By DAN KARELL
With Uruguay’s scoreless draw against Jordan on Wednesday evening and their 5-0 aggregate victory, the 32-team field for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil is set.
The South Americans were the last nation to earn a berth in the World Cup after a qualifying process that began with Belize defeating Monserrat, 5-2, on June 15, 2011 in CONCACAF. A total of 824 qualifying matches were played since then, culminating with Wednesday’s scoreless draw in Montevideo. Uruguay joined Mexico, Portugal, Croatia, Greece, and France as the last nations to qualify for the tournament.
All 32 qualified countries now will wait, some with baited breath, for the FIFA World Cup draw in Bahia, Brazil, on Dec. 6.
Here’s a full look at the nations that qualified for the 2014 World Cup:
WORLD CUP 2014 NATIONS
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Cameroon
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Ecuador
England
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Honduras
Iran
Italy
Ivory Coast
Japan
Mexico
Netherlands
Nigeria
Portugal
Russia
South Korea
Spain
Switzerland
United States
Uruguay
——–
What do you think of the World Cup field? Which nations are your favorites? Who do you see as the dark horses of the tournament? Any surprises in the field?
Share your thoughts below.
I just ran several draws…all of them bad. 🙁
This World Cup is going to be brutal for the USMNT. I highly doubt we will get out of our group.
JK has 6 stressful months coming up. He needs to get the team in-line and quickly or our back four are going to be the laughing stock of the tournament. Bradley and Jozy need to have guardian angels around them at all times so they don’t get hurt and Lichaj needs to shine in every minute of every game he plays, both for club and country.
I really don’t care much for the Brazilian national team but being half-Brazilian and living in Brazil makes things at least a little more interesting for me.
On another note, I hope France crashes and burns. I hope Ghana gets destroyed. Both those teams shouldn’t be there.
How about a team made up of the Did Not Qualifys: players from around the world on teams that fell *early* in the qualification process (so no one from Sweden, Panama, or Senegal, for examples, because they failed late).
Just think: Lewandowski (Poland), Hamsik (Slovakia), Bale and Ramsey (Wales), Cech (Czech Republic), Alaba (Austria), Ivanovic (Serbia), Mkhitaryan (Armenia), Pizarro (Peru), Cardozo (Paraguay).
Who am I missing? (Maybe Chicharit—oh wait, they qualified didn’t they.)
Which key player do you think will be injured for WC 2014?
The obvious guess is Fab Johnson.
No, the obvious one is Steve Cherundolo.
After him, FabJo is a good (in which case it’s bad) bet.
Hopefully Ghana is placed in a group far from USA so we avoid them until the semis!
So what do people think would be the deathiest Group of Death possible? Not just from the US perspective, but from anyone’s? I think: Brazil – USA – France – Italy
S
Spain, USA, Ghana, Netherlands
Based on FIFA rankings and the pots in this simulator:
Spain, USA, Chile, Netherlands or Italy.
We’re good as long as Holland is far, far away from our Group.
The only team that scares the daylights out of me is Brazil. I think the USMNT on a good day has the potential to take at least a point in group play against any of the other teams and I think that if the USMNT meets Germany in group or the knock-out round that we will kick their b*tts. Germany has some serious problems, with Number One being Jogi Low. I predict epic failure for Germany in Brazil.
Even if the US gets drawn with Brazil, it’s not a given that they are done. Totally depends on the other two teams in the Group.
They could always get Brazil-USA-Greece-Algeria or something like that and people would like the US’s chances of getting out of the group.
Plus, depending on where each team was placed may be quite important. Imagine if the US plays Brazil in the third game, where both the US and Brazil win their first two games.
Seeded teams play opponents in order of pot. So if we end up in pot 2 then we will play the seeded teams first. And I prefer that. Better chance to catch them off their game/rusty I think.
