12/18/24
December 05, 2003
2006 World Cup Preliminary Draw - LIVE!: Let the handwringing begin. [Lo-fi account also available at The Guardian.]
I guess my now isn't the same as their now 'cause there ain't nothing happenin' yet. sits ands waits.
posted by gspm at 10:06 AM on December 05, 2003
is this like going to a movie where it tells you it starts at 7pm but really you sit through 15 minutes of adverts and another 12 minutes of movie trailers and 3 minutes of turn off your cellphone/ain't our soundsystem great bits? so then the main show really starts a half hour later? c'mon. i don't have all day. mix them balls!
posted by gspm at 10:14 AM on December 05, 2003
Great - seems like the fancy-shmancy FIFA page has frozen up and the Asia draw is finished. The Beeb is on Oceania now. Oh wait. FIFA's working again. Carry on...
posted by chules at 10:46 AM on December 05, 2003
England Wales Northern Ireland Poland HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Piece of piss!
posted by Fat Buddha at 11:49 AM on December 05, 2003
Europe's groups: Group 1 [Group of Death, for sure] Andorra, Armenia, Czech Republic, Finland, Macedonia, Netherlands, Romania Group 2 Albania, Denmark, Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Ukraine Group 3 Estonia, Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, Latvia, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia Group 4 Armenia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, France, Israel, Republic of Ireland, Switzerland Group 5 Belarus, Italy, Moldova, Norway, Scotland, Slovenia Group 6 [Group of WTF?!?] Austria, Azerbaijan, England, Northern Ireland, Poland, Wales Group 7 Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lithuania, San Marino, Serbia & Montenegro, Spain Group 8 Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Iceland, Malta, Sweden I can't think of nicks for the other groups. My brain has turned to mush. Help!
posted by chules at 12:04 PM on December 05, 2003
CONCACAF: Group 1 Grenada v Guyana, winners v United States Group 2 Bermuda v Montserrat, winners v El Salvador Group 3 Haiti v Turks and Caicos Islands, winners v Jamaica Group 4 British Virgin Islands v St Lucia, winners v Panama Group 5 Cayman Islands v Cuba, winners v Costa Rica Group 6 Aruba v Surinam, winners v Guatemala Group 7 Antigua and Barbuda v Netherlands Antilles, winners v Honduras Group 8 Canada v Belize Group 9 Dominica v Bahamas, winners v Mexico Group 10 US Virgin Islands v St Kitts and Hevis, winners v Barbados Group 11 Dominican Republic v Anguilla, winners v Trinidad and Tobago Group 12 Nicaragua v St Vincent and Grenadines Three qualifiers out of this group....USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, right? The fourth qualifier gets a playoff against a team from Asia. I don't know enough to hazard a guess as to who that fourth team might be.
posted by mbd1 at 12:52 PM on December 05, 2003
What would be more fun is guessing now which teams will qualify. Note: Current holder Brazil no longer automatically qualifies, the big rule change for the next World Cup. But, before I do that, can somebody tell me how many teams can get in overall, and then, how many can qualify from each continental zone? Oceania is out of luck again, because the winners (prob. Australia) will have to play the fifth-placed team from S. America for a spot in Germany.
posted by worldcup2002 at 01:09 PM on December 05, 2003
Czech Republic V Holland again. They can't seem to get enough of each other. And on a personal note, England, Wales and Northern Island all in th same group is fantastic. I've never actually seen Engalnd play either of them before (being just young enough to have missed the old Home Nations tournaments). Should be fun.
posted by dng at 01:21 PM on December 05, 2003
Strange to think that Northern Ireland are the reigning British Champions.
posted by Fat Buddha at 01:31 PM on December 05, 2003
[C]an somebody tell me how many teams can get in overall, and then, how many can qualify from each continental zone? Africa = 5 teams qualify Asia = 4 teams qualify, 1 team in playoff against CONCACAF 4th place team Europe = 13 teams qualify plus Germany (host) CONCACAF (N. America, Carribbean, Central America) = 3 teams qualify, 1 team in playoff against Asia 5th place team Oceania = 1 team in playoff against CONEMBOL 5th place team CONEMBOL (S. America) = 4 teams qualify, 1 team in playoff against Oceania winner Total - 5 + 4 + 14 + 3 + 4 + 2 (playoffs) = 32 More info here. [PDF file]
posted by chules at 01:42 PM on December 05, 2003
Way to go, chules! Why you aren't competing in our two fantasy EPL leagues, I don't know. Thanks!
