Zow
Footballguy
Yeah and we're like 6-7 rungs down the tiebreak latter. Seems reasonable to me.
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums
This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
***Official 2022 World Cup Thread*** (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter gianmarco
- Start date
Qatar just advanced.
Capella
Footballguy
Counter to that is the absolute throttling amount of pressure Messi and that whole team must be feeling in these knockout games.Are you saying we aren't as good as the Saudis?
I actually think that game was probably bad for anyone playing Argentina as they won't be sleeping on anyone and getting caught offguard now.
Mexican Football Match Turns Into Bloodbath, Games Suspended - GreekReporter.com
A massive brawl disrupted a football match on Saturday, with Mexico's top-division soccer league suspending all matches after the chaos.
greekreporter.com
ChiefD
Footballguy
Sweet. I had them winning the whole thing.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
This is just amazing when laid out like this
======================
Brian Sciaretta
@BrianSciaretta
Mexico is eliminated. A brutal 2 years of soccer for Mexico
- Lost Gold Cup
- Lost Nations League
- Failed to qualify for the U-20 WC
- Failed to qualify for 2024 Olympics
- Seattle defeats two Liga MX teams en route to CCL title
- Run of 6-WC run of reaching the knockouts ends
======================
Brian Sciaretta
@BrianSciaretta
Mexico is eliminated. A brutal 2 years of soccer for Mexico
- Lost Gold Cup
- Lost Nations League
- Failed to qualify for the U-20 WC
- Failed to qualify for 2024 Olympics
- Seattle defeats two Liga MX teams en route to CCL title
- Run of 6-WC run of reaching the knockouts ends
titusbramble
Footballguy
Pretty hilarious set of late games, to clear up some tiebreaker stuff:
- Head to head does matter, but because Mexico drew with Poland it became irrelevant
- Fair play eliminated Senegal over Japan last time around
- We have had coin flips for positions before in 1990, Ireland and Netherlands were level on everything after the most boring group stage of all time and needed a flip for 2nd and 3rd in the group. Ireland got gifted Romania who they beat on pens, while we got another installment of the Netherlands/(West) Germany rivalry after they lost the flip with the infamous Rijkaard/Voller spitting incident
- Head to head does matter, but because Mexico drew with Poland it became irrelevant
- Fair play eliminated Senegal over Japan last time around
- We have had coin flips for positions before in 1990, Ireland and Netherlands were level on everything after the most boring group stage of all time and needed a flip for 2nd and 3rd in the group. Ireland got gifted Romania who they beat on pens, while we got another installment of the Netherlands/(West) Germany rivalry after they lost the flip with the infamous Rijkaard/Voller spitting incident
titusbramble
Footballguy
Mexico were still losing the tiebreaker at that time and the goal didn't really change anything
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
Opta Analyst
@OptaAnalyst
Saudi Arabia ended with 14 yellow cards in the 2022 World Cup - a new record for a team in a single group stage in history.
Dickies
Footballguy
I think I'll be okay. I survived a Raiders game in Oakland.
Bull Durham - New League Record
www.youtube.com
titusbramble
Footballguy
Do think that watching a game in central/south America in the wrong place with the wrong attitude would potentially be very dangerous, same would apply with many games in Europe. I would much, much rather take my chances rolling in with (insert NFC East team of choice here) gear at Philadelphia than end up in the Leeds home end, or be outed as a tourist at a derby in Rome, Belgrade etc while in the wrong place. It is an entire different level to watching US domestic leagues
Ramsay Hunt Experience
Footballguy
Only cheeseburgers and ribs being served in the CONCACAFE now.Mexico
Canada
Costa Rica
Figures that this happens when they actually get a coach I like. Poor Tata.
Dinsy Ejotuz
Footballguy
Upside is that he's actually a pretty decent coach and now they may go back to switching every 4 months or so. With luck it'll be a long down spell.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
Tata really had a spell over the Mexican federation (which are really just the Liga MX owners). Any other coach would have been fired 2 or 3 times during that cycle.
titusbramble
Footballguy
Same as it did with Japan/Korea in 2002, they fudge the spots. That they're inexplicably expanding to 48 teams makes it an easier sell
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
been to many. and many on the road. i'm good to go!!
