Comments on: Socceroos are sweet at sixteen

By: jimbo

jimbo — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:57:58 +0000

md
FIFA only seed the first 7 teams for the WC based on past WC performances and FIFA rankings.
Top 7 plus host become pot 1 in the draw and can’t be drawn to play against each other.

South Africa are the biggest beneficiaries and will be given every chance to progress at home.

Socceroos would be unlikely to be in the top 7 when the draw is made.

By: Green n Gold 2010

Green n Gold 2010 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:47:33 +0000

Any group with Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain would be tough.

Like to see a pool with Ivory Coast, England, Korea Republic or Portugal. Not too hard not too easy just rite

By: md

md — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:01:47 +0000

Great article Con. Am going to steal a bit of it if you don’t mind

In relation to seedings, my understanding is that Oz would be unseeded because it hasn’t made 2 consecutive cups. Might be wrong though.
Cheers
md.

By: Joe FC

Joe FC — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:35:52 +0000

Nice story Con, a very interesting read. Derryn I’m with you, what a match that would be.

By: Derryn

Derryn — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:37:27 +0000

Can’t wait for the draw. I hope we get England. That would be massive.

By: Albert Ross

Albert Ross — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 10:18:43 +0000

Based on the Football-Rankings.info crystal ball job:

Group H: Germany, Denmark, Australia, Paraguay is the group of death 2.

Substituting AUS in any of the others –

Group A: South Africa, Serbia, Costa Rica, Chile Group A would be a doddle
Group B: Spain, Russia, Korea Republic, Uruguay would be death group 1
Group C: England, Scotland, Saudi Arabia, Zambia – easy
Group D: Brazil, Netherlands, Korea DPR, Gabon – would be err… interesting
Group E: France, Switzerland, Honduras, Ghana – easy
Group F: Italy, Northern Ireland, Japan, Tunisia – If AUS were in this group then JAP would be out and why would the others bother coming?
Group G: Argentina, Greece, USA, Cote d’Ivoire – tough but AUS could qualify

By: jimbo

jimbo — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:03:08 +0000

Chuq,
That’s right, our FIFA ranking doesn’t necessarily get us an easier draw.
The teams for the WC draw are drawn from four pots to make the first round eight groups of four.
Depending on which teams are in the top 7 seeds, the draw goes roughly as follows:
The top FIFA Ranked 7 seeds plus the host go into Pot 1
Europe qualifiers in Pot 2
Asian qualifiers and Concacaf in Pot 3
Conmebal and Africa in Pot 4

So we won’t get another Asian team or the USA in round 1.

Here’s one prediction of who we will face.
http://www.football-rankings.info/2009/06/2010-wc-seeding-formula-based-on.html

By: jimbo

jimbo — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:53:29 +0000

World Cup qualifiers have a higher weighting in FIFA rankings than friendlies and that’s why Australia has done so well in the rankings lately, because we’ve played a lot of qualifiers and not lost any.

But we have played all our qualifiers, so between now and the December draw we will probably fall back down about 10 places as the other WC qualifiers are played by teams below us and the Socceroos only play 3 or 4 friendlies.

By: Chuq

Chuq — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:48:31 +0000

“The good news for Australia if it can maintain that ranking through to the World Cup is that it will enjoy a high seeding, thus avoiding the likes of Brazil, Spain or Italy in its group.” This is a myth that I see perpetually spread throughout football forums. Seeding is only applicable if you are in the top 7 nations. After that, it’s all done by confederation.

By: Midfielder

Midfielder — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:09:52 +0000

Con

Another excellent article…my two bobs on the top 16 position…. we will get to play quality teams in the lead up to the WC..will help with the local media… will help the the local game…

But has some unexpected consequences as well like this .. Highly interestingly article from the Bangkok Post..

The way the article talks about Australia I wonder are we considered an Asian country … anyway they want into Oceania as a means of getting to the WC ….

The article does raise some interesting issues about the allocation of WC spots… Thailand should join Oceania is the theme of the article

I will copy some key parts .. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/spor…d-join-oceania

In fact, the quota for “Asia” has been effectively reduced now Australia has joined the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The Aussies have comfortably booked a ticket to South Africa playing in the qualifying round in Asia.

For convenience, Asia should get six spots with the Oceania champions joining the AFC qualifying round.

After being crowned Oceania champions, Thailand would face an Asian side in a play-off for a finals spot. This could be easier for the Kingdom than playing in long qualifying stages in Asia.

With only New Zealand a creditable side in Oceania, Thailand could become champions of the region. The Thais comfortably defeated a second-string All Whites in a friendly in Bangkok recently.

Australia switched to Asia so why can’t Thailand go the other way round?

By: colin

colin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:14:06 +0000

the fact that were up so high is truly a great achievement for sport in australia. this is the only sport played by every nation in the world and to see us up so high is remarkable. as per the higher seeding, we must not lose within the next 12 months if we are to be placed in pot 2. the higher up were ranked the more favourable our draw will be. mark my words, this is a team which does not like to lose, in fact our first choice team has not lost a game for over a year, if we make it out of the group stage we can make the quarter finals regardless of who we have to face. simply put, this team is incredibly hard to beat and we can make giant strides in south africa