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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Soccer Venting Open Thread: The Qatar World Cup Draw

Soccer Venting Open Thread: The Qatar World Cup Draw

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Response to my late-night query was, let’s call it equivocal, so here’s a space to get your grievances on…

Reader Interactions

82Comments

  1. 1.

    catclub

    Is Brazil, France, Argentina and Spain in one pot an April fools thing? Tough group. A hot pot, you might say.

  2. 2.

    Kineslaw

    Considering Italy didn’t qualify for the World Cup, it will be difficult for them to win.

  3. 3.

    Benw

    @catclub: I just learned this: the teams are put in pots by rank, and then seeded into groups to spread the talent around. So pot #1 is the host plus the 7 best teams in the world!

  6. 6.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Good news from FL (at least until it gets reversed on appeal):

    Saying that “Florida has a grotesque history of racial discrimination,” a federal district judge struck down most of a controversial election law passed in the state last year, and said the state can’t make any major changes to election regulations for the next 10 years unless a judge clears them first.

    U.S. District Judge Mark Walker agreed with voters who sued the state that the bill “runs roughshod over the right to vote, unnecessarily making voting harder for all eligible Floridians, unduly burdening disabled voters, and intentionally targeting minority voters — all to improve the electoral prospects of the party in power.”

    Walker said that for the next decade, changes to voting laws that affect third-party registration efforts, drop boxes or “line warming” — in which volunteers offer water or chairs to people waiting in line to vote — must be approved first by the court.

  7. 7.

    Tony Jay

    @catclub:

    Ha! Nah, those are the pools. Each group at the World Cup gets a team from each pool (I think) to ensure the higher seeded avoid each other until the later rounds.

    That said, Brazil, France, Argentina and Spain? That would be a great group!

  8. 8.

    Tony Jay

    As ever, it would take a heart of stone not to laugh at Scotland’s predicament. Fought all the way to get a chance at qualifying, confident that as underdogs they’ll have the support of all neutrals, so who do they draw?

    Ukraine! Fecking UKRAINE!!

    And even if they do break the hearts of tens of millions, everyone knows they’ll go down 2-0 to Wales, because you can’t avoid the inevitability of the immortal phrase “once again, another brave Scottish attempt at qualification… ends in failure“.

  9. 9.

    LeftCoastYankee

    Oy, I just realized this will be broadcast on Fox/FoxSports in the US.   Sportswashing with a substantial Newscorp tonguebath….

  10. 10.

    Mike J

    The most important thing to remember is the US has twice as many World Cup championships as England, and that’s what matters most.

  11. 11.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    Crap. Why did we have to end up in the group with Germany? I want us to make it out of group and that will make it tougher. That said, it could be worse. We could have ended up in the Brazil, France, Argentina, and Spain group.

  14. 14.

    Montanareddog

    @Tony Jay: my understanding of the rules: each group will be 4 teams, 1 team drawn from each pot, and you cannot have 2 teams from the same continental federation in the same group with the exception of UEFA, which can have 2 but not 3

  15. 15.

    Tony Jay

    USA in England’s group.

    Can I get an Oooooooooooooooo?

    That World Cup thread is going to be a toffee-flavoured joy.

  20. 20.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Mike J: When did the US win? I did a wiki walk which informs me that England won the 1966 World Cup. Or am I missing something?

  22. 22.

    trollhattan

    Speaking of footy, UEFA Women’s quarter final between Barca and Real Madrid broke the attendance record for women’s football with 91,553. The old record was US-China in the WWC 1999 final at the Rose Bowl.

  23. 23.

    catclub

    @Benw: yeah, that kind of slowly dawned on me…. after i posted in haste. First time I have ever posted in haste, though. ;)

  24. 24.

    Steeplejack

    Goddamn, people, these pots are not the final groups. From the linked Al Jazeera article:

    In each team pot, there are eight balls bearing country names for each qualified team as well as three placeholders.

    There are also eight pots representing the groups and are labeled A to H. In each group pot, there are four balls number one to four representing the position in each group.