TLEF316
Footballguy
48 teams.....wowza there are gonna be some REALLY bad teams there.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
Tata out already as Mexican coach. Said his contract ended at the final whistle today.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
The winner on xG has won only 15 out of 32 games at the World Cup so far (47%).
The Z Machine
Footballguy
Well if you're protecting a lead late, you're unlikely to generate shots on target. Certainly not win many corners of free kicks either.
Dinsy Ejotuz
Footballguy
Overhead view of the US goal. Cool to see the whole field as the play develops.
facook
Footballguy
I loled.
@strait_vibinn
Nov 29
I started out with a goal to make $15K betting on the 2022 World Cup. As we start to finish group play I just have to win $27K more to reach my goal!
@strait_vibinn
Nov 29
I started out with a goal to make $15K betting on the 2022 World Cup. As we start to finish group play I just have to win $27K more to reach my goal!
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
let me take a crack at what 2022 would have looked like based on the allocations for 2026. These would be the additional teams roughly based on 2022 qualifying records
=====================================
UEFA: 3 extra teams: Ukraine, Sweden, North Macedonia (still no Italy)
Africa: 4 extra teams: Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Congo
CONCACAF: 2 extra teams: Jamaica and EL Salvador
Asia: ~3 extra teams: UAE, Iraq, Oman
South America: ~2 extra teams: Colombia, Chile
Oceania: New Zealand
Some of these numbers are rounded up or down. Any left over spots will come in the form of playoffs between Oceania, Concacaf, Asia, Africa and South America (lots of 1/3 type slots floating around)
The Z Machine
Footballguy
Yuck
SpurrierisisGod
Footballguy
At least they TRIED....
QuizGuy66
Footballguy
QuizGuy66
Footballguy
QuizGuy66
Footballguy
Okee doke - originally I was going to post this in the dead time between the round of 16 and round of 8 but the topic's already been discussed enough so why not now?
So yes, FIFA is going to 48 teams for the 2026 Edition of the World Cup. Tentatively the plan is to go with 16 groups of 3 (I say tentatively because at least the idea of going to groups of 4 has been broached and it's FIFA and they totally could change on a dime - just ask Bud Zero.
The allotments I am sure won't change regardless of what they do. Those are:
UEFA: 16
CONMEBOL: 6 + (1/3)
CAF: 9 + (1/3)
AFC: 8 + (1/3)
CONCACAF: 6 + (1/3) + (1/3)
OFC: 1 + (1/3)
The 1/3's represent 6 spots in a playoff for the last 2 spots. Each non-UEFA confederation gets 1 spot with the host confederation (in this case CONCACAF) getting 1 extra. The top 2 of those 6 teams get a bye into final match for a playoff spot with the other 4 nations drawn into pairs to play for the right to play one of those seeded teams for those 2 spots.
Based on the 6 + 1/3 + 1/3 notation I suppose it's entirely possible that the 2 CONCACAF Nations that get into the plan in won't necessarily have to play each other - so it's at least conceivable that CONCACAF could have EIGHT teams in the 2026 tournament.
And yes all 3 hosts - Canada, Mexico and United States will automatically qualify. Nobody will care. Since multi-nation bids may become more a norm moving forward, that extra play-in spot going to the host confederation also softens that blow a little.
Now you might be saying - what happens when UEFA hosts? Will they get a play in team? Could their be 17 UEFA teams in the 2034 tournament. I mean who the heck knows but FIFA will probably a find a way to change the rules and avoid that. Check back in 12 years.
A couple ground rules I set up for this:
For the 16-group scenario, no group will have more than 1 county from the same confederation in the same group.
