FIFA world cup draw is at 10am est today

[lakerboy]

Big event. Looking forward to it.

[jjgold]

Thanks For all you do here and alert us to specific events and value plays

[brooks85]

can't wait for next world cup, the trends I found last world cup were unstoppable.

take under on cards on every first round match
over on every first round match
under on every second round match

finishing record was insane

[lakerboy]

Thanks For all you do here and alert us to specific events and value plays

No problem

[Otters27]

Still cannot believe US did not qualify. Terrible

[Chi_archie]

YAY

[Optional]

What TV channel has it?

[Optional]

What TV channel has it?

FoxSports1

[lakerboy]

Uruguay gets an easy group with Saudi And Russia along with Egypt. Host friendly as well

[Sam Losco]

group a softer than baby shit

[lakerboy]

Group b

Spain
Portugal
Morocco
Iran

Group c

France
Peru
Australia
Denmark

Group d
Argentina
Iceland
Croatia
Nigeria

They always end up with Argentina/Nigeria

Group e

Brazil
Swiss
Costa Rica
Serbia

That's a tough group

Group f
Germany
Mexico
Sweden
Korea

Group g
Belgium
England
Panama
Tunisia

Group h
Poland
Senegal
Columbia
Japan

[cincinnatikid513]

looks like alot of easy groups should be alot of favs making it to knockout rounds group b they might as well skip playing and just award spain and portugal as thru

[Pauulzcappin]

Nice group for Brazil

Lets goooooo

[cincinnatikid513]

belgium and england got hooked up should be easy for those 2

[lakerboy]

Nice group for Brazil

Lets goooooo

Have they ever gotten a tough group?

It isn't that easy though. Swiss are tough. Serbia is very underrated

[lakerboy]

looks like alot of easy groups should be alot of favs making it to knockout rounds group b they might as well skip playing and just award spain and portugal as thru

Yeah they got rid of the group of death concept.

Iran is very tough. Don't be fooled

[cincinnatikid513]

Yeah they got rid of the group of death concept.

Iran is very tough. Don't be fooled

spain and portugal are 3 and 6 in fifa world rankings iran is 32 i really don't think they will hae to worry about iran who might sneak in a few draws they do play low scoring tight games

[Pauulzcappin]

Have they ever gotten a tough group?

It isn't that easy though. Swiss are tough. Serbia is very underrated

Nota that i can recall. Dont think these teams pose a big threat. Swiss defense is tough though.

[cincinnatikid513]

group of death is either d, e , or f,

[SportsMushroom]

sad when you know which teams are gonna go through in most groups


only good teams are european teams and south american teams


weird cause african and asia love football, yet cant put together a decent team


how is india and china not in it, they are half the world population, just by statistics, they can field the best talent, they should be winning in every sport

[cincinnatikid513]

some very weak teams in the draw world cup is def missing netherlands usa and italy

[lakerboy]

sad when you know which teams are gonna go through in most groups


only good teams are european teams and south american teams


weird cause african and asia love football, yet cant put together a decent team


how is india and china not in it, they are half the world population, just by statistics, they can field the best talent, they should be winning in every sport

I can speak for Indians. The parents encourage there kids to become doctors and Lawyers. They don't push them to play sports.

[cincinnatikid513]

they grow up in india to be phone screeners so when you want some help you surely will get it

[Sam Losco]

if you were to add all the teams world rankings, heres how the groups rank from toughest to weakest

group e - 73
group c - 79
group d - 84
group b - 93
group g - 94
group h - 95
group f - 104
group a - 175

my opinion on toughest to weakest at first quick glace:
group f
group e
group c
group d
group g
group b
group h
group a

[lakerboy]

Sweden has 2000+ miles to travel between 3 games

[franz555]

if you were to add all the teams world rankings, heres how the groups rank from toughest to weakest

group e - 73
group c - 79
group d - 84
group b - 93
group g - 94
group h - 95
group f - 104
group a - 175

my opinion on toughest to weakest at first quick glace:
group f
group e
group c
group d
group g
group b
group h
group a

You really can't take FIFA rankings too seriously. They take into account friendlies, where coaches are inclined to start fringe players for assessment. Chile were #4 a month ago, and they didnt even qualify ( just as an example )

