST (8:15 PST) as the draw from South Africa begins at 12 PM EST.

[MattF]

I don't need to know the groups North Korea will take it home

[-kj]

I don't need to know the groups North Korea will take it home

Bwahahahahaha! Oh, sorry, got off-track there...

A prediction about a random draw? I don't think I see the skill involved here. Never mind that we don't yet know the pot structure.

[Saintsfan]

Okay, I have conducted my own random draw for the world cup. The seeds were South Africa, Spain, Germany, Brazil, England, France, Argentina and Italy. Teams were placed in geographically based groups, first group Europe, 2nd group the Americas and Australasia, third group Africa and Asia.

The draw was as follows

Pool A- South Africa, Switzerland, Mexico, Japan

Pool B- Spain, Serbia, Paraguay, North Korea

Pool C- Germany, Denmark, Chile, Nigeria

Pool D- Brazil, Slovakia, Australia, Cameroon

Pool E- England, Portugal, Uruguay, Algeria

Pool F- France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Ivory Coast

Pool G- Argentina, Slovenia, Honduras, South Korea

Pool H- Italy, Greece, USA, Ghana

USA handed a tough group, France and the Netherlands faced with a tough draw with Ivory Coast. A few other tough groups and a few weak groups. (Spain will be quite happy!)

[BrySmalls]

I don't need to know the groups North Korea will take it home

Bwahahahahaha! Oh, sorry, got off-track there...

A prediction about a random draw? I don't think I see the skill involved here. Never mind that we don't yet know the pot structure.

I am under the assumption that FIFA releases the pots beforehand (other than figuring out their formula). Besides, if there are threads about predicting the Super Bowl champion, MLB Playoffs, NHL Season, etc., then why not have a thread pertaining to something that is out of sheer luck and theoretically unpredictable?

[twi]

Once we see the final rosters the teams are carrying to South Africa then I am good to go for a prediction tourny. Good idea, just a wee bit early.

[NEW.ERA]

NVM

[Viper]

Pool H- Italy, Greece, USA, Ghana

Italy and Ghana were also in the USA's group in 2006. (The other team was the Czech Republic.)

[BrySmalls]

"Final Draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup? ? note to media

The detailed criteria to determine the seeded teams for the Final Draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa? will be confirmed at the next meeting of the Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup? in Cape Town on December 2nd (and announced at a press conference following the meeting).

Not Official Seedings, but a good idea.

[jrh31584]

Will the draw be set up in such a way that there won't be more than 1 team from a confederation other than UEFA in any pool; i.e. South Africa would not have an African team in Pool A, Argentina and Brazil (assuming both are seeded) would not have other CONMEBOL teams in their pools?

[Saintsfan]

Will the draw be set up in such a way that there won't be more than 1 team from a confederation other than UEFA in any pool; i.e. South Africa would not have an African team in Pool A, Argentina and Brazil (assuming both are seeded) would not have other CONMEBOL teams in their pools?

I don't believe that FIFA have made an announcement, but that is very likely to be the case. Maximum of 2 UEFA teams but all other confederations not meeting each other in the group stages.

[schtee]

can someone explain how France barely beat Ireland, and only won because of Henry's handball, yet leapfrogged England's in FIFA's rankings, thus harming England's seeding for the World Cup?

[Saintsfan]

can someone explain how France barely beat Ireland, and only won because of Henry's handball, yet leapfrogged England's in FIFA's rankings, thus harming England's seeding for the World Cup?

First off, I think I am right in saying that its a case of get in the top 7 seedings, beyond that the rank of your seeding doesn't really matter. But part of the ranking comes from performances in the championships, and France were in the Final of the 2006 World Cup. I can't remember how France got on in Euro 2008, but England didn't even qualify for that championship. Secondly England's record in friendlies recently is patchy at best at the moment.

[MattF]

can someone explain how France barely beat Ireland, and only won because of Henry's handball, yet leapfrogged England's in FIFA's rankings, thus harming England's seeding for the World Cup?