MatchDay 1
1 v. 2
3 v. 4
MatchDay 2
1 vs. 3
2 vs.4
MatchDay 3
1 vs. 4
2 vs.3
No. The match order is drawn as well. For example, the US is drawn out of pot 2 (concacaf and Asia) and then gets another ball drawn which will determine its group and position, say A2 will be the team playing Brazil in the opening match.
biff: I don’t see how the US could get through Germany’s back line, and I can see how their attack would cause serious problems for the US’s back line. The only place where I see the US fairing well in that match-up is the mid-field (and that all depends on which Jermaine Jones shows up). Earn a point? yes. Kick b*tt? no.
Have y’all seen this…warning…expect to lose time. It’s a group stage calculator.
http://ultra-zone.net/2014-FIFA-World-Cup-Group-Stage-Draws
There aren’t really any “easy” teams to be paired with, it’s going to be really tough. Odds are definitely for us getting stuck with one, maybe two world powers, and then 1 or 2 teams at about our level when we play our best. Just getting out of the group stage will be extremely difficult.
There’s a problem with this simulator. It allows 3 European teams to be drawn together. For example, Germany, France, Netherlands, USA.
This situation was avoided in 2006 by having a “special pot” for Serbia, which ensured that they would not be grouped with more than 1 other European team.
I’ve been simulating draws and ranking each group any team in pot B gets with 3 subjective descriptions at my discretion: good, ok and bad.
So far these have been my findings:
Chances of getting a bad group: 45.833%
Chances of getting a good group: 29.16%
Chances of getting an ok group: 25%
Some people will be more pessimistic or optimistic about certain groups than I was, I’d like to see others try the same experiment and report what their findings were.
nice work…but since I have to work, I won’t be adding to your experiment 🙂
Ya its going to be a lot more difficult this time around. There are no crazy upsets in playoffs… 31 really good teams and then Honduras.. Jk
My favorites to win it all:
Brazil
Argentina
Portugal
Dark horses:
Colombia
USA!!!!
….Mexico?
Brazil
USA
Nigeria
Russia
We could do that…
My second one was:
Colombia
USA
Cameroon
Bosnia-Herzegovina
I like it better…
brazil, usa, france, portugal-barf
If we avoid the Netherlands, getting out of the group is a craphsoot. If we are drawn with Van Persie & Co., the job becomes much more difficult.
But remember, nobody wants to draw us from Pot 2 either.
Very true, but last time we played the Netherlands, we only lost 2-1 in their house, with Bornstein being accountable for both goals…ha, pretty sure he won’t plane this time around.
I’m sure a lot of teams would take their chances with us in their group
nevermind you’re right. We are one of the stronger teams in that pot
Dutch defense is still suspect; the key is holding down their scoring. Japan just beat them but the Dutch didn’t have van Persie or Huntelaar.
Tried it several different times. One scenario that popped up more than once was us in a group with both Germany and the Netherlands. Woe unto that scenario. How they had the gall to put the Netherlands and Italy in the second UEFA pot while putting Switzerland in the first is beyond me.
It’s based on the FIFA rankings – Switzerland is just ahead of the Netherlands there, so they’re in Pot 1. The Swiss are actually only ahead by two points, so if Holland had won one game instead of tying, or tied instead of lost, even three years ago, it would be in Pot 1 instead. Go figure.
As mentioned before, the Swiss are seeded because:
1. The Netherlands played a bunch of friendlies which lowered their ranking
2. Italy tied a meaningless WCQ match
3. The Swiss won against 2 lower-level European teams, but since they were WCQ’s, got huge points in the FIFA formula.
It’s ridiculous, really. The two WCQ wins (over Slovenia and Albania) vaulted them up 7 places. The Swiss also went undefeated in WCQ, but their group was Iceland, Slovenia, Norway, Albania, Cyprus.
The Swiss experience is a good counter argument to all the Euro snobs who always talk about how the US could never qualify if they played in Europe. Every Euro group had a minnow and a lesser nation or two lesser nations like Albania and Cyprus.
What? We’re next last on the list! Fire Klinsmann!
Argentina, USA, France, Algeria
Brazil, USA, Cote d’Ivoire, Bosnia/Herz
Germany, USA, Algeria, Greece
Colombia, USA, Nigeria, England
Germany, USA, Ecuador Netherlands
These are all tough groups.
