QuoteDoes this mean that Ireland would have missed out on top seeds if we qualified?? What a disgrace!!!!
They're out. It's South Africa; Brazil and Argentina; Spain, Italy, Germany, England, Netherlands.
Does this mean that Ireland would have missed out on top seeds if we qualified?? What a disgrace!!!!
Is the host always seeded? South Africa's results have been very poor of late.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Alas, this thread will go to World football forum.
Yes, so to get SA as first seeds in your group would be a dream. Whats the betting France draw them?!?!Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
Does this mean that Ireland would have missed out on top seeds if we qualified?? What a disgrace!!!!
How Italy and Argentina are seeds is beyond me.
Both hardly set the world alight during qualifying.
Where did Argentina finish in South American qualifying again. Was it 4th?
Did FIFA just want to rubber stamp how corrupt they are by seeding South Africa???
LESS OF THE BULL NOW!
Hosts are always top seeds
Didn't South Korea get very benign refereeing decisions in WC 2002.
Should we expect the same for South Africa?
Yes. Maximises local TV and commercial interest.
7/1 assuming no further fixes
Er, apart from being the World champions, Italy's record in this series of qualifying is better than all the eight unseeded European countries.
Argentina's seeding may be more convoluted, based on past achievement rather than current record. No-one seriously expected Paraguay, USA or the best Asian or other African side to be seeded.
Last edited by Gather round; 02/12/2009 at 10:58 AM.
It is another disgrace and FIFA changing the rules.
The November FIFA rankings were delayed until after the playoffs so they could be used.
FIFA then strangely announced they would use the October rankings. Under the rules for 2006 & 2002 this would have made no difference to the seeds. However their motive is now obvious.
Sure it is nice to see Henry and Domenech get shafted but it is another case of FIFA changing the rules to suit the result they want.
We should not celebrate or gloat as it is another black day for world football.
Henry might be a cheat but he isn't even close to the real gangster.
England gain again.
Watch em go and draw New Zealand, Algeria and Slovenia.
South Africa will get New Zealand,Uruguay and some midranked European side, Greece or Slovenia probably. The Confed Cup draw was practically transparent it was so see through.
England & Brazil are being seeded for a purpose, they want to be able to stick them somewhere that isn't going to mess up the local infrastructure because they traditionally bring a lot of support. So I expect them both to be in groups centred around JHB.
The thing is, the five current best European teams (based purely on current qualifying) are seeded. That's reasonable, even if FIFA's convoluted rankings- and their willingness to avoid them when it suits- aren't.
England deserve to be seeded. They didn't look that brilliant against Slovenia in a recent friendly.
I'm a bit vague about the scale/ distances/ transport and other infrastructure etc., but aren't all bar two of the venue cities (Cape Town and Port Elizabeth) in the NE of the country and accessible from JHB?
PS on a cricketing tangent, I was listening to the South Africa- England game the other day and the commentators were moaning that Port Elizabeth (widely agreed to be the nicest venue) wasn't getting a five-day test match; the concrete bowls around JHB take precedence.
England deserve to be seeded and would be on the original criteria. Holland for France is the only change based on the 2002 & 2006 criteria.
Cape Town and Port Elizabeth are a long way from Johannesburg. Both are at sea level as is Durban whereas the others are at altitude. Nobody has an advantage at this stage as the seeds are drawn into groups.
I cannot see any possible group that South Africa would progress from without refereeing help. Even then Blatter will have to referee himself. Slovenia, New Zealand and Uruguay would still see Uruguay and Slovenia walk the group.
Well if the November rankings were used (which was expected) then France would have displaced England as one of the seeded teams according to the BBC website.
It doesn't matter who England get anyway because they'll scrape their way to the quarter finals before going out to Germany/Portugal/Brazil/Spain.
Last edited by shakermaker1982; 02/12/2009 at 11:37 AM. Reason: deleted a word.
http://geology.com/world/south-afric...te-image.shtml
Bloem is about an 11/12 hour drive (just under athousand kms) from Cape Town, PE is about 9 hours.
Durban is 1700kms from Cape Town
Everything else is basically North of JHB
One of the LOC was quoted locally about getting Brazil & England based in Gauteng (Jhb & Pretoria), I fully expect it ot happen because of all the cities Bloem & PE are perhaps the most troublesome in terms of accomodation. They're far from other cities and and are not blessed with lots of hotels, PE has the Garden Route 2+ hours away but it's hardly convienient.
SA squeezed out of a group with Spain, Iraq & NZ in the confed cup, I think they'll at least be competitive in a group like the one above, beat NZ scrape a draw from Uruguay or Slovenia and hope results fall their way.......
If they end up with
France
USA/Australia
and one of the South American countries.
there in BIG trouble
Fair point. I was merely suggesting that seeding (and indeed World ranking) should be based on the current qualifiers, not what happened in the 2008 or 2006 finals.
Can't disagree with thatIt doesn't matter who England get anyway because they'll scrape their way to the quarter finals before getting going out to Germany/Portugal/Brazil/Spain
They're always seeded. It means that they can be guaranteed the group in their main stadium.
We're not arrogant, we're just better.
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