    A ball is drawn from the team pot and then from one of the group pots to determine the team’s position in that group.

    The top teams are all in the first pot to ensure that they don’t all end up facing one another too “early” in the tournament.

    The group stage drawing started at noon EDT and might be over already. CNN story here.

  25. 25.

    VeniceRiley

    @Tony Jay: USA in England’s group.

    I met my wife betting on US vs England women. She lost. The bet was, if England won, I’d have to call it football for a year. She had to call it soccer. It was so painful that I let her off the hook after a couple months.

  28. 28.

    Shalimar

    So Wales, Scotland or Ukraine in the group with England and USA.  That hype will be through the roof in the english-speaking world.

  31. 31.

    Tony Jay

    WORLD CUP OF SHAME DRAW 2022

    Group A)  Qatar – Netherlands – Senegal – Ecuador (The Dutch and Senegal, probably, unless Ecuador have a great start)

    Group B)  England – USA – Iran – Wales/Scotland Ukraine (Script writers not even trying any more, I see)

    Group C) Argentina – Mexico – Poland – Saudi Arabia (Messi’s boys plus the winners of the Pol/Mex punchout)

    Group D) France – Denmark – Tunisia – UAE/Australia/Peru (France, but after that, any one of three)

    Group E) Spain – Germany – Japan – Costa Rica/New Zealand (Spain and Germany, no question)

    Group F) Belgium – Croatia – Morocco – Canada (Belgium are aging but ace, Croatia just aging, but still…)

    Group G) Brazil – Switzerland – Serbia – Cameroon (Brazil, then it’s an open group)

    Group H) Portugal – Uruguay – South Korea – Ghana (Ronaldo’s entourage, then quite even)

  34. 34.

    lee

    As much as we love watching soccer and the WC, my wife and I have serious reservations about watching with it being in Qatar.

     

    Yeah I know we are nothing but a drop in a vast ocean when it comes to the WC audience.

  38. 38.

    Benno

    @Tony Jay: I guess that makes Group E the group of death? Is this some weird kind of balance. I don’t know how I feel about this.

  39. 39.

    trollhattan

    @raven:

    “Good on ya, Buddy!”

    Footy is such a goofy game, like a bunch of drunken Aussies (but, I repeat myself) created a football-rugby bastard child and decided it still wasn’t goofy enough so made the field oval. “Ooh, good one, Bruce!”

  40. 40.

    Splitting Image

    Looks like a pretty balanced draw. The host group was always going to be the easy group, but they picked up two of the toughest teams in pools B and C.

    Groups G and H seem tougher to me, but there is no obvious “group of death”.

    Off the top of my head, I’d pick Netherlands, Senegal, England, USA, Argentina, Mexico, France, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Croatia, Brazil, Switzerland, Portugal and Uruguay to advance from their groups, but as always, a single upset can throw an entire group out of whack.

    Still feels weird not picking Italy to win their group.

    If I were to bet on the outcome, I might make France the favourite to win the whole thing. They should win their group, and assuming Mexico finishes second in group C, will get a bye into the quarterfinals. [/cheapshot]

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    @raven: Michael Dickson of the Seahawks may well prove to be the best NFL punter ever once he’s played out his career. Absolutely uncanny control of the ball.

    And Sam Kerr (Matildas, Chelsea women) one of the best strikers in the game, played footy with her brothers until she ran into the brick wall of there being no girls league, only then switching to the other football. She gained a certain…aggressiveness and lack of care about her well-being not generally coached in soccer and when in the zone cannot be defended.

  47. 47.

    Ha Nguyen

    I don’t know if Germany would advance.  They’re pretty inconsistent.  I think Japan could make a fight of it.

  49. 49.

    Tony Jay

    @Benno:

    E or F. Spain are getting back to where they were, Germany haven’t been GERMANY for a while, Japan are improving, Costa Rica has no army and New Zealand has hobbits. On this and on this alone I suggest it’ll come down to Germany v Japan, the fight 1945 robbed us of!