[SportsMushroom]

I can speak for Indians. The parents encourage there kids to become doctors and Lawyers. They don't push them to play sports.

thats in every country


yes you will find exceptions like lavar ball

but in general its the same everywhere, parents push their kids towards being doctors and lawyers

so its a non factor

at 1.5 billion, just by statistical probability, india should be crushing it

[trytrytry]

ok so did it happen or does it take like couple hours like the stupid ncaa bracket draw a big production

[SportsMushroom]

You really can't take FIFA rankings too seriously. They take into account friendlies, where coaches are inclined to start fringe players for assessment. Chile were #4 a month ago, and they didnt even qualify ( just as an example )

thats not precise either


you dont get the same amount of points for a friendly and a world cup match

basically difficulty of tournament is taken into account, so you barely get points for a friendly

also opponent level is taken into account

so if you play a week opponent in a friendly game, you get zero or close to zero points

[lakerboy]

ok so did it happen or does it take like couple hours like the stupid ncaa bracket draw a big production

You don't follow? I already posted the groups

[lakerboy]

thats in every country


yes you will find exceptions like lavar ball

but in general its the same everywhere, parents push their kids towards being doctors and lawyers

so its a non factor

at 1.5 billion, just by statistical probability, india should be crushing it

Wrong. Blacks in America don't tell their kids to be doctors and Lawyers.

[Sam Losco]

You really can't take FIFA rankings too seriously. They take into account friendlies, where coaches are inclined to start fringe players for assessment. Chile were #4 a month ago, and they didnt even qualify ( just as an example )

i dont, just wanted to see how it looked out of curiosity. also, adding them all up can screw it up because of teams like south korea in group f

[franz555]

thats not precise either


you dont get the same amount of points for a friendly and a world cup match

basically difficulty of tournament is taken into account, so you barely get points for a friendly

also opponent level is taken into account

so if you play a week opponent in a friendly game, you get zero or close to zero points

The very fact that you would gain ANY points for a friendly that fields a " B " team, already places into question the validity of utilizing them when ranking

[SportsMushroom]

The very fact that you would gain ANY points for a friendly that fields a " B " team, already places into question the validity of utilizing them when ranking

i think friendlies should count, I think you are wrong. no team schedules a friendly to field the 'b' team. this isnt nba or nfl preseason

in soccer, especially internationally, friendlies are very rare, and a golden opportunity for the 'a' team to play together and create chemistry and cohesion before world cups/euros/qualifiers


even if i concede to your point, since it is the same rule for all teams, it does not benefit a specific team or teams

taking that in mind, if you remove the results of friendlies for all teams, you will end up with more or less the same ranking


i think its a very good system, teams make points depending on significance of competition, opponent difficulty. and any points earned decay over time to indicate diminishing relevance to present form





you want to test my point? the world cup is coming up, and all the teams will be organizing friendlies leading up to the world cup in order to get ready for the big show

check the lineups and tell me how many teams field weak lineups, let alone 'b' teams


also you could remove all teams points from friendlies and check if the resulting ranking are significantly different

[cincinnatikid513]

i think friendlies should count, I think you are wrong. no team schedules a friendly to field the 'b' team. this isnt nba or nfl preseason

in soccer, especially internationally, friendlies are very rare, and a golden opportunity for the 'a' team to play together and create chemistry and cohesion before world cups/euros/qualifiers


even if i concede to your point, since it is the same rule for all teams, it does not benefit a specific team or teams

taking that in mind, if you remove the results of friendlies for all teams, you will end up with more or less the same ranking


i think its a very good system, teams make points depending on significance of competition, opponent difficulty. and any points earned decay over time to indicate diminishing relevance to present form





you want to test my point? the world cup is coming up, and all the teams will be organizing friendlies leading up to the world cup in order to get ready for the big show

check the lineups and tell me how many teams field weak lineups, let alone 'b' teams


also you could remove all teams points from friendlies and check if the resulting ranking are significantly different

friendlies rarely use the teams best players, they will use a mix and match of youngsters veterans star players, most of the time the good players will only play a half then you will see mass subs no way should friendlies count towards fifa world rankings they are nothing more than an exhibition match a preseason game a spring training game