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Wait, what? If I watch this from work on Friday, what am I actually going to see? Is there going to be a gradual unfolding of events as each team gets placed in a group, or is it just gonna be an announcement of what happened?
Here is how I would do the draw (FIFA may do it differently).
Sometimes when dealing with a difficult issue at work or at home I think, "what would FIFA do?" It works surprisingly well.
The ESPN piece makes it sounds like the Pot 1 gets drawn and places in one of the groups. Then the SA teams go back into a hidden pot where 1 gets drawn to be placed with the Euro team in Pot 2. Once the Euro team gets placed, then the rest of Pot 2 gets emptied with Ecuador and Chile getting placed in the first available Euro spot when they are drawn
We've argued about this in the bigger soccer thread, but I don't think that's any more true this year than in other years. The US was certainly lucky to get an easy group in 2010. But if the Europeans teams seem tougher on paper this year, then the African teams seem weaker than in years past, at least by SPI or FIFA ranking. As long as the US is in a pot with the other Concacaf and Asian teams, they'll be likely to face relatively tough groups because they can't play Honduras or Australia.
I bet the first African sides drawn will go into South American groups until the problem is resolved either way. I.E. I don't think they'll put any African side with a European seed until either both Chile and Ecuador are placed or all of Brazil/Colombia/Argentina/Uruguay havean opponent.
if you watch from work or home, you will see the following:
It is gradual. The host team is the first team in group A after that, they draw the seeded teams into groups B-H (2nd team into group B, 3rd team into group C,etc). Then, they go to pod 2-4 and do the same however, along with drawing the teams, they are also drawn into what position in the group they have (determining the order in which they play).
if you are a hard core fan it is extraordinarily entertaining. The amount of possible fascinating match ups based on history and other factors is really fun to watch unfold
Probably a good event to double-screen so you're getting some actual analysis along with the pomp and Bunbuns.
It is entertaining and nerve racking. They drag it out and the draw essentially has more say in the US getting out of group stage than most anything else. It is funny and weird to see how excited/upset fans get for a non-game.
In a way it almost feels like watching goals scored against your team when you watch the draw unfold negatively for what ever team you root for.
I am not concerned as much about the OR, it is the AND which scares me
5 Draws
:drops mic:
Ceremonies start at 11:00am (Univision/WatchESPN/ESPN3)
The only thing I cling to is when Mexico inevitably gets further than we do, that we can always say they would not have made it with out the US bailing them out. Their fans detest that thought