    Then I see Belgium (World No 1 or thereabouts) really HAVE to win this or history will wonder how the hell that team ended trophy free. Croatia, nah, disciplined but Modric’s magic is waning. Canada and Morocco, both came out of tgrur qualifying tourneys really strongly, so this could be the group where the bookies lose big.

  50. 50.

    Benw

    @Tony Jay: seems pretty balanced this year. No obvious group with too many top teams.

    Maybe the Americans can ceremonially hand over rocket launchers to the Ukrainians after their match.

  51. 51.

    Tony Jay

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:

    Can. You. Even. Imagine?

    “Iran launches an unprovoked foot-missile into sovereign US territory! Oh My God! They’ve done it!! The crazy bastards! Mayor Rudi, your words?”

      “Where’s Biden? Huh? Where’s..? This happens, where’s the President? This is 911 again all over again! Again! Never again! 911! Where’s Joe?”

     “Wise words. Wise, poignant words. I’m hearing it was an offside play. Fieldgoal to the United States. God Save us all.”

  52. 52.

    Captain C

    @Tony Jay:

    everyone knows they’ll go down 2-0 to Wales

    And Gareth Bale’s only two goals of 2022 (at least until he leaves Real).*

    *Other than the brace he seems to have scored against Austria in the semifinals.

  53. 53.

    Tony Jay

    @Montanareddog:

    Yeah, the Dutch have been mystifyingly off the boil for a decade or more, but still, that group is basically an after the pubs close kicking circle around Qatar’s huddled corpse. They’ll be lucky to get a point. I’m not really familiar with Ecuador, but Senegal play stylish, attacking football, have Liverpool’s Sadio Mane upfront and boast the most beautiful bone structure on the continent. Seriously. A baby with mixed Senegalese/Ethiopian heritage has basically won the Looking Fine trophy already and will be widely hated by mere mortals.

  54. 54.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Tony Jay: I think Canada (yes, I’m biased) and Japan both have a shot in their groups. I was really hoping for Canada to get put in Group A

  55. 55.

    Tony Jay

    @Captain C:

    Gareth always does it in twos, it reduces the time he has to spend on the football pitch as opposed to the golf course.

    He’s probably the best British player of his generation, and I say this as a man who watched his brilliant cameo and Sergio Ramos’ unpunished thuggery deny Liverpool a deserved Champions League Final victory in 2018, in a Manchester United pub, surrounded by braying Manchester United fans.

    OTOH, I’d love Andy Robbo to take his Scotland to a World Cup… but come on, its Scotland, they’ve been on a losing streak since Bannockburn.

  56. 56.

    eclare

    @Tony Jay:   I once asked a friend which team I should cheer for if I didn’t really care.  His response?  The hotter team.

  57. 57.

    Geminid

    @Tony Jay: I’ve heard that Brazilian star Neymar has worked on a new flop. When an opponent brushes his sleeve, instead of falling to the pitch and writhing in agony, Neymar drops on his back, rigid,  with his hands at his shoulders and a fixed stare. He calls it “the Possum.”

  58. 58.

    JML

    E and F are the groups I would want no part of.

    Germany isn’t GERMANY, but they’re still Germany, you know? Spain is rising again, you can’t give Japan anything, and having watched Costa Rica too much during qualifying I wouldn’t want to be near them either.

    Belgium & Croatia are tough sides and if people sleep on Canada then they haven’t been paying attention. Poor Morocco.

    England v USA should be fun to watch. I really like this English team (except for Southgate’s dislike of Super Jack) but I think they’ve got some things to work out on the back line. Tony Jay’s pal Slabhead looks like he’s slipped and I’m not sure they have the right CB to slot in for him. England has all the attacking talent in the world, but might shoot themselves in the face (like usual) by trying to cover on the back rather than destroy everyone by scoring 5…

  59. 59.

    Captain C

    @Tony Jay:

    Sergio Ramos’ unpunished thuggery

    Sergio Ramos should by rule have to go into each game with a Yellow Card, just for existing  (or perhaps Real should start each season with -50 points as long as he’s on their roster).  Not only should he have gotten red for taking out Saleh, but given that it’s Real, the ref should have given a gratuitous extra red to the Real player of Liverpool’s choice.