All 3 hosts will be in pot 1. This always is the case and will be again. They'll also get pre-assigned groups that will have them (hypothetically) meet as late as possible - not sure what half they'll lump Canada into but I can see something like US as group A, Canada as group E, Mexico as Group M or whatever. That said, my example will ignore this possibility.
Pots will be assigned (with the exception of USA, Mexico, and the only exception that matters Canada) based on current FIFA rankings assuming all of the top ranked teams in each confederation make it.
Using the current FIFA rankings would yield a play-in field of these 6 nations (rank in parentheses): Ecuador (44), Burkina Faso (54), El Salvador (74), Oman (75), Honduras (80), and Papua New Guinea (159). For this exercise, the final two spots would go to Ecuador and Burkina Faso
The next post will have the 3 pots under this setup.
-QG
So yes, FIFA is going to 48 teams for the 2026 Edition of the World Cup. Tentatively the plan is to go with 16 groups of 3 (I say tentatively because at least the idea of going to groups of 4 has been broached and it's FIFA and they totally could change on a dime - just ask Bud Zero.
The allotments I am sure won't change regardless of what they do. Those are:
UEFA: 16
CONMEBOL: 6 + (1/3)
CAF: 9 + (1/3)
AFC: 8 + (1/3)
CONCACAF: 6 + (1/3) + (1/3)
OFC: 1 + (1/3)
The 1/3's represent 6 spots in a playoff for the last 2 spots. Each non-UEFA confederation gets 1 spot with the host confederation (in this case CONCACAF) getting 1 extra. The top 2 of those 6 teams get a bye into final match for a playoff spot with the other 4 nations drawn into pairs to play for the right to play one of those seeded teams for those 2 spots.
Based on the 6 + 1/3 + 1/3 notation I suppose it's entirely possible that the 2 CONCACAF Nations that get into the plan in won't necessarily have to play each other - so it's at least conceivable that CONCACAF could have EIGHT teams in the 2026 tournament.
And yes all 3 hosts - Canada, Mexico and United States will automatically qualify. Nobody will care. Since multi-nation bids may become more a norm moving forward, that extra play-in spot going to the host confederation also softens that blow a little.
Now you might be saying - what happens when UEFA hosts? Will they get a play in team? Could their be 17 UEFA teams in the 2034 tournament. I mean who the heck knows but FIFA will probably a find a way to change the rules and avoid that. Check back in 12 years.
A couple ground rules I set up for this:
For the 16-group scenario, no group will have more than 1 county from the same confederation in the same group.
All 3 hosts will be in pot 1. This always is the case and will be again. They'll also get pre-assigned groups that will have them (hypothetically) meet as late as possible - not sure what half they'll lump Canada into but I can see something like US as group A, Canada as group E, Mexico as Group M or whatever. That said, my example will ignore this possibility.
Pots will be assigned (with the exception of USA, Mexico, and the only exception that matters Canada) based on current FIFA rankings assuming all of the top ranked teams in each confederation make it.
Using the current FIFA rankings would yield a play-in field of these 6 nations (rank in parentheses): Ecuador (44), Burkina Faso (54), El Salvador (74), Oman (75), Honduras (80), and Papua New Guinea (159). For this exercise, the final two spots would go to Ecuador and Burkina Faso
The next post will have the 3 pots under this setup.
