Soccer Post: World Cup draw...

[Maroon Eagle]

If you think the Basketball selection shows are extremely long, they have nothing on FIFA World Cup Draws. The ceremony began at 11, it's 11:43, and no draws have been made yet.

Statistically, expect the USMNT to be paired with Brazil or Argentina from Pot 1, Serbia or Poland from Pot 3, and the European playoff winner from Pot 4 (if we don't get Brazil or Argentina from Pot 1-- expect the Asia/South American playoff winner here).

Here are the ~probabilities, from @julienguyon1977, who ran 100,000 simulations.He has similar charts for other World Cup teams on his timeline, go find them pic.twitter.com/NqXabi2oVz— Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) March 31, 2022

 

[Maroon Eagle]

USMNT is in Group B with England and Iran.

Halfway through the draw, and there are some spicy matchups already #WorldCupDraw https://t.co/KUz4RWftFH pic.twitter.com/zHffwBNU9k— SI Soccer (@si_soccer) April 1, 2022

Halfway through the draw, and there are some spicy matchups already #WorldCupDraw https://t.co/KUz4RWftFH pic.twitter.com/zHffwBNU9k— SI Soccer (@si_soccer) April 1, 2022

 

[Maroon Eagle]

UEFA Playoff Winner in Group B with England, Iran, and the USMNT.

The June UEFA playoff winner goes into the #USMNT’s group. It’ll be either Scotland, Wales or Ukraine rounding out a group that also features England and Iran. No Ghana this time.#WorldCupDraw https://t.co/E31eCGmntj— SI Soccer (@si_soccer) April 1, 2022

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Complete Draw:

Group D ICP 1 is Peru vs. Australia/UAE winner.
Group E ICP 2 is Costa Rica vs. New Zealand winner.
And as previously mentioned in Group B, EUR is Wales versus Scotland/Ukraine winner.

And that’s it! The #WorldCupDraw is completehttps://t.co/E31eCGmntj pic.twitter.com/rizZnDEZvq— SI Soccer (@si_soccer) April 1, 2022

 

[The Maroon Pug]

That is not a bad draw tbh, Mexico though.. giant OOF.

 

[dorndawg]

Complete Draw:

Group D ICP 1 is Peru vs. Australia/UAE winner.
Group E ICP 2 is Costa Rica vs. New Zealand winner.
And as previously mentioned in Group B, EUR is Wales versus Scotland/Ukraine winner.

And that’s it! The #WorldCupDraw is completehttps://t.co/E31eCGmntj pic.twitter.com/rizZnDEZvq— SI Soccer (@si_soccer) April 1, 2022

I know next to nothing about soccer but how are Spain & Germany in the same group? And am I missing Italy?

 

[patdog]

It’s not a good draw. ELO rankings are 5, 19. (assuming Wales wins the playin) 21 (USA) & 23. That England team is very talented.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Yeah, Group A was our best scenario.

Group B is second best since it's paired with Group A in the knockout stage. But watch us play our first match of the World Cup against Wales...

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Italy did not qualify. They lost to Northern Macedonia.

 

[patdog]

With 8 groups & 13 European qualifiers, groups can have 2 European teams.

 

[dorndawg]

Italy did not qualify. They lost to Northern Macedonia.

Yikes

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Two European nations can be in a group & Spain and Germany were in Pots 1 & 2 respectively.

Nah, we're not missing Italy but Italy is certainly missing out on being in the World Cup.

 

[patdog]

Yeah. Gareth Bale has been stealing money from Real Madrid for years, but he plays his heart out for Wales. They’ll be tough. And England has the talent to win it all, I’ve got a feeling this World Cup will be a learning experience for this young team.

 

[af102]

Looking at the matchups and game times, we will likely play our first 2 games at either 11AM or 2PM (eastern), and then the 3rd game has to be at either 10AM or 2PM (eastern). Group A plays on the same day as Group B, so the 5AM game on match day 1 is already taken by Qatar/Ecuador. The 5AM game on match day 2 will likely be Iran/European Playoff team (or Qatar/Senegal but I doubt Qatar gets back to back early games). Even worst case scenario is an 8AM kickoff which is better than the Korea/Japan kickoff times in 2002.

 

[FlotownDawg]

That’s why I’m not going to complain one bit how the USMNT qualified for the World Cup. Bottom line is, they qualified, and that’s all that mattered. Italy has now failed to qualify for two consecutive World Cups. The crazy thing is they won the 2020 European Championship (in 2021) and then followed that up by failing to qualify for the WC because they lost to North Macedonia of all teams.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

And that match against Directional Macedonia was the only match Italy lost during the World Cup Qualification process.

 

[Cousin Jeffrey]

And that match against Directional Macedonia was the only match Italy lost during the World Cup Qualification process.

And only the third goal they allowed in qualifying (9 games).