Jump to content
talkfootball365

  • Welcome to talkfootball365!

    The better place to talk football.

World Cup Group Stage Draw - 1st December

football forum

By Guest
in 2018 FIFA World Cup - Russia - World Cup Forum

Recommended Posts

Sign up to remove this ad.
  • Replies 261
  • Created
  • Last Reply
football forum

Guest

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Machado said:

Serbia in pot 4 is dangerous and almost guarantees a group of death.

Nah, I'm not scared of Serbia.

South Korea are the team to avoid in pot 4 for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
football forums

Berserker

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, SirBalon said:

20170326-636261650122794555_201703262246\

How Poland managed to manipulate the FIFA Rankings at Spain's expense

 

Not that Poland knew it would be Spain who would fall victim to the final FIFA Rankings permitted before the World Cup draw in December would be made, but they made brilliant calculations using the flawed system in formulating a final amount of points that would see them maintain a place good enough to not be ousted and subsequently seeded in the World Cup in Russia.

So how did Poland make the most out of a legal hole in the FIFA Rankings so as to maintain their position?

Poland will for the first time in their history be a member of Pot 1 of the World Cup draw after ending 6th for the November FIFA Rankings.  Coupled with a very good qualifying campaign, the rest of the strategy was designed in the Polish football federation offices.

  • The PZPN (Polish football federation) took what seemed to be the odd decision not to play any international friendlies after November 2016 which was their last one of calculative importance against Slovakia which ended 1-1.  That friendly was the last one they played after the European Championships in France where they achieved a quarter-final place.  All of that permitted Poland to end the year in the top 6 within the FIFA Rankings and if they played no other friendlies with what was then a hypothetical good qualifying campaign, they would guarantee ending the time span till this November 2017 in those slots that permitted Poland to be a World Cup seed.

But didn't Poland recently play two friendlies Uruguay and Mexico?

  • Yes they did...  Poland drew 0-0 against Uruguay and lost 0-1 against Mexico.  But those friendly results cleverly didn't compute for the important final FIFA Rankings that counted for the seeding pot selections for this month.  Those friendlies were played after the last rankings were released whereas the next ones will be on the 23rd of November which is only 1 week before the official World Cup draw and don't count as the final rankings due to legal FIFA administrative timespans.

Had Poland played their allotment of friendlies when every other nation did during the international slots during the year they would apparently have ended below 15th.  Brilliant from the PZPN...  This is why the FIFA Rankings have to be thought out and why I've always maintained that friendlies shouldn't count for anyone for so many reasons and not just the FIFA Rankings.

And also at our expense, we could get the same group of death of 2002, us, England, Sweden and Nigeria. Just happy Owen has retired and cannot use our defence as a swimming pool anymore. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
football forum

Guest

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Against this current Argentina, you lot wouldn't even have to bust a nut 

Think the same could be said for Argentina vs England haha

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
football forum

Guest

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Stan said:

you should be.

With players like Ivanovic, Kolarov, Matic, Mitrovic will kill you all. 

I'm not scared of Serbia the same way I'm not scared of Croatia. Both have great teams on paper but they are terrible as a unit.

If Croatia actually had better work ethic, they'd be one of the favourites to win the World Cup in my opinion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
football forums

Machado

Posted
Posted
33 minutes ago, Kitchen Sales said:

Thought they looked shite against Ireland and Wales.

Maybe that's the case but if they are anything like us, they'll look better in the actual tournament. I'm not saying they'll be good in the WC, but with a talented side you never know.

34 minutes ago, Blue said:

Nah, I'm not scared of Serbia.

South Korea are the team to avoid in pot 4 for me.

In terms of individual quality, Serbia definitely stand out in pot 4.

Adding to that, IMO Asian football is way far behind European football, more than it ever was. The perfect group for me would be getting all Asian sides. It seems rather easy to break through their defenses, probably due to their (lack of) physicality. IMO they are the least tough opposition you can face in world football, so they simply get outclassed against more talented sides.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
football forum

Guest

Posted
Posted
Just now, Machado said:

Maybe that's the case but if they are anything like us, they'll look better in the actual tournament. I'm not saying they'll be good in the WC, but with a talented side you never know.

In terms of individual quality, Serbia definitely stand out in pot 4.