None of these were as bad as my second attempt… Argentina, USA, France, Italy!!! Group of Death!
All the draws are looking terrible. Even teams like Greece are solid. The only teams we will beat handily will be Iran or Australia. The rest is in JK’s hands and I don’t feel good about that. AT ALL.
Switzerland, US, Algeria, Bosnia
Columbia, US, Cameroon, Croatia
Not to be repetitive.
Just so we all can get our wish lists in order, and given the different seedlings and so forth, it would be nice to see the best possible draw for the US.
What I meant was the best possible draw that folks see as possible.
Let’s break it down by the pots as listed here:
From Pot 1: Uruguay or Switzerland – I know Uruguay is very highly ranked, but they have been struggling lately (and Luis Suarez is a terrible human being so they deserve to lose). Also Switzerland because everyone else in that pot is ridiculous.
From Pot 2: USA! All the way! I would love to build a group from just this pot, but sadly we don’t get to play Australia or Costa Rica in the group stage.
From Pot 3: The only one I’d be happy about is Algeria, but I’m not afraid of anyone but Chile.
From Pot 4: England, Greece, BiH, or Croatia. This pot is half very, very good and half just very good, so we want one of the very good teams.
In short, we’re going to need to beat some good teams to get out of the group, but hey, it’s the World Cup! We’re not going there to lose.
Very nice breakdown
From Pot 3 I would say the following:
NO WAY JOSE: Ghana, Ivory Coast, France, Chile
GO DO WORK: Cameroon, Nigeria, Ecuador
GIVE ME PLEASE: Algeria
Nate: nice work. Adding to what AcidBurn does here, it would be interesting to see you further break down your Pots:
Pot 1:
Okay: Swi, Uru
Dangerous: Bel, Arg, Col
Ridiculous: Bra, Spa, Ger
Pot 2: yeah, everyone would like to play against only these teams. The weakest Pot for certain.
Weak: Ira, Aus, Hon
Okay: Kor, CRC
Solid: Jap, USA, Mex (?)
Pot 3:
Okay: Cam, Alg, Ecu, Nig
Solid: Chi, CIV
Dangerous: Gha, Fra
Pot 4:
Okay: Gre, BIH, Rus
Solid-ish: Cro
Solid: Eng, Por
Dangerous: Net, Ita
This is a stacked world cup, a lot of good teams… I’m going to run down what I got for every CONCACAF team in the draw simulator and my thoughts.
For The Yanks
Group A:
Brazil
USA
Ghana
Netherlands
I’m afraid it would be 3 and out for The Stars and Stripes, they have NO chance here, sorry. Brazil the host nation is untouchable for the USMNT, Ghana repeatedly gets the best of them, the USA is also out of Holland’s league, Robben and Van Persie would have a field day.
For Mexico’s group I got
Uruguay
Mexico
Cameroon
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Mexico’s group is slightly more accessible but they could still have huge problems if they don’t shore up their backline. If they get Hector Moreno/Diego Reyes back into the starting 11 they would have a chance to get out of this group along with Uruguay which is the clear favorite to clinch 1st place, but if they stick with Maza Rodriguez and Topo Valenzuela then things look bleak.
For Honduras
Argentina
Honduras
Côte d’Ivoire
England
3 and out for Honduras in this group too, after how badly they were wrecked by Brazil I have zero expectations for this team, this team is extremely limited, and if they hack at the opposition as much as they did on Neymar then they’re looking at multiple cards and suspensions.
For Costa Rica I got this
Colombia
Costa Rica
France
Greece
Nope. Costa Rica has no shot vs Colombia or France, and Greece is no pushover either. If these were the groups then I’m confident every single CONCACAF team would go 3 and out. Well, MAYBE apart Mexico who would have the easiest group out of the 4 teams.
