Weak teams going to Germany

gracehopper

i've only really had a look at these today theres loads of really weak teams that qualified for this WC, Whats the deal with serbia & mon???? how come they're in a special pot? It looks like there will be at least one whipping team in every group:

POT ONE
Germany (hosts)
Brazil (holders)
Argentina
England
France
Italy
Mexico
Spain

POT TWO
Australia
Angola
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Togo
Tunisia
Ecuador
Paraguay

POT THREE
Croatia
Czech Republic
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Sweden
Switzerland
Ukraine

POT FOUR
Iran
Japan
Saudi Arabia
South Korea
Costa Rica
Trinidad & Tobago
US
Special pot: Serbia & Montenegro

Big Nelly

Well the Swiss are brutal, where worst team in Euro's and they still knocked us out! so what does that say for Ireland?

Wouldn't say the teams are weak just that people haven't heard of them before. Cameroon and Senegal are teams that before the World Cup everyone said was weak because they didn't know them and look what they did. Ireland was viewed as a weak team before the WC90 and we got to quarter Finals. The English even after the Euro's still thought they would whop us and so did the Dutch.

Dont be at yourself

Whipping boys in every group? I don't think so. South Korea and Japan are more than capable of upsetting the big boys, as are Australia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Iran and the US.

I wonder how many people wrote off the likes of Senegal and South Korea as whipping boys last time around?

MrJoeSoap

Which teams do you consider "weak"? All teams are there on merit tbh, and begrudging them their place is totally unfair.

Serbia & Montenegro is in a special pot to avoid having a group with 3 European teams. They will be in a group with either Mexico, Brazil or Argentina iirc.

garred

In fairness the days of weak teams and scorelines of 7-0 are gone. I thought Turkey would thrash Switzerland in the playoff who I did'nt think were a good team. Who would of backed Greece in the European Championships with all the "big teams" there. Its not a one off match so anyone who qualifies is there on merit.
Can't see past Brazil though for the winners.

p.pete

NekkidBibleMan wrote:

Whipping boys in every group? I don't think so. South Korea and Japan are more than capable of upsetting the big boys, as are Australia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Iran and the US.

I wonder how many people wrote off the likes of Senegal and South Korea as whipping boys last time around?

I'm not convinced how well the likes of Japan and South Korea will travel. They were at home the last time, had massive amounts of pre world cup training and probably had better managers. It'd be good if they do perform to the same standard though, I really enjoyed watching some of their matches.

Pigman II

garred wrote:

In fairness the days of weak teams and scorelines of 7-0 are gone.

Yeah you're right. Germany beat SaudiArabia 8-0 in 2002

I presume Serbia are the 'spare' team because they are the lowest ranked UEFA country to qualify? The whole draw seems a bit lop-sided. I think they be better reverting to the old way of grouping the teams based on quality rather than geography.

garred

Pigman II wrote:

Yeah you're right. Germany beat SaudiArabia 8-0 in 2002.

My point being its not a regular occurance as it was 10/15 years ago. Jesus there's not much tolerance in this forum.

Pigman II

garred wrote:

My point being its not a regular occurance as it was 10/15 years ago.

It wasn't a regular thing 10 or 15 years ago. That 8-0 was the first win by more than 5 goals since 1986 and the biggest since 1982.

Big Nelly

Handbags at 10 paces lads!!

MrJoeSoap

Pigman II wrote:

I presume Serbia are the 'spare' team because they are the lowest ranked UEFA country to qualify?

Thats it exactly.

whiskeyman

I'm going with:
T&T to be in with Brazil.
Australia to be in with Enlgand.

Benedict XVI

The only really weak teams would be
Costa Rica
Trinidad & Tobago
Saudi Arabia
Angola
Togo

The rest are fairly ok and there will be some surprises, of the first time teams I'd expect the Ivory Coast to do well and I also reckon the USA will be a semi-finalist

BigCon

I remember Costa Rica in the 1990 WC - they weren't that weak back then iirc...

eirebhoy

Big Nelly wrote:

Well the Swiss are brutal, where worst team in Euro's and they still knocked us out! so what does that say for Ireland?