Adding to that, IMO Asian football is way far behind European football, more than it ever was. The perfect group for me would be getting all Asian sides. It seems rather easy to break through their defenses. IMO they are the least tough opposition you can face in world football, so they just get outclassed against more talented sides.

In terms of individual quality for sure but they don't play that well.

I think its unfair to single out Asian football too, CONMEBOL and UEFA are far ahead anyone else. South Korea have a decent forward line and will be a pleasant surprise in Russia as they have some very decent footballers. As for Iran, they are not easy to break down in the slightest. Japan and Australia aren't mugs either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
football forums

Machado

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Blue said:

In terms of individual quality for sure but they don't play that well.

I think its unfair to single out Asian football too, CONMEBOL and UEFA are far ahead anyone else. South Korea have a decent forward line and will be a pleasant surprise in Russia as they have some very decent footballers. As for Iran, they are not easy to break down in the slightest. Japan and Australia aren't mugs either.

Who are we kidding mate? Australia are shit. Anyone would rather draw Australia than Denmark or Sweden.

Iran are geographically Asian but they're not the kind of side I'm talking about. African and Middle-Eastern sides are way more scary than Asians if oriented correctly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
football forum

Guest

Posted
Posted
Just now, Machado said:

Who are we kidding mate? Australia are shit. Anyone would rather draw Australia than Denmark or Sweden.

Iran are geographically Asian but they're not the kind of side I'm talking about. African and Middle-Eastern sides are way more scary than Asians if oriented correctly.

They aren't in the same pot. Personally I'd avoid Australia over Serbia.

Australia aren't a great side but if there is one thing I have to give them credit for, they are hard to put down in big games. They prepare for them well. Look at how they nearly beat Chile in the confederations cup last year.

But for me the side that I want to avoid in pot 4 is South Korea. Australia would still be one of my top picks. Them and Morocco would be the 2 sides to avoid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
football forums

Berserker

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Machado said:

Who are we kidding mate? Australia are shit. Anyone would rather draw Australia than Denmark or Sweden.

Iran are geographically Asian but they're not the kind of side I'm talking about. African and Middle-Eastern sides are way more scary than Asians if oriented correctly.

To be fair Australia are a decent side, or were a few years back. I remember in 2006 they gave Italy a hell of a fight, and the later only went through because of an offside goal or a penalty that wasn't, can't remember exactly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
football forums

Toinho

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, Machado said:

Maybe that's the case but if they are anything like us, they'll look better in the actual tournament. I'm not saying they'll be good in the WC, but with a talented side you never know.

In terms of individual quality, Serbia definitely stand out in pot 4.

Adding to that, IMO Asian football is way far behind European football, more than it ever was. The perfect group for me would be getting all Asian sides. It seems rather easy to break through their defenses, probably due to their (lack of) physicality. IMO they are the least tough opposition you can face in world football, so they simply get outclassed against more talented sides.

CONCACAF and most of bloody Africa are worse. Asian football is very underrated. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
football forum

Guest

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Anton said:

CONCACAF and most of bloody Africa are worse. Asian football is very underrated. 

It still boggles my mind that fucking Panama are in the tournament. I wanted them to qualify but that's because I prefer them over Honduras.

Their best player (Luis Tejada) plays for Universitario. Its hilarious.

Sums up CONCACAF. Mexico is the best team on paper but on the pitch I'd give it to Costa Rica. More of an ambitious side.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Subscriber
football forums

Dan+

Posted
  • Subscriber
Posted

You've got to want Russia or Poland. God knows how Poland are in Pot 1 and if Russia weren't hosting it they probably wouldn't have even qualified, let alone be in the top pot.

I reckon our best from Pot 3 is Tunisia. Iran I'd have been inclined to say but they didn't concede a goal in qualifying until the very last game and I could imagine them setting up and holding us to a draw. Likewise Sweden, Iceland and Denmark I could see holding us.

From pot 4 you've got to want Panama, and preferably avoid Serbia or Nigeria.

Best: Russia, Tunisia, Panama

Worst: Brazil, Sweden, Nigeria

Typical: Argentina, Sweden, Australia

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
Sign up or subscribe to remove this ad.


×
×
  • Create New...