posted by worldcup2002 at 01:53 PM on December 05, 2003
Right when the EPL season began, I moved from NJ to VA and didn't have constant internet access (or a job) for a bit. Hopefully I'll be a little more stable next year!
posted by chules at 02:01 PM on December 05, 2003
Welcome to the Washington, DC area, chules!
posted by scully at 02:41 PM on December 05, 2003
How on earth does Asia get 4.5 qualification spots. How's that work out? The good: Korea and Japan. The Bad: China. The Ugly: Bhutan?
posted by trox at 03:05 PM on December 05, 2003
My picks: AFRICA: Senegal (oh, yeah, baby), Nigeria, Ghana (Freddy Adu's birth country), Cameroun, S. Africa. ASIA: China, Japan, S. Korea, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait. One of these guys will get knocked out in the play-off against the CONCACAF 4th place team. I'd love it if I were wrong. EUROPE: Germany (hah!), Netherlands, Portugal, France, Italy, England, Spain, Czech Republic, Croatia, Turkey, Russia, Belgium, Serbia, Wales CONCACAF: USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada OCEANIA: Australia, but they will probably lose to the CONMEBOL straggler. (Do my eyes deceive me? I see five teams in two groups for Oceania, but no Australia.) CONMEBOL: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay (who wouldathunkit but they lead the entire group right now), Chile. We'll check back in 2.5 years.
posted by worldcup2002 at 03:40 PM on December 05, 2003
How on earth does Asia get 4.5 qualification spots. trox: "Asia", in the case of the World Cup, also includes the Middle East. Wow, it would be great if Iraq was the fourth "Asian" qualifier, and the US was the fourth CONCACAF qualifier. I wonder if they'd let that match be played. Man.
posted by worldcup2002 at 04:02 PM on December 05, 2003
Canada will be a strong contender even for 3rd in CONCACAF if Frank Yallop, as rumored for several weeks, leaves San Jose to become their head man. I think Asia gets 4.5 spots because they have, in aggregate, somewhere north of half the Earth's population. How Europe continues to justify so many slots, other than money talking as usual, is quite surprising. Though the whole Blatter/45 club matches controversy could throw a wrench in the works if he can get 50%+1 votes at the FIFA meetup. Chules, great work, but "Group 1 [Group of Death, for sure]"? I sure don't see that.
posted by billsaysthis at 06:46 PM on December 05, 2003
Europe gets so many slots cos half of the best teams in the world come from Europe. And the money, of course. That helps. I'd also agree that Group 1 is pretty tough - the Czechs and the Dutch are both pretty good - plus Romania are quite often good (although have been fading in recent years, they still have players like Mutu). And Finland and Macedonia are at least competent, and difficult places to go away to.
posted by dng at 07:05 PM on December 05, 2003
Europe gets so many spots because of the continued good performance of European teams at the World Cup. In fact, if you went on world ranking, I believe Europe would get 16 or 17. The current distribution of spots for the different confederations is a compromise between getting the best 32 teams and ensuring that countries from throughout the world are represented. If you had a secondary World Cup, made up of the best 32 teams not to qualify for the main event, European teams would dominate. So far only countries from South America and Europe have won the World Cup, and I don't see that changing any time soon.
posted by salmacis at 03:21 AM on December 08, 2003
wc2002 - the OCEANIA pools exclude Australia and New Zealand because they are given automatic slots in a four team playoff for the OCEANIA spot. So the pools as drawn up are used to figure out the other two slots in the four team final. I know this because I was looking for Australia too.
posted by gspm at 06:35 AM on December 08, 2003
Wow, it would be great if Iraq was the fourth "Asian" qualifier, and the US was the fourth CONCACAF qualifier. I wonder if they'd let that match be played. Man. Bite your tongue man! I don't know if I could handle that. I'm hoping for a top two qualification (along with Mexico) per the usual.
posted by trox at 09:35 AM on December 08, 2003
That would be too easy. And boring. Where's the drama?
posted by worldcup2002 at 09:54 AM on December 08, 2003
I'm hoping for a top two qualification (along with Mexico) per the usual. Mexico went to the final game to seal their qualification in a heated match (at least in the apartment I was in) against Honduras. I like 'em both well enough, but I hated to see Honduras lose, since it made my girlfriend tear up.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:02 AM on December 08, 2003
Sorry - I should've said that it all starts at 17:00 CET [aka 16:00 GMT, 11:00 EST, NOW!]. It's been a while. ;)