No they weren't. They drew with Croatia, absolutely dominated against England until Haas got sent off and up until the 75th minute were beating France. Bulgaria and Latvia were definitely worse and Germany weren't much better. They struggled to break down Latvia and lost against a complete Czech reserve team.

mayordenis

what time is the draw at?

county

7.30pm

whiskeyman

mayordenis wrote:

what time is the draw at?

On at 8.15pm on BBC2 ... I've heard the draw starts at 8.21pm

Benedict XVI

BigCon wrote:

I remember Costa Rica in the 1990 WC - they weren't that weak back then iirc...

Firsly that was 15 yaers ago.
They beat Scotland and Sweden and lost to Brazil, hammered 4-1 by Czheslovakia (sp) in the next round.

There defat of Scotland was big news, many of there players were petrol pump attendants, guiar players etc, I doubt much has changed.

gracehopper

Benedict XVI wrote:

The only really weak teams would be
Costa Rica
Trinidad & Tobago
Saudi Arabia
Angola
Togo

The rest are fairly ok and there will be some surprises, of the first time teams I'd expect the Ivory Coast to do well and I also reckon the USA will be a semi-finalist

Yeah thats what i said a whipping team in every group, you've mentionaed 5, heres the other 3:

Tunisia
Ecuador
ENGLAND(he he he)

FatherTed

TBH, I havent seen ANY of the African teams play so I cannot really judge who is good and who is not. Being in the US, I've watched a lot of the Concacaf teams. Costa Rica and T&T are not going to do well, though CR did get close to qualifying for the second round in 02 when they finished on the same points as Turkey but lost out on goal difference. I don't think they are as good this time as in 02 though.

All of CR's players are professional, a couple play in Europe, a few in the US and Mexico and the rest in their own domestic league. The US and Mexico, I expect them to make the second round.

Also, when was the last time that France, England, Holland and Portugal all qualified for the same World Cup if ever?

MrJoeSoap

The format of todays draw, according to USA Today (got a chuckle out of me):

'The host nation, in this case Germany, usually gets a relatively weak set of opponents. Another group will be dubbed the "Group of Death" for its strong lineup.

The name of each country is printed on a small piece of paper and placed within an unmarked plastic ball that can be twisted apart into two halves. Before the draw, the balls are arranged into four large glass bowls, including one bowl that includes the eight seeded teams.

Another set of bowls contains balls with slips of paper representing the 32 available places in the eight groups. Blindfolded, soccer stars extract the balls. The pieces of paper are held up for all the world to see, and by this process a country is matched up with the group in which it will play and thus the 32 slots are filled.'

gracehopper

MrJoeSoap wrote:

The format of todays draw, according to USA Today (got a chuckle out of me):

'The host nation, in this case Germany, usually gets a relatively weak set of opponents. Another group will be dubbed the "Group of Death" for its strong lineup.

The name of each country is printed on a small piece of paper and placed within an unmarked plastic ball that can be twisted apart into two halves. Before the draw, the balls are arranged into four large glass bowls, including one bowl that includes the eight seeded teams.

Another set of bowls contains balls with slips of paper representing the 32 available places in the eight groups. Blindfolded, soccer stars extract the balls. The pieces of paper are held up for all the world to see, and by this process a country is matched up with the group in which it will play and thus the 32 slots are filled.'

LOL its like instructions to bake a cake

Pigman II

..... The 1st runner up in Germanys 'weak group' will then enter the Budweiser multi-ball cup to face the winner of the AFC East wildcard team.

The third runner up in the 'group of death' will literally be sentenced to death in a no-holds-barred fight against local soccer hooligans.

Stay tuned for more on FOX FOX FOX.