2014 World Cup qualification draws

[lordtom]

So, the draws are done, here are the groups, you can discuss, and view it here:

Intercontinental play-offs
Asia – South America
North, Central America and the Caribbean - Oceania

African Zone Draw
Group A: South Africa, Botswana, Central African Republic, Somalia or Ethiopia
Group B: Tunisia, Cape Verde Islands, Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea or Madagascar
Group C: Côte d'Ivoire, Morocco, Gambia, Chad or Tanzania
Group D: Ghana, Zambia, Sudan, Lesotho or Burundi
Group E: Burkina Faso, Gabon, Niger, Sao Tome e Principe or Congo
Group F: Nigeria, Malawi, Seychelles or Kenya, Djibouti or Namibia
Group G: Egypt, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Comoros or Mozambique
Group H: Algeria, Mali, Benin, Eritrea or Rwanda
Group I: Cameroon, Libya, Guinea-Bissau or Togo, Swaziland or Congo DR
Group J: Senegal, Uganda, Angola, Mauritius or Liberia

Asian Zone Draw
Group A: China, Jordan, Iraq, Singapore
Group B: Korea Republic, Kuwait, UAE, Lebanon
Group C: Japan, Uzbekistan, Syria, Korea DPR
Group D: Australia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Thailand
Group E: Iran, Qatar, Bahrain, Indonesia

North, Central America and the Caribbean Zone Draw (Round Two)
Group A: El Salvador, Surinam, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic
Group B: Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, Bermuda
Group C: Panama, Dominica, Nicaragua, Bahamas
Group D: Canada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico, St Lucia
Group E: Grenada, Guatemala, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize
Group F: Haiti, Antigua and Barbuda, Curacao, US Virgin Islands

North, Central America and the Caribbean Zone Draw (Round Three)
Group A: USA, Jamaica, Winner of R2 Grp E, Winner of R2 Grp F
Group B: Mexico, Costa Rica, Winner of R2 Grp A, Winner of R2 Grp B
Group C: Honduras, Cuba, Winner of R2 Grp D, Winner of R2 Grp C

Oceanian Zone Draw
Group A: Vanuatu, New Caledonia, American Samoa/Cook Islands/Samoa or Tonga, Tahiti
Group B: Fiji, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea

European Zone Draw
Group A: Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Scotland, Macedonia, Wales
Group B: Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Armenia, Malta.
Group C: Germany, Sweden, Republic of Ireland, Austria, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan.
Group D: Netherlands, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Estonia, Andorra.
Group E: Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland, Albania, Cyprus, Iceland.
Group F: Portugal, Russia, Israel, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg
Group G: Greece, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lithuania, Latvia, Lichtenstein
Group H: England, Montenegro, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, San Marino
Group I: Spain, France, Belarus, Georgia, Finland

 

[Zlatan]

What I don't understand is how Norway got to be in Pot 1...

 

[nor-rbk]

We bribed FIFA of course, what else?

 

[newbie original]

...
European Zone Draw
....
Group D: Netherlands, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Estonia, Andorra.
...

In Europe, Group D is the Group of Death.

In the other groups:
Spain vs France should be entertaining
Portugal-Russia will also be good

 

[Mandieta6]

****, I want Group E.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Portugal and Russia isn't ideal, but they are both teams prone to disappointment.

 

[Tosiek]

So Poland can forget about getting qualify to the World Cup.

 

[lordtom]

Well, we can forget it too. And they said, maybe we can qualify for it. **** I want to see a Hungarian World Cup victory.

 

[Jaboldinho]

****!

Spain and France? Why not Norway and Slovenia? Of course we'd still lose, but it wouldn't maybe be as ugly.

 

[mogolos]

we are too lucky! I feel like we are already in Brasil!

Group G: Greece, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lithuania, Latvia, Lichtenstein, the ideal group!!! the best group!

 

[kp41]

Good group for England and Australia.

loool, France got Spain.

 

[fender]

The Dutch and Romania again

 

[banok]

Hungary-Romania
Serbia-Croatia
lol

 

[JackReal]

Spain vs. France sounds like two strong teams facing each other, but regarding the fact that the French performed very badly in the last Euro and World Championship, it isn't really surprising to see them facing a really tough opponent - I predict two Spanish victories.

 

[newbie original]

The timing of this draw is absolutely terrible. Sometimes FIFA makes the most awful decisions you can imagine.

None of the European teams care about the result of this draw right now. They are all focused on EURO 2012 Qualifying.

A World Cup draw must be made after the European Championships are completed.

 

[JackReal]

The timing of this draw is absolutely terrible. Sometimes FIFA makes the most awful decisions you can imagine.

None of the European teams care about the result of this draw right now. They are all focused on EURO 2012 Qualifying.

A World Cup draw must be made after the European Championships are completed.

As far as I recall, it's always been like that. At least for the past 10+ years.

 

[Mandieta6]

The timing of this draw is absolutely terrible. Sometimes FIFA makes the most awful decisions you can imagine.

None of the European teams care about the result of this draw right now. They are all focused on EURO 2012 Qualifying.

A World Cup draw must be made after the European Championships are completed.

And you expect 204 FAs to work out match dates in time for September when the qualifying stages are meant to start?

 

[newbie original]

And you expect 204 FAs to work out match dates in time for September when the qualifying stages are meant to start?

They've got to get it done within the first 2 years after the conclusion of the last World cup. That means that the EUROs, Gold Cup, Copa America, African Cup of Nations and Asia Cup are affected.i.e. they are all held within 1 year or 2(EURO) of the end of the previous World Cup. They waited for CONMEBOL's flagship competition - The Copa America - to be completed BEFORE making this announcement. They did the same with the Asia Cup (Jan 2011) and Gold Cup (June 2011).

If you're goping to wait for ALL those competitions to be completed, why not wait for the other 2 federations' competition to be completed. Surely, smaller Federations would not have a problem with 2 years of qualifying.

Seriously, FIFA World Cup 2010 was completed a little more than 12 months ago.

 

[Mandieta6]

Are you being serious? In Europe alone, you have dozens of nations who now have to negotiate home and away matches with the other nations in their groups, and which fit in with their nation's league schedueles for this qualifying stage, and this is going to happen with 200 nations, and you want them all to get the schedueles done in July 2012, when matches aren't meant to start in September 2012?

And assuming they manage it, you still have to give the federations time to sell tickets to fans who need to scheduele flights and trips for away matches, as well as allow the national team managers time to prepare tactics for their opposition.

Do you really think taking a year of preparations off is a good idea? Why again? So fans in Europe will care about the draw? Why do they need to care? How much do you think they'll care anyway? It takes 1 minute to check who you're up against and not that much loinger to evaluate the outcome.

Absolutely stupid idea.

 

[jackarmy]

What I don't understand is how Norway got to be in Pot 1...

Never mind that, Wales in pot 6. I know we been poor lately, but worse than the Faroe Islands? And even that was due to a Romanian computer programmer telling FIFA their calculation was out. Having said that I'm glad in a way that we swapped because the Faroes are in a very tough group, and ours isn't that bad if our players had our arses kicked and start playing as a team.

Besides that I'm looking forward to the trip to Scotland on the piss