-QG
QuizGuy66
Footballguy
Hypothetical 2026 pots (3-pot model) sorted by FIFA rank
-QG
| POT | CONRNK | RANK | COUNTY | CONFED |
1 | 1 | 1 | BRAZIL | CONEMBOL |
1 | 1 | 2 | BELGIUM | UEFA |
1 | 2 | 3 | ARGENTINA | CONEMBOL |
1 | 2 | 4 | FRANCE | UEFA |
1 | 3 | 5 | ENGLAND | UEFA |
1 | 4 | 6 | ITALY | UEFA |
1 | 5 | 7 | SPAIN | UEFA |
1 | 6 | 8 | NETHERLANDS | UEFA |
1 | 7 | 9 | PORTUGAL | UEFA |
1 | 8 | 10 | DENMARK | UEFA |
1 | 9 | 11 | GERMANY | UEFA |
1 | 10 | 12 | CROATIA | UEFA |
1 | 1 | 13 | MEXICO | CONCACAF |
1 | 3 | 14 | URUGUAY | CONMEBOL |
1 | 2 | 16 | USA | CONCACAF |
1 | 4 | 41 | CANADA | CONCACAF |
| POT | CONRNK | RANK | COUNTY | CONFED |
2 | 11 | 15 | SWITZERLAND | UEFA |
2 | 4 | 17 | COLOMBIA | CONMEBOL |
2 | 1 | 18 | SENEGAL | CAF |
2 | 12 | 19 | WALES | UEFA |
2 | 1 | 20 | IRAN | AFC |
2 | 13 | 21 | SERBIA | UEFA |
2 | 2 | 22 | MOROCCO | CAF |
2 | 5 | 23 | PERU | CONMEBOL |
2 | 2 | 24 | JAPAN | AFC |
2 | 14 | 25 | SWEDEN | UEFA |
2 | 15 | 26 | POLAND | UEFA |
2 | 16 | 27 | UKRAINE | UEFA |
2 | 3 | 28 | SOUTH KOREA | AFC |
2 | 6 | 29 | CHILE | CONMEBOL |
2 | 3 | 30 | TUNISIA | CAF |
2 | 3 | 31 | COSTA RICA | CONCACAF |
| POT | CONRNK | RANK | COUNTY | CONFED |
3 | 4 | 32 | NIGERIA | CAF |
3 | 5 | 37 | ALGERIA | CAF |
3 | 4 | 38 | AUSTRALIA | AFC |
3 | 6 | 39 | EGYPT | CAF |
3 | 7 | 43 | CAMEROON | CAF |
3 | 7 | 44 | ECUADOR | CONMEBOL |
3 | 8 | 46 | MALI | CAF |
3 | 9 | 48 | COTE D'IVOIRE | CAF |
3 | 5 | 50 | QATAR | AFC |
3 | 6 | 51 | SAUDI ARABIA | AFC |
3 | 10 | 54 | BURKINA FASO | CAF |
3 | 5 | 60 | PANAMA | CONCACAF |
3 | 6 | 64 | JAMAICA | CONCACAF |
3 | 7 | 68 | IRAQ | AFC |
3 | 8 | 70 | UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | AFC |
3 | 1 | 105 | NEW ZEALAND | OFC |
-QG
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
please don't encourage FIFA with this abomination of a format --- they can't keep this charade up.
Although if they do, the guys in the other thread who hate ties will be happy since this will be the first WC with out any draws in it.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
The World Cup's synchronized swimmers
QuizGuy66
Footballguy
Now for the 16 groups. Instead of a random draw, I asssigned the team from each pot in ranking order, while following the rules that each group have at most 1 team from each confederation. The idea behind doing it this was to show what the hardest hypothetical groups would look like (Groups A and B) all the way down to what the weakest groups would look like (Groups O and P)
Every group having a European side really puts intrigue into the 6 groups that have Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, USA, Mexico, and Canada at the top. Pity the bottom sides that get drawn into a group with Brazil and a UEFA team or Argentina and a UEFA team. Surely a Brazil vs Iraq matchup would be really appealing
- and this example has no upsets in the qualifying at all - the matchups could be much worse than that!
Anyway this is what the 16-team situation would look like.
