***Official*** Road to World Cup 2014

[Pothas]

World Cup is so ****ing great.

 

[NUFAN]

I don't think there are too many weak teams who have made the Cup and none of the big teams missed out, which is great. Ukraine at 20th in the rankings is the highest team to miss out and Cameroon are the lowest ranked country at 59th. I don't really understand the rankings though, have Brazil been punished a fair bit by not having to qualify?

 

[Pothas]

Yeah lack of competitive games explains it. The rankings system has always been a bit strange, remember Mexico and USA used to always be really high, so it is probably a bit better than it was.

 

[sledger]

Nobody will miss Ukraine. Nobody. Not even Ukranian people.

 

[NUFAN]

Czech Republic is probably the best team not participating who I'll miss the most.

 

[Pothas]

Ukraine v Switzerland in 2006 may well be worst game I have ever seen, and I have had a season ticket in League 2.

 

[sledger]

Ukraine v Switzerland in 2006 may well be worst game I have ever seen, and I have had a season ticket in League 2.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking of as well. It's really hard to remember a game as poor as that. Even the pundits said it was ****. They didn't even try and dress it up as a "fascinating contest", it was just that bad.

 

[BoyBrumby]

The Swiss are actually one of the worst teams to watch. Their 1-0 win over Spain in 2010, which gladdened the heart in a "nice seeing the underdogs winning" kinda way, was painful to actually have to sit through. They play with the mindset of the Italians married to the skill level of the English, which is a particularly unwinning combo.

How they're seeded when (say) said Italians (winners in 2006 and Euro runners-up in 2012) and the Netherlands (runners-up last time) aren't is rather mind boggling.

 

[Pothas]

I actually have no idea how they are seeded. Did not even qualify for the Euros and I can't remember them beating anyone good recently.

 

[Uppercut]

The Swiss are actually one of the worst teams to watch. Their 1-0 win over Spain in 2010, which gladdened the heart in a "nice seeing the underdogs winning" kinda way, was painful to actually have to sit through. They play with the mindset of the Italians married to the skill level of the English, which is a particularly unwinning combo.

How they're seeded when (say) said Italians (winners in 2006 and Euro runners-up in 2012) and the Netherlands (runners-up last time) aren't is rather mind boggling.

I don't think they're as bad as they were in 2010, remember them having a 4-4 draw with Iceland not long ago. Basel are a properly attacking team so hopefully some of that comes through at national level.

I can't figure out how they got that ranking either. They aced qualifying but that just means there's a mystery of how they landed such an easy qualifying group.

 

[Furball]

I don't think there are too many weak teams who have made the Cup and none of the big teams missed out, which is great. Ukraine at 20th in the rankings is the highest team to miss out and Cameroon are the lowest ranked country at 59th. I don't really understand the rankings though, have Brazil been punished a fair bit by not having to qualify?

There's at least 10 teams from Africa and Asia.

 

[NUFAN]

There's at least 10 teams from Africa and Asia.

There isn't even 10 teams from those two confederations participating in the Cup.

Ivory Coast, Ghana, Japan to name a few are hardly weak either.

 

[sledger]

Ivory Coast have been pretty poor for quite a while though haven't they? They were rank at the last WC.

And they have Gervinho.

 

[Uppercut]

Ivory Coast have been pretty poor for quite a while though haven't they? They were rank at the last WC.

And they have Gervinho.

They got a filthy draw last time out though. And the time before that too.

They've choked a lot in ACON but been consistent enough to keep a decent ranking and you'd think they'll be better than a handful of European teams.

The Asian teams bar Japan look they could really stink up the joint though, along with the obligatory CONCACAF prank entries.

 

[sledger]

Yeah, they had tough draws, but particularly last time round I remember thinking that their performance was still pretty poor.

Mind you, apparently even Gervinho is playing well these days, so who knows.

 

[Furball]

There isn't even 10 teams from those two confederations participating in the Cup.

Ivory Coast, Ghana, Japan to name a few are hardly weak either.

I think people have this mistaken tendency to look at weaker sides star names and proclaim them to be hardly weak.

I'm quite confident in predicting that no non-European or South American side will get beyond the 2nd round.

 

[NUFAN]

I think people have this mistaken tendency to look at weaker sides star names and proclaim them to be hardly weak.

I'm quite confident in predicting that no non-European or South American side will get beyond the 2nd round.

I suppose we might have a different definition of weak. You might claim any team that is very unlikely to make the final as weak while I'm hopeful that there aren't any teams who have 3 losses, score no goals and let in 12+.

Also, there is a good chance you are correct about your second point but it is neither here nor there. There are going to be some very good teams that miss out on the last 8 like usual.

 

[Tom Halsey]

I think people have this mistaken tendency to look at weaker sides star names and proclaim them to be hardly weak.

I'm quite confident in predicting that no non-European or South American side will get beyond the 2nd round.

Yeah but that's not the biggest claim in the world because in theory that claim (as near as makes little difference) boils down to saying that no non-European or South American side is in the world's top 8, which I think is fairly obviously true.

I'd sooner be drawn against several European teams than Ivory Coast though, as Uppercut said.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

I'm quite confident in predicting that no non-European or South American side will get beyond the 2nd round.

Crate of beer of your choice against. With four prank-seeds it's easy to see a 2nd round match a la USA v Ghana.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Thoughts on Fatini juking the draw then?