Even though I agree that is the worst group ever for any B pot holder, I would not go as far as saying it would be impossible for the U.S. to get out of it. The U.S, is more than capable of beating Ghana and the U.S. is always good for upsetting at least one big giant. However, I rather have another B pot represented falling into this group. The U.S. might get a difficult group but I doubt it would be this one. If the U.S. can avoid the Netherland or Italy in Pot D, they have a great chance of getting out. The simulator is just for fun. Come December 6, I guess we all will know for sure.
I got usa, germany, Ghana, holland
Then mexico, Greece, Colombia, France. Who’s more likely to make it out if any, usa or mexico?
Neither would make it through those groups. Germany/Holland in the US group advance and Colombia/France in the Mexico group.
I could see Greece pulling that uspset on France. Their style of play fits that and they’ve done it before in the 2004 Euros.
Where is the list by pot?
I don’t think FIFA has officially listed the pots yet. You have the top 7 +1 Brazil, which is really the top 8. The other 3 pots are based on past WC draws. It would make sense that Asia and CONCACAF are in 1, as they both have 8 teams. the next 8 Euro teams make a pot and then the remaining teams with Africa.
Asia and CONCACAF both have 4 teams, making an easy 8 for one Pot.
The Ultra-Zone simulator is the best guess using the same criteria as the last World Cup. AFC/CONACAF in Pot 2, unseeded UEFA in Pot 4, and the rest in Pot 3. France would get put into Pot 3 because they are the lowest ranked UEFA team.
What time is the World Cup draw on December 6th?
13:00 in Salvador, Brazil
11:00 Eastern US
Streaming on FIFA.com. If it’s on TV, it will be on ESPN.
WARNING: Be careful when thinking about what time the World Cup games will be on. Instead of a 2-hr difference, it will be a 4-hr difference because of opposite Daylight Savings Time.
Game times will be MUCH better than the early morning times when it was in South Korea/Japan in 2002. I had trouble not waking up the whole family yelling at the TV during the US win over Portugal!
Haha yes, I remember getting up at 3am for those. For this World Cup you will just have to leave work early.
Since that’s my birthday, my birthday wish is for the US to get a good draw.
Americans need good pot. 🙂
So that’s why the national team trains in California in January… 😉
I just got…
Argentina, France and Italy.
How is that for you?? I think I have to clean my underwear now…
Related question: Do people think that our #13 FIFA ranking is accurate? (My own gut feeling is that #20 or so would be a better reflection of our actual strength.)
I think we’ll have a better sense of what our real ranking is 2-3 months before the WC. We need to see our complete squad in a friendly in March
I think the full strength U.S. squad is ranked more or less where it deserves to be. Maybe a spot or three too high, but not too far off. Yes, we could quite possibly lose to any one of 20 or 25 teams, but many of those same teams could easily lose to us as well.
After these past two freindlys you’ll see us right around there.
I’ll take that, especially if it’s Columbia instead of Colombia.
Columbia probably couldn’t even beat Harvard or Yale.
I don’t know, Columbia had 5 players in the All-Ivy team, think this would be a tough one.
I kinda like that people keep getting France. I want them in our group.
All you group-o-death generators need to stop jinxing it. The first time I ran it, I got Columbia – USA – Algeria – Bosnia-Herzegovina. The second time I got: Switzerland – USA – Ecuador – Russia
I ran five and all of them are very difficult but not impossible. None were worst case or best case:
Uruguay, US, Nigeria, Russia.
Argentina, US, Cameroon, Greece
Argentina, US, Ghana, Bosnia
Belgium, US, Ivory Coast, England
Columbia, US, Ivory Coast, Russia
Our group is going to be brutal. Our only chance is Swiss from pot 1.
holy f*ck, first time I tried the simulator it came up with this for the US group:
Colombia
United States
France
Netherlands
The first simulation I did was Argentina, USA, France and Netherlands… 🙁
I agree with most people here saying that every group looks like it could be potentially really tough. We might have more talent than ever right now, but can be as resilient as Bob Bradley’s team? What an emotional roller coaster 2010 was..
Switzerland, Algeria, Greece-yes, please… only took 15 tries to get that
Australia or Iran instead of Greece would be even better.