-QG
| GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | |||
| A | 1 | BRAZIL | CONEMBOL | E | 5 | ENGLAND | UEFA | I | 9 | PORTUGAL | UEFA | M | 13 | MEXICO | CONCACAF | |||
| A | 15 | SWITZERLAND | UEFA | E | 20 | IRAN | AFC | I | 28 | SOUTH KOREA | AFC | M | 21 | SERBIA | UEFA | |||
| A | 32 | NIGERIA | CAF | E | 39 | EGYPT | CAF | I | 48 | COTE D'IVOIRE | CAF | M | 68 | IRAQ | AFC | |||
| GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | |||
| B | 2 | BELGIUM | UEFA | F | 6 | ITALY | UEFA | J | 10 | DENMARK | UEFA | N | 14 | URUGUAY | CONMEBOL | |||
| B | 17 | COLOMBIA | CONMEBOL | F | 22 | MOROCCO | CAF | J | 29 | CHILE | CONMEBOL | N | 25 | SWEDEN | UEFA | |||
| B | 37 | ALGERIA | CAF | F | 50 | QATAR | AFC | J | 51 | SAUDI ARABIA | AFC | N | 64 | JAMAICA | CONCACAF | |||
| GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | |||
| C | 3 | ARGENTINA | CONEMBOL | G | 7 | SPAIN | UEFA | K | 11 | GERMANY | UEFA | O | 16 | USA | CONCACAF | |||
| C | 19 | WALES | UEFA | G | 23 | PERU | CONMEBOL | K | 30 | TUNISIA | CAF | O | 26 | POLAND | UEFA | |||
| C | 38 | AUSTRALIA | AFC | G | 43 | CAMEROON | CAF | K | 60 | PANAMA | CONCACAF | O | 70 | UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | AFC | |||
| GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | |||
| D | 4 | FRANCE | UEFA | H | 8 | NETHERLANDS | UEFA | L | 12 | CROATIA | UEFA | P | 41 | CANADA | CONCACAF | |||
| D | 18 | SENEGAL | CAF | H | 24 | JAPAN | AFC | L | 31 | COSTA RICA | CONCACAF | P | 27 | UKRAINE | UEFA | |||
| D | 44 | ECUADOR | CONMEBOL | H | 46 | MALI | CAF | L | 54 | BURKINA FASO | CAF | P | 105 | NEW ZEALAND | OFC |
Every group having a European side really puts intrigue into the 6 groups that have Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, USA, Mexico, and Canada at the top. Pity the bottom sides that get drawn into a group with Brazil and a UEFA team or Argentina and a UEFA team. Surely a Brazil vs Iraq matchup would be really appealing
- and this example has no upsets in the qualifying at all - the matchups could be much worse than that!Anyway this is what the 16-team situation would look like.
-QG
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
QuizGuy66
Footballguy
But look - everyone knows 3 team groups are awful. Heck FIFA maybe has planned all along to pass this abomination just to get the 48-team scenario locked in and then do a bait and switch to go with a 12x4 format. I mean it's November and there's a World Cup going on - just like Qatar originally promised 
Anyway. Let's look at the 12-group scenario. This would presumably have the 12 first and second place teams advance along with the 8 best third-place teams (basically a straight doubling of the 1994 format) - I mean that's sort of a nightmare for determining who plays which third place teams in the round-of-32 but whatevs.
And yes - perhaps with a little more howling - CONCACAF gets all 3 hosts into Pot 1. Of course with 12 groups and 16 UEFA qualifiers things revert back to where groups will be able to have 2 UEFA teams in them. I didn't place any limit on how many groups that can happen to. Anyway here are the 4 pots:
By the way you might be asking - "hey where's Ghana?" - well FIFA's rankings are garbage of course so they don't qualify under the parameters I set up
-QG
Anyway. Let's look at the 12-group scenario. This would presumably have the 12 first and second place teams advance along with the 8 best third-place teams (basically a straight doubling of the 1994 format) - I mean that's sort of a nightmare for determining who plays which third place teams in the round-of-32 but whatevs.
