FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualifying

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Why did they pair Oceania v CONCACAF and CONMEBOL v Asia? They should have switched it around so the stronger teams qualify.

I think they rotate every four years. And anyway I'm not really sure that Asia #5 is much better than Concacaf #4.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Why did they pair Oceania v CONCACAF and CONMEBOL v Asia? They should have switched it around so the stronger teams qualify.

I think they rotate every four years. And anyway I'm not really sure that Asia #5 is much better than Concacaf #4.

Sure is an abstract concept. But I would think so. CONCACAF, beyond Mexico and the US, always seem to be total crap. I think the more important thing is that OCF should get CONMEBOL so they don't have a chance. Otherwise I think it's a bit unfair.

Well for WC2006 there was a CONCACAF-AFC play-off and Trinidad and Tobago qualified ahead of Bahrain.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

No. What needs to be done is much more intercontinental play-offs. Anyway, I see no evidence that, for example, Senegal or Iran is much worse than Greece or Austria.

So...
Hosts = 1
UEFA = 9 Automatically, 7 play-offs
CONMEBOL = 4 Automatically, 3 play-offs
CONCACAF = 2 Automatically, 3 play-offs
CAF = 3 Automatically, 5 play-offs
AFC = 2 Automatically, 3 play-offs
OFC = 1 play-offs

Though in practice CONEMBOL and CONCACAF should merge as too the AFC and OFC

[Tetro Kornbluth]

So the Italy draw supposedly means Switzerland is definitely seeded and Italy now needs either Colombia or Uruguay to not win tonight. Ugh. Is this true? Lewis?

Only if they use the FIFA rankings for seedings... which they didn't before 2010.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

So the Italy draw supposedly means Switzerland is definitely seeded and Italy now needs either Colombia or Uruguay to not win tonight. Ugh. Is this true? Lewis?

Only if they use the FIFA rankings for seedings... which they didn't before 2010.

That's what they're using apparently.

They haven't formally announced it yet.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I really doubt they will use the FIFA Rankings for the seedings, they didn't before 2010 so I expect the first pot to look like this:

Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Italy, Netherlands, Uruguay, Germany, Portugal

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I really doubt they will use the FIFA Rankings for the seedings, they didn't before 2010 so I expect the first pot to look like this:

Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Italy, Netherlands, Uruguay, Germany, Portugal

Why do you keep doing this? They confirmed that they're using the rankings. Italy and The Netherlands are not going to be seeded.

Precedent. They've NEVER seeded anyone before who hadn't qualified for the previous world cup (So the Netherlands in 2006 was not unseeded). But it looks like I was wrong... Going to make for some interesting groups.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

One of these days UEFA is going to split from FIFA entirely.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

It's the World Cup, not the Europe vs. South America Cup.

Yeah but it pretty much is the latter and should be. Sprinkle a few joke teams and mediocre teams from other areas in there for fun but that's it. UEFA and CONMEBOL deserve more berths. Real fans believe that. End of story.

I really doubt the world is missing much by not having Venezuela there.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

A - 1 Brazil 2 Mexico 3 Croatia 4 Cameroon
B - 1 Spain 2 Holland 3 Chile 4 Australia
C - 1 Colombia 2 Cote D'ivoire 3 Japan 4 Greece
D - 1. Italy 2. Uruguay 3. England 4. Costa Rica
E - 1. France 2. Ecuador 3. Switzerland 4. Honduras
F - 1. Argentina 2. Bosnia 3. Nigeria 4. Iran
G - 1. Germany 2. Portugal 3. Ghana 4. USA
H - 1. Belgium 2. Russia 3. South Korea 4. Algeria

Second Round
Brazil bt Netherlands
Colombia lose to Uruguay
France bt Bosnia
Germany bt Russia
Spain bt Mexico
Italy bt Cote D'ivoire
Argentina bt Ecuador
Belgium bt Portugal

Q-Finals
Brazil bt Uruguay
France lose to Germany
Spain bt Italy
Argentina bt Belgium

Hmm... I shall go no further now.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

FIFA is obviously corrupt, but cursory research suggests that this Twitter page is likely bullshit. This page gives an explanation how this was probably done.

Se dice en español 'tuits' por 'tweets'? Lame.

Create your own words people