Burr
12-06-2005, 11:51 AM
This is to find out who's playing who in the first round of the World Cup, and it's happening this Friday. Interesting news though.. I didn't know USA was that close to being one of the top 8.
U.S. narrowly misses out on seeding for World Cup (http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=worldcupseeds&prov=st&type=lgns)
The United States' last-place showing in 1998 hurt its 2006 World Cup chances.
The U.S. narrowly missed out on landing one of the eight seeds for next year's soccer world championship in Germany on Tuesday.
Defending champion Brazil, England, Spain, host Germany, Mexico, France, Argentina and Italy received the eight seeds.
Argentina and Italy earned a total of 44 points apiece in the rankings, which are determined by an average of results from the past two World Cups and the FIFA world rankings over the past three years.
Ranked eighth in the world by FIFA, the U.S. finished ninth in the rankings with 43 points. Even though the Americans reached the quarterfinals in the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan - which counted twice as much weight as the results from the 1998 World Cup - the U.S. greatly was hindered by its last-place showing in France.
Also missing out on a seed was the Netherlands, which is ranked third in the world but was damaged by not having qualified for the 2002 Cup. The Dutch finished with 38 points.
Brazil topped the group with the maximum 64 points, followed by England (51), Spain (50), Germany (49), Mexico (47), France (46), and Argentina and Italy.
U.S. coach Bruce Arena likely is seething at seeing Mexico earn a seed instead of his squad, for the Americans beat their arch-rival in the second round of the 2002 World Cup and finished first in CONCACAF qualifying for the 2006 Cup.
The U.S. was placed in Pot 4 with CONCACAF rivals Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago, as well as the four Asian qualifiers, Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. The Americans will play one of the seven seeds in Pot 1 besides Mexico, and one team each from Pots 2 and 3.
The teams in Pot 2 are Australia, Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Tunisia, Ecuador and Paraguay.
Pot 3 consists of Croatia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.
Serbia & Montenegro is in a special pot and will be allocated to one of the three groups that are headed by a non-European team, either Brazil, Argentina or Mexico.
The draw will be held here on Friday.
Curse you Steve Sampson! :mad:
Here's hoping for an easy group, for both USA and Argentina (hopefully they don't end up in the same group or I'll be torn).
I hope Brazil gets the group of death after the cakewalk they had in 2002. Something like Brazil, Paraguay, Netherlands, and South Korea.
U.S. narrowly misses out on seeding for World Cup (http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=worldcupseeds&prov=st&type=lgns)
The United States' last-place showing in 1998 hurt its 2006 World Cup chances.
The U.S. narrowly missed out on landing one of the eight seeds for next year's soccer world championship in Germany on Tuesday.
Defending champion Brazil, England, Spain, host Germany, Mexico, France, Argentina and Italy received the eight seeds.
Argentina and Italy earned a total of 44 points apiece in the rankings, which are determined by an average of results from the past two World Cups and the FIFA world rankings over the past three years.
Ranked eighth in the world by FIFA, the U.S. finished ninth in the rankings with 43 points. Even though the Americans reached the quarterfinals in the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan - which counted twice as much weight as the results from the 1998 World Cup - the U.S. greatly was hindered by its last-place showing in France.
Also missing out on a seed was the Netherlands, which is ranked third in the world but was damaged by not having qualified for the 2002 Cup. The Dutch finished with 38 points.
Brazil topped the group with the maximum 64 points, followed by England (51), Spain (50), Germany (49), Mexico (47), France (46), and Argentina and Italy.
U.S. coach Bruce Arena likely is seething at seeing Mexico earn a seed instead of his squad, for the Americans beat their arch-rival in the second round of the 2002 World Cup and finished first in CONCACAF qualifying for the 2006 Cup.
The U.S. was placed in Pot 4 with CONCACAF rivals Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago, as well as the four Asian qualifiers, Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. The Americans will play one of the seven seeds in Pot 1 besides Mexico, and one team each from Pots 2 and 3.
The teams in Pot 2 are Australia, Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Tunisia, Ecuador and Paraguay.
Pot 3 consists of Croatia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.
Serbia & Montenegro is in a special pot and will be allocated to one of the three groups that are headed by a non-European team, either Brazil, Argentina or Mexico.
The draw will be held here on Friday.
Curse you Steve Sampson! :mad:
Here's hoping for an easy group, for both USA and Argentina (hopefully they don't end up in the same group or I'll be torn).
I hope Brazil gets the group of death after the cakewalk they had in 2002. Something like Brazil, Paraguay, Netherlands, and South Korea.