And yes - perhaps with a little more howling - CONCACAF gets all 3 hosts into Pot 1. Of course with 12 groups and 16 UEFA qualifiers things revert back to where groups will be able to have 2 UEFA teams in them. I didn't place any limit on how many groups that can happen to. Anyway here are the 4 pots:
| POT | CONRNK | RANK | COUNTY | CONFED |
1 | 1 | 1 | BRAZIL | CONEMBOL |
1 | 1 | 2 | BELGIUM | UEFA |
1 | 2 | 3 | ARGENTINA | CONEMBOL |
1 | 2 | 4 | FRANCE | UEFA |
1 | 3 | 5 | ENGLAND | UEFA |
1 | 4 | 6 | ITALY | UEFA |
1 | 5 | 7 | SPAIN | UEFA |
1 | 6 | 8 | NETHERLANDS | UEFA |
1 | 7 | 9 | PORTUGAL | UEFA |
1 | 1 | 13 | MEXICO | CONCACAF |
1 | 2 | 16 | USA | CONCACAF |
1 | 4 | 41 | CANADA | CONCACAF |
| POT | CONRNK | RANK | COUNTY | CONFED |
2 | 8 | 10 | DENMARK | UEFA |
2 | 9 | 11 | GERMANY | UEFA |
2 | 10 | 12 | CROATIA | UEFA |
2 | 3 | 14 | URUGUAY | CONMEBOL |
2 | 11 | 15 | SWITZERLAND | UEFA |
2 | 4 | 17 | COLOMBIA | CONMEBOL |
2 | 1 | 18 | SENEGAL | CAF |
2 | 12 | 19 | WALES | UEFA |
2 | 1 | 20 | IRAN | AFC |
2 | 13 | 21 | SERBIA | UEFA |
2 | 2 | 22 | MOROCCO | CAF |
2 | 5 | 23 | PERU | CONMEBOL |
| POT | CONRNK | RANK | COUNTY | CONFED |
3 | 2 | 24 | JAPAN | AFC |
3 | 14 | 25 | SWEDEN | UEFA |
3 | 15 | 26 | POLAND | UEFA |
3 | 16 | 27 | UKRAINE | UEFA |
3 | 3 | 28 | SOUTH KOREA | AFC |
3 | 6 | 29 | CHILE | CONMEBOL |
3 | 3 | 30 | TUNISIA | CAF |
3 | 3 | 31 | COSTA RICA | CONCACAF |
3 | 4 | 32 | NIGERIA | CAF |
3 | 5 | 37 | ALGERIA | CAF |
3 | 4 | 38 | AUSTRALIA | AFC |
3 | 6 | 39 | EGYPT | CAF |
| POT | CONRNK | RANK | COUNTY | CONFED |
4 | 7 | 43 | CAMEROON | CAF |
4 | 7 | 44 | ECUADOR | CONMEBOL |
4 | 8 | 46 | MALI | CAF |
4 | 9 | 48 | COTE D'IVOIRE | CAF |
4 | 5 | 50 | QATAR | AFC |
4 | 6 | 51 | SAUDI ARABIA | AFC |
4 | 10 | 54 | BURKINA FASO | CAF |
4 | 5 | 60 | PANAMA | CONCACAF |
4 | 6 | 64 | JAMAICA | CONCACAF |
4 | 7 | 68 | IRAQ | AFC |
4 | 8 | 70 | UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | AFC |
4 | 1 | 105 | NEW ZEALAND | OFC |
By the way you might be asking - "hey where's Ghana?" - well FIFA's rankings are garbage of course so they don't qualify under the parameters I set up
-QG
Frostillicus
Footballguy
As someone who only watches soccer every 4 years but goes all in on it when I do, I'm all for more teams and more games.
QuizGuy66
Footballguy
And here's the groups - again I followed the rules where I put the hardest allowed team into the first groups and the weaker ones at the end - to give the whole conceivable range of hardest and softest groups under this format. Here we go....
Some of the combos from different confederations end up kinda funny - largely because they are scene as neighboard nonetheless - looking at you groups K and L.