First draw I got was Argentina, France and Greece. Wow.
That is an awesome draw. Free win from France. Draw with Greece and then assume that Greece draws everyone and we are through. France bottom of the group.
I have such confidence in France.
The French looked pretty good the other day…
Can we be put in another pot please?
there is way to make these things happen, you know. Just look at how a tiny country in the hottest place on earth got to host a World Cup that will require three years’ worth of club seasons to be moved! Amazing! Miracle$ can happen….
I have a hard time seeing a really weak group. Competition is tighter. Impressive field. Should be a great world cup in a spiritual center for football.
Yeah, not a lot of weak teams in the field.
“bated breath”—unless the nations will be fishing until the draw.
Thank you King. For you Dan: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bai1.htm
Now all chances come down to the draw. FIFA owes us one for the 2022 bid fiasco.
I know everyone thinks they are going to get the “group of death”, (as I’ve read in headlines from Ghana and England), but really almost all of the groups are going to be pretty tough.
Honestly, where are all the weak teams for easy groups? Honduras, Iran in Pot 2, Algeria in Pot 3. Even a group with Honduras could end up having Brazil, France, and Italy. Iran could be with Argentina, Ghana, and the Netherlands.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t any easy groups.
Not sure if Belgium is a dark horse, but I would pick them to be one.
Being in the top 10 kind of disqualifies you from being a dark horse IMO
BUT in reality everyone knows it is really really hard to win a world cup, and you can come in ranked well, but really it has always been the strong history and storied nations that have made it.
Belgium is not a storied nation like Netherlands, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, etc.
If they won that definitely would be a surprise.
Dark horse to win: Belgium
Dark horse to make semifinals: Japan
Japan can be amazing. They match up really well with sometimes. Not so much with others.
Belgium isn’t winning anything.
Same with Colombia
Japan just beat Holland in Belgium, but they really disappointed in the Confederations Cup, so they seem hard to predict. On paper they look good, but I think physical teams will give them problems. Belgium is another team that has great personnel, but hasn’t been in the WC for a long time. I see them getting to the quarters and then losing.
Same with colombia
…and here’s the world cup draw simulator for everyone who likes to repeatedly push a button and watch randomness ensue.
http://ultra-zone.net/2014-FIFA-World-Cup-Group-Stage-Draws
Thanks for that!
If you have an Android phone, you can also try an Android app that I put together called World Cup DrawSim. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s free! Check it out at the Google Play store:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jpbyerssoftware.worldcupdrawsim
First draw:
Brazil
France
Netherlands
Second draw:
Argentina
USA
France
Italy
Group of 1000 Deaths
Oh man, now I won’t get any work done.
I know what I’ll be doing for the next two weeks!
First draw: USA, Brazil, Portugal, Ghana :/
That would be insane, rigged!
Mine was Spain, Italy, Ghana
First Draw: USA, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany, Chile
We could make it out of that group…
You think so? I rank all those teams better than the usa
Nah, not Bosnia. But the others…
Usa better than Bosnia? Umm nooo
Nah, I see Germany/Chile getting out of that one.
This is cool! 1st Draw:
Switzerland
USA
Ghana
Croatia
Mine is almost identical for the USMNT, except they drew Ecuador instead of Ghana. Costa Rica on the other hand drew: Brazil, France and Russia. The group of death: Spain, Japan, Chile, Netherlands.
Brazil-USA-Algeria-Greece
Switzerland-USA-Ecuador-Bosnia
not too bad.
I’d take that first one right now if you offered.
First Draw: Uruguay, USA, Algeria, Croatia
That’s a good draw in my opinion!
And the US could play Croatia in the first game where Croatia wouldn’t have Mandzukic. Sign me up now.
Thanks for the link. Now I have a new way of distracting myself from my responsibilities all while raising my blood pressure.
All of my draws have been total nightmares.
Argentina, France and Ghana!
Spain, Ecuador and Italy!
Even teams like Greece and Algeria worry me. They aren’t world-class but their teams will play better than ours.