Quote:
Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper
Some of you most likely have more insight but, I have no clue just how good this team is. It could place in the bottom half of its group in Qatar or cruise to the quarter finals. It will be lots of fun
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It's going to be tough to get past the group stage. But not impossible. We are going to need a bit of luck on friday's draw. I read through the procedures. Here's hoping we are in group A, with the hosts Qatar. Here's why.
Teams will be split up in 4 pots, based on FIFA rankings on March 31. Pot 1 the best 7, + Qatar. Pot 2 the next best 8, pot 3 the next 8, and then finally pot 4 with the 5 lowest ranked teams + the 3 teams in the playoff runs. (UEFA path A playoff, CONCACAF vs OFC and AFC vs CONMEBOL)
We are going to be in pot 3 or 4. It will be known today, as Africa decides their teams today. 3 of the 10 remaining African teams are above us in the rankings, while the rest are below us. 5 teams make it to the World cup from Africa.
So far, 20 teams have qualified, and only 3 are ranked lower than us. The hosts, Saudi Arabia and Ecuador. So it's going to be close, as far as our chances go to make it to pot 3.
Costa Rica should finish 4th in CONCACAF, and they should beat the OFC team during the playoff run (most likely NZ), so they're another team that is below us in the rankings right now.
We are assured that the US, Mexico and Costa Rica will not be in our group, as you cannot have 2 teams from the same confederation in the same group, except for UEFA teams, due to their numbers.
So by the looks of it, any group we draw will be a tough go. Even if we make it to pot 3, we could end up with 3 other teams ranked higher than us, if the draw for a pot 4 team is a UEFA playoff run team from Path A. (ex. Wales), or the 5th South American team. (ex. Peru, Chile or Columbia)
So yeah, Group A should be a bit easier, due to Qatar's seeding in pot 1. Plus let's face it, how awesome would it be to get the opening match against Qatar, and beat their ass to a pulp, in their house !
Edit: Opening match is between A1 (Qatar) and A2, the team from pot 2, so it can't be Canada, unless our rankings go up significantly in 2 days time, and we somehow miraculously make it to pot 2, which I doubt.
https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/2ef762...r-Template.pdf