But hope you enjoyed this - something fun to chew on for the next 4 years after this World Cup is over
-QG
| GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | ||
| A | 1 | BRAZIL | CONEMBOL | E | 5 | ENGLAND | UEFA | I | 9 | PORTUGAL | UEFA | ||
| A | 10 | DENMARK | UEFA | E | 15 | SWITZERLAND | UEFA | I | 20 | IRAN | AFC | ||
| A | 24 | JAPAN | AFC | E | 29 | CHILE | CONMEBOL | I | 32 | NIGERIA | CAF | ||
| A | 43 | CAMEROON | CAF | E | 50 | QATAR | AFC | I | 64 | JAMAICA | CONCACAF | ||
| GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | ||
| B | 2 | BELGIUM | UEFA | F | 6 | ITALY | UEFA | J | 13 | MEXICO | CONCACAF | ||
| B | 11 | GERMANY | UEFA | F | 17 | COLOMBIA | CONMEBOL | J | 21 | SERBIA | UEFA | ||
| B | 28 | SOUTH KOREA | AFC | F | 27 | UKRAINE | UEFA | J | 37 | ALGERIA | CAF | ||
| B | 44 | ECUADOR | CONMEBOL | F | 54 | BURKINA FASO | CAF | J | 68 | IRAQ | AFC | ||
| GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | ||
| C | 3 | ARGENTINA | CONEMBOL | G | 7 | SPAIN | UEFA | K | 16 | USA | CONCACAF | ||
| C | 12 | CROATIA | UEFA | G | 18 | SENEGAL | CAF | K | 22 | MOROCCO | CAF | ||
| C | 25 | SWEDEN | UEFA | G | 31 | COSTA RICA | CONCACAF | K | 38 | AUSTRALIA | AFC | ||
| C | 46 | MALI | CAF | G | 51 | SAUDI ARABIA | AFC | K | 105 | NEW ZEALAND | OFC | ||
| GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | GROUP | RANK | COUNTRY | CONFED | ||
| D | 4 | FRANCE | UEFA | H | 8 | NETHERLANDS | UEFA | L | 41 | CANADA | CONCACAF | ||
| D | 14 | URUGUAY | CONMEBOL | H | 19 | WALES | UEFA | L | 23 | PERU | CONMEBOL | ||
| D | 26 | POLAND | UEFA | H | 30 | TUNISIA | CAF | L | 39 | EGYPT | CAF | ||
| D | 48 | COTE D'IVOIRE | CAF | H | 60 | PANAMA | CONCACAF | L | 70 | UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | AFC |
Some of the combos from different confederations end up kinda funny - largely because they are scene as neighboard nonetheless - looking at you groups K and L.
But hope you enjoyed this - something fun to chew on for the next 4 years after this World Cup is over
-QG
QuizGuy66
Footballguy
Quick version just of the "new" teams that would be added to this year's group (and minus Ghana) - with no upsets:
UEFA: Italy, Sweden, Ukraine
CONMEBOL: Colombia, Peru, Chile
CAF: Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt. Mali, Cote D'Ivoire, Burkina Faso (Ghana shuffled out by methodology)
CONCACAF: Panama, Jamaica
AFC: Iraq, United Arab Emirates
OFC: New Zealand
-QG
UEFA: Italy, Sweden, Ukraine
CONMEBOL: Colombia, Peru, Chile
CAF: Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt. Mali, Cote D'Ivoire, Burkina Faso (Ghana shuffled out by methodology)
CONCACAF: Panama, Jamaica
AFC: Iraq, United Arab Emirates
OFC: New Zealand
-QG
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
If you go to the right game, you are in for a treat. The Argentine atmosphere is amongst the best in the world. I would not recommend wearing the opposing teams color but as long as you don't do anything stupid, you should be fine.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
Something similar has been suggested to FIFA.
There are rumors that FIFA may consider something different than arguably the worst idea in sporting history (3 team group that forces draws out of the sport) but this is FIFA. They are going to wait until the money is right, whether it is a sponsor or the the US as a host, that makes them reconsider.
Sand
Footballguy
Right now if things track as per rankings the US has to beat Holland, Argentina, Brazil, and then Belgium to win it all.
No problem.
The Gator
Footballguy
Sand
Footballguy
We can enjoy this while it lasts. Mexico cares way too much about the game and new stars will pop out.
