Get set, ready, Draw!

   Today was the FIFA world cup draw which set up the 32 teams that will be participating in next summer in one of, if not thee, most spectacular sporting event in the world. The draw took place in Moscow so that meant for us in the west coast the draw occurred during the morning. As a sports fan and an even bigger soccer (football) fan, I was filled with excitement sprinkled with a tad bit of suspense. The tad bit of suspense is credited to the fact that Spain were in Pot 2 which meant that a team from Pot 1 was going to be grouped with La furia roja. Portugal were the lucky ones that were placed into the group stage with Spain. Morocco and Iran are the other two teams that make up group B in next year's world cup. The excitement comes from a variety of reasons. The draw is a reminder that the world cup is fast approaching, yet summer of 2018 can't arrive fast enough for some of us. The unison feeling that the world participated in watching or at least keeping tabs on the groups that were being formed by chance is enjoyable. Fans around the globe were tensed on what kind of group their national team will be placed in while coaches were in attendance to start calculating on how they plan on taking their team to the knockout stages now that they know who their opponents will be.

   Overall the groups are heavily favorable towards the teams from Pot 1 who are the highest ranked teams by FIFA with the exception of Russia who are the host of the tournament. Generally speaking this world cup draw felt similar to a UEFA champions league draw. The group stages are set for where the bigger teams get a bit of favoritism. This time around FIFA decided to split teams in o\pots based on rankings instead of geographical/confederation locations which is maybe why this draw has no group that stands out as the "Group of Death." The reason why I compare this world cup draw to the champions league is that on paper most people of any background can look at the groups and pick the two teams they believe will go through onto the next round. I am aware that these teams don't play each other on a yearly basis and that money doesn't have that much of an effect on results, but it just makes one question when FIFA introduce the 48 team world cup in 2026 how creative are they going to be in deciding on a format that delivers on the excitement that can parallel the millions of fans world wide. 

    Below is a list of groups and teams that will make up those groups next summer. The number next to each team is their FIFA ranking. I highlighted the two teams in each group with the best FIFA rankings. These are not the teams that I think will advanced out of the group stage. I personally think Senegal and Nigeria are legitimate contenders to make it to the knockout stages. What my attempt here is that in general most people would agree that the highlighted teams will advance to the next round, now some may deny and disagree with the rankings which is reasonable. However, if those same people were to place a bet on which teams reach the knockout stages their picks would align similar to the highlighted chart below. Which is the reason behind why I state that this draw feels similar to a champions league draw. One can pretty much automatically pick the top two teams that they can say will advance out of the group stage. Yet, this is the world cup and anything can happen! I hold that dearly, there will be surprises and I can predict with confidence that the world cup will be amazing, filled with joy, euphoria, and heartbreaks. The whole world will be watching. 

• Group A: Russia (65), Uruguay (17), Egypt (30), Saudi Arabia (63)
• Group B: Portugal (3), Spain (8), Iran (34), Morocco (48)
• Group C: France (7), Peru (10), Denmark (19), Australia (43)
• Group D: Argentina (4), Croatia (18), Iceland (21), Nigeria (41)
• Group E: Brazil (2), Switzerland (11), Costa Rica (22), Serbia (38)
• Group F: Germany (1), Mexico (16), Sweden (25), South Korea (62)
• Group G: Belgium (5), England (12), Tunisia (28), Panama (49)
• Group H: Poland (6), Colombia (13), Senegal (32), Japan (44)

   Don't take that as a notion that I am not excited for the world cup. Oh boy, bloody hell, even with the United States not participating in next summer's tournament I am as stoked as ever! I currently don't share the same sentiment as Taylor Twellman does about feeling disgusted on the failure of the men's team. Maybe due to that I am a bigger soccer (football) fan than I am a US soccer fan. Or it could be that I see the state of soccer as it is in this country and don't pretend that the quality of play has become any better simply because more buildings and facilities have been built. However, that is a debate for another time, for today is a day to celebrate! a day for soccer (football) fans all over the world to come together and begin the possibility game while self fulling oneself with hope on how their national team can pull of the grandest quest in sports.