First off, I think I am right in saying that its a case of get in the top 7 seedings, beyond that the rank of your seeding doesn't really matter. But part of the ranking comes from performances in the championships, and France were in the Final of the 2006 World Cup. I can't remember how France got on in Euro 2008, but England didn't even qualify for that championship. Secondly England's record in friendlies recently is patchy at best at the moment.

The past Euros don't matter, so not qualifying for Euro 2008, shouldn't hurt England, excpet for the dip in FIFA ranking they probably took. If they go by the same seeding as they last world cup it'll be just the past 2 World Cups and the Fifa rankings.

[-kj]

This is, to the best of my abilities, how I believe the seeding goes down:

"Ok, the formula we used last time doesn't get us the seeds we want. What can we change to make that happen?"

*tinker with formula*

"There, we've got the seeds we want. Everyone, here's the awesome and totally fair equation for 2010 seeds!"

[Saintsfan]

FIFA have announced the seedings for the draw as follows

Pot 1 (seeds): South Africa, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain, England, Holland, Argentina.

Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania and North/Central America): Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Mexico, Honduras.

Pot 3 (Africa and South America): Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay.

Pot 4 (Europe): France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia.

I might rerun my draw based on the actual groupings sometime this evening. (Though without Charlize Theron, who is presenting the actual draw on Friday!)

[buzzcut]

Making my long awaited return, eh sort of, here's what I came up with:

Group A

South Africa, United States, Paraguay, Denmark

Group B

Argentina, Korean Republic, Cameroon, Greece

Group C

The Netherlands, Korea DPR, Nigeria, Serbia

Group D

Germany, Japan, Cote, D'Ivoire, France

Group E

Italy, New Zealand, Algeria, Slovakia

Group F

Brazil, Honduras, Ghana, Slovenia

Group G

England, Australia, Uruguay, Portugal

Group H

Spain, Mexico, Chile, Switzerland

[BrySmalls]

FIFA have announced the seedings for the draw as follows

Pot 1 (seeds): South Africa, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain, England, Holland, Argentina.

Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania and North/Central America): Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Mexico, Honduras.

Pot 3 (Africa and South America): Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay.

Pot 4 (Europe): France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia.

I might rerun my draw based on the actual groupings sometime this evening. (Though without Charlize Theron, who is presenting the actual draw on Friday!)

The Official PDF

More additional info:

hosts South Africa will be automatically positioned as A1; the other seeded teams will be drawn into the other groups B-H, but will always be in position 1 of their group

groups will be drawn from A to H and the positions in the group will be drawn for Pots 2 to 4

geographical criteria will also be respected, meaning that no two teams from the same confederation will be drawn in the same group (except European teams, where a maximum of two will be in a group). For example, South Africa cannot play the African teams from Pot 3 and Argentina and Brazil cannot be drawn against the three remaining South American teams.

Also, I saw on ESPN's website that they'll have a $5,000.00 World Cup predictor contest once the groups are finalized. Anyone interested?

[Saintsfan]

Here we go

Group A South Africa, Honduras, Uruguay, Slovakia

Group B Holland, New Zealand, Algeria, France

Group C Spain, South Korea, Cameroon, Greece

Group D Brazil, Japan, Ivory Coast, Portugal

Group E Argentina, Mexico, Ghana, Denmark

Group F Italy, Australia, Chile, Serbia

Group G Germany, US, Nigeria, Slovenia

Group H England, North Korea, Paraguay, Switzerland

USA given a tough draw in the Saintsfan World Cup. England will be happy enough, as will the hosts. A few interesting pairings- France and Algeria, Brazil and Portugal- a couple of cases of the colony against the old imperial masters, always makes for an interesting game. The alst 2 European Champions paired with each other.

Taking things a stage further, having played through the whole draw, the semi finals of World Cup 2010 will be Spain versus Argentina, and Brazil versus Italy. No need to tune in until then.

[BrySmalls]

Please have your picks in by Friday, December 4th, 11:15 AM EST (8:15 PST) as the draw from South Africa begins at 12 PM EST.