Official World Cup 2014 Qualifying Thread (Blame It On RIO)

[sharkov]

I don't really care who wins the World Cup as Long as it's not korea

[Locke]

Originally Posted by sharkov

I don't really care who wins the World Cup as Long as it's not korea

........?

That would require a miracle.

[browna]

As expected with the usual shadiness and string pulling from certain factions within FIFA, France avoids the tougher draw that they should've had if FIFA followed its own rules and precedent.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by browna

As expected with the usual shadiness and string pulling from certain factions within FIFA, France avoids the tougher draw that they should've had if FIFA followed its own rules and precedent.

I dont know, thats reaching a bit, I mean, France barely, barely qualified.

[You Need a Thneed]

I don't expect France to advance out of that group, and its a weak group.

[Pagal4321]

Originally Posted by browna

As expected with the usual shadiness and string pulling from certain factions within FIFA, France avoids the tougher draw that they should've had if FIFA followed its own rules and precedent.

Wait, what?!

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by polak

Wait what?

None of those teams are miles ahead of Germany? What are you smoking?

Anyways, these groups are pretty dumb. Seems like most of the good teams got grouped together and most of the minnows are together.

As Locke pointed out I meant the quality of the group

in the other two groups a team that is considered in the top 16 in the world is going to miss out. Two of England, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Chile, Uruguay wont make the knockout stages

In Group G, Germany and Portugal would be considered there, the US and Ghana would not

US and Ghana not making the KO stages won't be big news, it would be in the 6 I listed above

[darklord700]

Historically, European sides and especially Northern European sides don't do well outside of Europe because of the weather. I think some African sides might suprise us because they deal better with the heat and humidity.

I think Uraguay could go a long way with a Suarez in his prime and so would Argentina and Brazil. 2002 in Asia, the European players complained a lot about the heat and there were a lot of upsets that WC. This WC might be full of suprises as well which will be fun to watch.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Historically, European sides and especially Northern European sides don't do well outside of Europe because of the weather. I think some African sides might suprise us because they deal better with the heat and humidity.

I think Uraguay could go a long way with a Suarez in his prime and so would Argentina and Brazil. 2002 in Asia, the European players complained a lot about the heat and there were a lot of upsets that WC. This WC might be full of suprises as well which will be fun to watch.

People know the score in Brazil. And in South America its usually the humidity and the altitude that affect most players. But they also know that going in.

As for Uruguay, they have been godawful, but if they get their crap together they can be a dangerous team.

I would love to see Suarez, Forlan and Cavani carve up England's back 4 like a Christmas ham.

[seattleflamer]

Originally Posted by Locke

Really? I thought Brazil and the teams in group A were guaranteed to have the worst travel?

http://soccer.si.com/2013/12/06/toug...orld-cup-draw/

The U.S. got about the worst draw imaginable. The U.S. drew three-time world champion Germany, nemesis Ghana (which has eliminated the U.S. in the last two World Cups) and Portugal (featuring superstar Cristiano Ronaldo) in the Americans’ opening-round group for next year’s World Cup. Making things worse, the U.S. drew the most difficult travel distance possible: a whopping 8,866 miles round-trip with games in Natal, Manaus and Recife. The one thing U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann told me was that he didn’t want to play in the Amazonian outpost of Manaus—and now that’s exactly what will happen. Easily the toughest U.S. World Cup draw ever.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by seattleflamer

http://soccer.si.com/2013/12/06/toug...orld-cup-draw/

Okay....correct me if I'm wrong but shouldnt all teams in Group G have effectively the same travel schedule?

I'm not trying to take anything away from the US, they got a raw deal.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Locke

Okay....correct me if I'm wrong but shouldnt all teams in Group G have effectively the same travel schedule?

I'm not trying to take anything away from the US, they got a raw deal.

for the most part no

if you look at the map here



US goes North East to NW back to NE (Natal-Manaus-Recife)
Germany plays all their games within the 4 eastern cities (Salvador-Foraleza-Recife)
Portugal is close to the same as the US, lots of travel (Salvador-Manaus-Brasilia)
Ghana really only has one travel (Natal-Foraleza-Brasilia)

[troutman]

Games in Manaus - that is nuts. Is there mosquito netting around that stadium?

[d_phaneuf]

UEFA is all ready in talks with FIFA to switch match times with England/Italy and Uruguay/Costa Rica because as it stands right now the England game would be on at 2am BST and 3am CET

They want to move it back to the other time and have it be at 8pm BST

[darklord700]

Brazil is only 5 hours ahead of us. This time around we don't need to or wake up in the small hours to watch games.

[troutman]

Maybe only 3-4 hours difference?

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by troutman

Maybe only 3-4 hours difference?

You're right. Right now Brazil is 5 hours ahead of us. But with the ending of daylight saving time in spring, we spring forward and they actually fall back and cut 2 hours off of it. It could be only 3 hour time difference in the summer between Calgary and Rio.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

UEFA is all ready in talks with FIFA to switch match times with England/Italy and Uruguay/Costa Rica because as it stands right now the England game would be on at 2am BST and 3am CET

They want to move it back to the other time and have it be at 8pm BST

Does uefa really want an afternoon game in the heat?

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Does uefa really want an afternoon game in the heat?

UEFA doesn't care about the heat, they care about the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

and the ad revenue in basically primetime vs at 2 or 3am is massive

[browna]

Originally Posted by Pagal4321

Wait, what?!

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/fifa...ance-1.2449327

As for the travel, meh. These guys aren't having to shuffle onto domestic airlines, they'll have their own luxury aircraft. Rio to Manaus is a 4h flight.