World Cup Fever

[DoubleDown]

its heating up (referring to soccer, not baseball)

Seeding, draws, and ties will be simulcast live across the world this Friday. Many soccer authorities have the U.S. ranked as high as #8 in the world. Will this be enough to propel the U.S. to their 1st-ever #1 seed? I doubt it, since their poor showing in France 1998 will surely knock them out of favor with many World Cup Seeding officials.

What're some juicy match-ups that you'd like to see?
List of Qualifiers

here's one i'd like to see:
U.S. vs Iran
-this would be a great rematch of these bitter political rivals who last played in WC1998 in France, where Iran came out on top. the current team of americans is more experienced & deep than the '98 team, but the iranians play with pure heart and will be tough to beat in an emotion-packed match

another question i have that some euro posters may have better insight on. what type of home-field advantage is there in a Euro-site WC compared with a non-Euro site?

The US did better than expected in WC1994 in america. South Korea went well deep into the tourney in the last WC as well. Does Germany have as big of a home-field advantage as the US & S. Korea did in past world cups given the fact that it is so easy for european fans to travel to germany from other european nations which will be heavily represented at the WC? i realize that france recently hosted the world cup ... and won; and that fact may, in & of itself, be a simple answer to my question. but, couldnt it be argued that france would have fared well in that WC despite the home-field due to them fielding arguably one of the best players of all-time (Zidane)?
qué dices

[PokerFink]

The US is not seeded. Germany and Brazil get autoseeds. ESPN Article.

Home field advantage is enormous. US did MUCH better in '94 than anyone thought they would, in fact, the US was ranked in the 30's that year and probably would not have even qualified. Both Korea and Japan reached the knockout phase last year which was very surprising. And although France had the best player in the world in '98 (as they do today) HFA went a LONG way.

[smb394]

The US is highly unlikely to be seeded, whereas Mexico will probably get seeded due to their lofty FIFA ranking.

Hopefully the US can avoid Brazil or Germany in their pool. Mexico or the underachieving Spaniards wouldn't be a bad draw.

[PhatTBoll]

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Does Germany have as big of a home-field advantage as the US & S. Korea did in past world cups given the fact that it is so easy for european fans to travel to germany from other european nations which will be heavily represented at the WC?

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I've heard that Germany is selling very small amounts of tickets to foreigners comparing to past Cups. I think their advantage will be huge, not least because their fans don't mind watching the no-goals boring grabass they call soccer.

[banditbdl]

U.S. can't get grouped with Mexico per WC draw rules.

[smb394]

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U.S. can't get grouped with Mexico per WC draw rules.

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That's right. Meant to say I hoped we would get grouped close to them. This Eagles loss is hurting my thinking.

I'd hope to not have Brazil and a strong European non-seeded team like the Dutch or Czechs in the group with the US

[jdl22]

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another question i have that some euro posters may have better insight on. what type of home-field advantage is there in a Euro-site WC compared with a non-Euro site?

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It's huge.

Before Brasil won in France '98 South American teams had won all the world cups in the Americas and European teams had won all the cups in Europe.

Home field advantage is obviously huge in the world cup. No host nation has ever been knocked out in the first round and considering weak countries like the US, Japan, and South Korea hosted recently that says a lot. Beyond that though, playing close to home is also very big. The number of fans for Spain and the Netherlands will be much higher than Argentina and Brasil. Traveling will be easier as well since the European countries probably will go home if they have more than a couple days off.

[jdl22]

Wow, did I really type in that Brasil won in France '98. I clearly need some sleep and it's too late to edit.

The point is made even stronger given the actual result - everytime the world cup has been in the americas an american team has won. Every time it's been in europe a european team has won.

[Chairman Wood]

Still incorrect. Brazil won the 1954 World Cup in Sweden. But yes, all the other times the WC has been in Europe, a European team has won. All the times its been in the Americas a South American team has won.

[jdl22]

I'm clearly on fire.