Soccer Post: Why is World Cup draws so unfair?

[ShotgunDawg]

The USA gets: Germany, Portugal, and Ghana

Mexico gets: Brazil, Croatia, and Camaroon

Didn't we just beat them in Concacaf? Why do they get such an easier group?

Argentina got the Ohio State schedule: Bosnia-Herzegovenia, Iran, and Nigeria

Just ridiculous

[EngineerDawg]

Ouch... I haven't seen the results yet but that is a difficult group for us.. but all those teams are beatable. Kind of like if MSU football were playing USCe, aTm, & UGA. We wouldn't be favored but winning isn't out of reach.

[RougeDawg]

Saw that. Nobody likes the USA outside of the USA. Kinda like nobody likes Mississippi State outside of Mississippi State in the SEC, including the commissioner.

[Statefan]

Incredibly accurate comparison

[smootness]

This is the way the World Cup works. We've had fairly easy groups in the past, particularly in 2010.

I'm not sure why you think Mexico's group is so much easier, either.

Brazil has a good chance to be the best team there, and in Brazil they will be almost impossible to beat. Croatia is very good, and Portugal has a habit of not playing extremely well on the biggest stages, so I don't see much difference there. Ghana and Cameroon...meh. Ghana has been better more recently, but I think they're both pretty good, neither great right now.

[CJDAWG85]

Adam Kramer tweeted "So basically USA is Mississippi State"

[LiterallyPolice]

The USA gets: Germany, Portugal, and Ghana

Mexico gets: Brazil, Croatia, and Camaroon

Didn't we just beat them in Concacaf? Why do they get such an easier group?

Argentina got the Ohio State schedule: Bosnia-Herzegovenia, Iran, and Nigeria

Just ridiculous

The short answer is that they value geographic separation. After that, they rely heavily on random chance rather than traditional seeding.

We were destined to be in a tough group before today when it was announced we were the best team in the worst group. That basically ensured that many of the worst teams in the tourney could not be grouped with us.

That said, it could have been much worse. Germany will win our group. The other 3 teams are more or less equal on paper. We could have easily been in a group where we were a distant 3rd. THAT would have been a disaster. One group has three top ten teams: Spain, Chile, and The Netherlands.... And then Australia. WE could have been drawn in Australia's slot... Basically assuring we would not advance. Hell, we'd be lucky to draw any of those games.

Ghana is the weakest in our group on paper. USA and Portugal are about the same and slightly better than Ghana. Portugal's name and star player inflate the worlds perception of them. They barely qualified.

[WeWonItAll(Most)]

The short answer is that they value geographic separation. After that, they rely heavily on random chance rather than traditional seeding.

We were destined to be in a tough group before today when it was announced we were the best team in the worst group. That basically ensured that many of the worst teams in the tourney could not be grouped with us.

That said, it could have been much worse. Germany will win our group. The other 3 teams are more or less equal on paper. We could have easily been in a group where we were a distant 3rd. THAT would have been a disaster. One group has three top ten teams: Spain, Chile, and The Netherlands.... And then Australia. WE could have been drawn in Australia's slot... Basically assuring we would not advance. Hell, we'd be lucky to draw any of those games.

Ghana is the weakest in our group on paper. USA and Portugal are about the same and slightly better than Ghana. Portugal's name and star player inflate the worlds perception of them. They barely qualified.

It would be nice having to play Sweden instead of them.