After weeks of anticipation, the pots for the World Cup have officially been announced by FIFA. Before I get to them, I will explain to those not familiar with the process that the following are based off of the October FIFA World rankings and geography, mainly geography with the exception of the first pot. On Friday, the day of the Final Draw, each group will be comprised of one team from each pot. Teams that are in the same pot will not be in the same group for the World Cup. So without further ado, here are your 4 pots for the 2010 FIFA World Cup
Pot 1 (host nation and the top seeds)
South Africa
Brazil
Spain
Netherlands
Italy
Germany
Argentina
England
Pot 2 (Asia, North America, and Oceania)
Australia
Japan
Korea DPR (North Korea)
Korea Republic (South Korea)
Honduras
Mexico
United States
New Zealand
Pot 3 (Africa and the rest of South America)
Algeria
Cameroon
Cote d'Ivoire
Ghana
Nigeria
Chile
Paraguay
Uruguay
Pot 4 (rest of Europe)
Denmark
France
Greece
Portugal
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Switzerland
Well, there you go. The only thing I can really add is that I'm uber-bummed we won't get a U.S.-North Korea showdown, but that is to be expected I guess as North America is usually grouped with Asia.
The Final Draw is this Friday at 12:00 PM ET on ESPN2. I have a conference with a professor so I won't have a CiL blog up as I was hopeful I would be able to do so, but I'll check in and watch it from the start on ESPN360 and I'll have all of the results up including the subsequent master schedule that will be released as well.
I think you forgot to mention that South Africa is exempt from facing another African country, and that Brazil and Argentina won't be drawn against any other South American countries.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to watching on my lunch Friday, so thanks for ruining it by not running a liveblog, JFein ;-)
I could set one up for you and I can join you when I'm finished with my conference. It will only be 20 minutes from 12:05 to 12:20, unless of course it runs along.....
ReplyDeleteIt does not matter if I watch the beginning on ESPN360 after the end, right? ;-)
no, of course it wouldn't matter ;-)
ReplyDeletewell, i'll be here if you want to set it up...
All right. And I'll be there when I'm back.
ReplyDelete