Opinion, commentary and humour on fantasy English Premier League football, the English Premier League, Major League Soccer and international football. From people who should know... better.
not looking good for the yanks. if the seeding system was actually fair and didn't entrench incumbents, they'd be playing portugal, angola and iran. under the current seeding system, the role of chance (as opposed to merit) plays a huge part in determing how well you do. for instance, it will be little surprise if mexico, france, south korea, spain and the ukraine make it to the second level based on their draw. And so in the next WC, if all these teams qualify again, should they be seeded rather than one of the stronger teams that will be knocked out of Group C or E? This seeding system needs to change.
even if we manage to escape the group, the #2 team from group E plays the winner of the Brazil group. So, play above our heads and survive, and we get it right in the kisser. Maybe if we had marcel Balboa we'd stand a chance.
Claudia Reyna thinks the other teams will be concerned about handing the U.S. players.
"We've earned respect from the last appearance in the World Cup and our current ranking," he said. "We have good attacking players. We've been very good defensively of late. It's a very good possibility as well that teams are going to be worrying about us."
If the U.S. team advances to the second round, it most likely would play defending champion Brazil, Croatia or Australia. What will he do if the Americans get past the first round?
Group E is definitely the group of death. In Group C, holland and Argentina are clearly the overwhelming favorites to go on.
If you lumped the two groups together, the ranking of the teams would probably be:
1. Czech 2. Argentina 3. Italy 4. Holland 5. USA and then the other three.
The Czech will have the best shot at placing first in the Group E, which will leave Italy and the U.S. fighting to play Brazil. As a fan of the game, I'd rather see Italy v. Brazil.
If the seeds play out, it looks a Final Four of:
1. England v. Argentina (can't wait) 2. Brazil v. doesn't matter, maybe Korea, Spain, Togo?
not looking good for the yanks. if the seeding system was actually fair and didn't entrench incumbents, they'd be playing portugal, angola and iran. under the current seeding system, the role of chance (as opposed to merit) plays a huge part in determing how well you do. for instance, it will be little surprise if mexico, france, south korea, spain and the ukraine make it to the second level based on their draw. And so in the next WC, if all these teams qualify again, should they be seeded rather than one of the stronger teams that will be knocked out of Group C or E?
ReplyDeleteThis seeding system needs to change.
even if we manage to escape the group, the #2 team from group E plays the winner of the Brazil group. So, play above our heads and survive, and we get it right in the kisser. Maybe if we had marcel Balboa we'd stand a chance.
ReplyDeleteI'm with the guy in Blue:
ReplyDeleteClaudia Reyna thinks the other teams will be concerned about handing the U.S. players.
"We've earned respect from the last appearance in the World Cup and our current ranking," he said. "We have good attacking players. We've been very good defensively of late. It's a very good possibility as well that teams are going to be worrying about us."
If the U.S. team advances to the second round, it most likely would play defending champion Brazil, Croatia or Australia. What will he do if the Americans get past the first round?
"I'll be drinking in the hotel bar," he said.
Group E is definitely the group of death. In Group C, holland and Argentina are clearly the overwhelming favorites to go on.
ReplyDeleteIf you lumped the two groups together, the ranking of the teams would probably be:
1. Czech
2. Argentina
3. Italy
4. Holland
5. USA
and then the other three.
The Czech will have the best shot at placing first in the Group E, which will leave Italy and the U.S. fighting to play Brazil. As a fan of the game, I'd rather see Italy v. Brazil.
If the seeds play out, it looks a Final Four of:
1. England v. Argentina (can't wait)
2. Brazil v. doesn't matter, maybe Korea, Spain, Togo?