Wrong finger, my man
Having waited until close to the last minute to decide to rig seed the playoffs for the last four World Cup spots out of UEFA, FIFA managed to irritate the whole of Ireland (or at least the part that was a) sober and b) cares about soccer). Perhaps they, and everyone else, thought they would draw Slovenia, including Slovenia themselves.
FIFA subsequently announced the seeds would be based on the most recent rankings. And what do you know? The rankings (just out today) put France, Portugal, Russia, and Greece on the topline meaning they cannot face each other, or more importantly, knock each other out. The draw, scheduled for Monday, will have those four teams drawing against the remaining qualifiers from Ireland, Ukraine, Bosnia, and Slovenia.
As much bitching as there was about the decision to seed (over just a random draw), FIFA can’t be blamed for wanting the best teams in South Africa (here’s a tip: eliminate Oceania). Lucky for them, the “best” teams (particularly the ones with stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, and the Magic Pixie) also ended up with the highest rankings, which might be a tautology. I don’t know. It’s too early to do logic.
Trapattoni’s Ireland side can take small solace in the fact that none of the seeds wants to draw them. They play well organized, defensive football. Of course any reasonable spectator would hope Ireland draw Greece to assure that only one of these teams tries to suck the life out of three World Cup matches.
Of non-UEFA interest, the US held steady at 11th and Argentina, limping left on broken heels, actually jumped two spots to 6th, likely all but assuring that the US won’t get a seed for South Africa. And once again, Maradona knows how a resurrection really feels.
Croatia aren’t even in contention, how in the world are they the 8th best team in the world.
Well it’s not like the eleventh best team is realistically in contention either.
I can’t fault FIFA for not having a random draw, but the entire set of WC qualification and Finals draw procedures need to be published before the first games are played. To announce the rules in mid-competition is wholly unprofessional.
And their use of past WC results in seeding for the finals draw is a joke. The turnover of players and coaches is too great for anything older than 4 years to be considered. Currently it’s a self-fulfilling ritual. Teams that did well in the past get easier groups to do well in the present and get easier groups in the future.
Well sure, but if they just change it to FIFA rankings it’s not like they can’t fix those as well.
Whatever happened to just glorious randomness? Pull balls from a sack?
Pulling balls from a sack does not sound like a good time.
The hard part is getting them back in. It’s like putting together an IKEA desk, you end up with a few extra parts, but everything seems to be in the right place.
Well done, NYK, for taking it there. You’re obviously elated that France is gonna get a plum draw of Bosnia or someone and foxtrot their way to South Africa.
Of course, they’ll go 0-0-3 there, but that’s another matter entirely.
Hey Bosnia has two talent pools, they kid all the studs from Herzegovina as well. They can take the French.
Personally, I’m hoping for Ireland. And we plan on going 1-1-1, thank you very much!
I had an IKEA piece of furniture that came with NO parts. Even asked the damned employees whether the parts would be in the box and they said yes. I get home, tear open the boxes and find I just have a bunch of pieces of particle board with veneer on it that I can’t put together.
FIFA wouldn’t dare let them! Especially not after their wash in 2006. How on earth do you let the Argies beat you that badly?
Bosnia’s not bad, I’ll grant you that. Vedad Ibisevic, Edin Dzeko, Zvezjdan Mismovic, Miralem Pjanic, Sejad Salihovic…
still, surely Les Bleus would beat ‘em? Surely…
I know absolutely nothing about Bosnia and Herzegovina outside of the Owen Wilson documentary “Behind Enemy Lines,” but I am still confident they can beat France.
@ NYK: As an Ireland fan, I’m hoping for France. KUMITE!
Say …. looking at those rankings … if France gets in, and they don’t get rid of the past WC part of the seeding process … looks to me like England won’t be getting a seed.
I’m banking on FIFA actually extending the length of history into consideration so that the 1950 1-0 over Ingerland propels the US to a seed.
Haven’t been on the site in a while. Kind of surprised it’s still around.
When thinking of the World Cup, just imagine the following group:
South Africa
Slovenia
Tunisia
North Korea
Of course, I expect to see the following group as well:
Brasil
England
Cameroon
USA
Personally, I think seeding should be based on the 2009 Confed Cup, the 2002 World Cup, and all the Gold Cups. Only fair way to do it really.
Eladio: Swap North Korea for New Zealand (if they beat Bahrain) and it gets even better.
And where the f**k would we have gone to?