World Cup Qualifying - 2018 Russia

Fucking Group A now has Russia, Egypt, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia.

For those of you scoring at home, those are teams with ELO Chess rankings of 45, 13, 48 and 61.
 
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Group D E F and H are all solid groups.
 
Gotham Gator said:
Mexico and Germany add Sweden. This might be your group of death.

England and Belgium add Tunisia. Looking better for the Three Lions.
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Group F: Germany (2), Mexico (17), Sweden (20), and S. Korea (37)

Tough Group - especially if you think that Mexico and Sweden are underranked.
 
Of course a Group of Death is usually one that has at least 3 teams ranked in the Top 16 - i.e. more than 2 of them would be expected to advance.

Not sure whether we have one this year. Maybe the new system worked.
 
Gotham Gator said:
Fucking Group A now has Russia, Egypt, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia.

For those of you scoring at home, those are teams with ELO Chess rankings of 45, 13, 48 and 61.
Click to expand...
To elaborate on this, Russia drew the second lowest ranked team in Pot 2, the third lowest ranked team in Pot 3, and the lowest ranked team in Pot 4.

Granted, if they make it through, they likely get Portugal or Spain
 
SoupInNYC said:
To elaborate on this, Russia drew the second lowest ranked team in Pot 2, the third lowest ranked team in Pot 3, and the lowest ranked team in Pot 4.

Granted, if they make it through, they likely get Portugal or Spain
Click to expand...

doesnt sound fixed whatsoever.
 
Who I will be rooting for to advance in each group (not who I think will win):
  • Group A: Egypt and Saudi Arabia - really this is process of elimination - can't bring myself to root for Russia and I really, really dislike Suarez to the point that I hope they drop out early
  • Group B: Spain and Morocco - I like Spain and if Villa happens to be selected, even moreso. Don't like rooting for Portugal and can't bring myself to root for Iran
  • Group C: France and Peru - France has a fun team to watch and I've visited Peru and the people there were very friendly
  • Group D: Argentina and Iceland - I'd like to continue to watch Messi do his thing and I don't think I need to explain Iceland
  • Group E: Switzerland and Costa Rica - Switzerland should have an MLS'er either starting or coming off the bench (Dzemaili) and gotta root for the other non-Mexico CONCACAF teams along with Mata and Wallace
  • Group F: Sweden and South Korea - I like the German team, but along with Peru, I've visited Korea and absolutely loved the country. Sweden also has an MLS'er on their team.
  • Group G: Belgium and Panama - KDB is probably one of my favorite players to watch and then we have another CONCACAF team
  • Group H: Poland and Colombia - Lewandowski is wonderful and Colombia always has a fun team to watch
 
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Gotham Gator said:
Fucking Group A now has Russia, Egypt, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia.

For those of you scoring at home, those are teams with ELO Chess rankings of 45, 13, 48 and 61.
Click to expand...

Group A reeks of a classic Putin bride job. On a slightly related note I recommend the netflix documentary Icarus for anyone interested in a look into the shady stuff Putin will do with regards the Russian national athletic programs.
 
Fuck it. I am going to do all the groups.

These are ELO/Chess ratings - more accurate than FIFA, which would look even in any event since they were used for seeding. Note that the #10 (Italy) and #15 (Chile) in these rankings did not make the tournament, so the best 16 in the tournament go through the #18 rated team.

Looking for a Group of Death? find the group with the highest ranked 3rd or 4th best team.

Group A: Uruguay (13), Russia (45), Egypt (48), Saudi Arabia (61) - Sum of rankings: 167
Group B: Spain (3), Portugal (4), Iran (21), Morocco (44) - 72
Group C: France (5), Peru (12), Denmark (19), Australia (33) - 69
Group D: Argentina (6), Croatia (16), Iceland (21), Nigeria (41) - 84
Group E: Brazil (1), Switzerland (13), Serbia (23), Costa Rica (30) - 67
Group F: Germany (2), Mexico (17), Sweden (20), S. Korea (37) - 76
Group G: England (7), Belgium (9), Panama (47), Tunisia (52) - 115
Group H: Colombia (8), Poland (18), Senegal (24), Japan (28) - 76
 
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If you are looking for a Group of Death, there isn't one. No group has more than 2 teams among the Top 16 rated in the tournament. In other words, no Top 16 team will fail to make the last 16 because they had 2 tougher opponents in the same Group. Maybe this will change in the next 6 months, but I doubt it.

The best 3rd tier team is Denmark in Group C, but at #19, they are 17th in the World. Still, there are 4 Groups where the 3rd best team is among the Top 20 highest rated teams in the Tournament, so those will all be tough outs.

The best 4th tier team is Japan in Group H, followed closely by Costa Rica in Group E. These are the toughest groups overall, I think.
 
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Contrast the above with the following groups from the last World Cup. Again, ELO/Chess from just before World Cup began.

Spain (2), Netherlands (5), Chile (9), Australia (26)
Uruguay (9), England (6), Italy (11), Costa Rica (25)
Germany (3), Portugal (7), USA (13), Ghana (28)

There is not a single group this year that is anything close to as hard as those 3.
 
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