World Cup Draw
By The World Cup draw takes place at 11:30 eastern on ESPN2 and Univision. A quick preview from the perspective of the US team:
Pot 1:
Teams to avoid
Spain: Best team in the world over the past six years.
Germany: It’s Germany.
Argentina: Much more dangerous than in 2010 now that they have a real coach.
Brazil: I think the home team is actually the fourth worst option out of this pot. Brazil hasn’t been impressive in international play for a long time now, leaving aside the Confederations Cup, which is a glorified friendly tournament. Also the enormous pressure on the home team could cancel out much of the advantage of being the host.
Best draw for US: Easily Switzerland. Got a #1 seed because of strong play in qualifying, but was in the weakest European group, and has no history of success in high level international play.
Pot 2:
Teams to avoid:
Chile: Will be a tough out in this tournament
Nigeria: Most talented African team
Cote d’ Ivoire: Also very talented and tends to play well in on big stages
Also a team from pot 4 is going to be randomly placed in this group to avoid having three European teams in any group. So a worst case scenario for the US would be something like Argentina, Italy, and the Netherlands.
Best draw: Algeria. Clearly the weakest team in this pot. Cameroon hasn’t been playing well recently but has talent
Pot 3: The US is clearly the toughest team in this pot, which is a sign of how far the USMNT has come. There’s about a 50/50 shot that whatever group includes the US will be considered the proverbial group of death.
Pot 4:
Teams to avoid:
Italy: It’s Italy
The Netherlands: They’re going to win this thing one of these centuries
Portugal: Ronaldo
Best draw: One of the Balkans would be best, but there are no weak teams in this group.
Update: Very bad draw for the US, although it’s a close call whether they’re in the toughest group (B with Spain, the Netherlands and Chile is arguably tougher). The US also has the worst travel schedule, having to cover 9000 miles during group play. Also, very easy groups for Brazil and Argentina. Argentina in particular has an apparent cakewalk to the semis. Brazil will probably have to play the Netherlands or Spain in the round of 16.