  61. 61.

    Tony Jay

    @Just One More Canuck:

    Yeah, but too easy a group can lead to issues with self-belief for teams. You get to the knockout rounds and feel like you’re still untested, which can lead to playing too skittishly against ‘bigger’ teams and getting strategically outplayed.

    Better to have a bit of a battle in the group stage. Hard game, tension, see how deep you can dig. Get the players really believing in their guts and enjoying the feeling of being hard fought winners, and then take that confidence into the later rounds.

    Granted, you have to be ‘quite decent’ to pull it off, but you got this far, didn’t you?

  64. 64.

    Captain C

    @Tony Jay: Even without Salah, Liverpool destroys Real if it’s 11 on 9 (or even on 10 if we’re not going by Captain C’s Special Real Rules).  Hell, with Salah I think they win going away 11 on 11.  Fuck Real; they’re what happens if the Dodgers and Yankees had a Phalangist-curious soccer playing kid.

    (If you’re not familiar with American baseball, those are the two richest, most obnoxious teams in the sport.)

  65. 65.

    lee

    @Alison Rose ???: According to FIFA the US men could put the stars on their jersey if they wanted to.

    I think Germany is the only country with wins on both women’s and men’s teams.

  67. 67.

    Kent

    @lee:

    @Alison Rose ???: According to FIFA the US men could put the stars on their jersey if they wanted to.

    I think Germany is the only country with wins on both women’s and men’s teams.

    Yes, only 4 countries have ever won the Women’s  World Cup:  USA 3-times, Germany twice, and Norway and Japan each have one win.

  71. 71.

    Captain C

    @Kent:

    USA 3-times

    Aren’t they up to four, now?

    I remember watching the 3rd one (2017) in Amsterdam; because of the time differences, I got back to my hotel about 1am in time for the USA to be up 2-0.  I thought, ‘great, they’ll win, but I may not see any goals.’  They scored 3 more, and, IIRC, Japan scored two.  Great times!

  73. 73.

    Kent

    @Captain C: Yep, it’s 4.  I mis-counted

    Watching how fast the Euro women’s pro teams have come on in the past couple years and have basically passed the US women’s league, I think any future wins by the US are going to be harder to come by.  The Barcelona vs. Real Madrid women’s classico this past week drew 91,00 fans.  Way more than EVER comes to a US women’s game that isn’t a world cup final.

  74. 74.

    trollhattan

    @Kent:

    That’s four stars for the USWNT, good sir! 1991, 1999, 2015, 2019. (already covered)

    They’re also ongoing proof of how difficult it is to win WWC and Olympic Games titles, consecutively.

  76. 76.

    randy khan

    @Kent:

    I make no predictions, but because the club teams draw from all over the world, them getting better at the expense of the American league does not necessarily spell trouble for the USWNT.  Lots of the top Americans are playing in Europe against the best competition.

    What I think has changed is that top women in other countries can now make a living playing the game, something that was possible in only a few places (and most notably, the U.S.) before, so the pipelines to the national teams will get stronger.  Whether that’s enough to overcome the U.S. advantage in population and that girls here play sports in general much more than in a lot of other countries, I don’t know.

  77. 77.

    Tony Jay

    @M31:

    That’s because they’ve got the real Ark of the Covenant buried beneath Axum and have dna from a long lost colony of Nephelim…

    Come to think of it, that may just have been a particularly intense fever-dream brought on by a mix of Covid and cheese drizzled with sherbert.

  78. 78.

    WeimarGerman

    England will only win when they decide to compete as the UK — so never.

    If FIFA wanted to make this more fun they would add an all-star team of players whose countries got eliminated or even better from countries that never appeared at all!  Then we could watch a front line of Mahrez, Haaland and Salah (with Bale off the bench).

    Let Ryan Giggs coach just because he’s got the most trophies without ever appearing in a WC Finals.

    Still puzzled over the tie breaking that could put Scotland or Wales in with England.  That’s a bit off.

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