All 32 teams will now be seeded for the 2018 WC. There will still be 4 pots, but all 32 teams will be seeded based on the October 2017 FIFA rankings.

LINK

This post was edited on 9/14/17 at 11:17 am

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Posted by Broski

Member since Jun 2011

70433 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 11:15 am to pvilleguru

At this rate, we'll be in pot 4 and fricked.

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Posted by pvilleguru

Member since Jun 2009

60453 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 11:17 am to Broski

We were already fricked because of the old way.

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Posted by Broski

Member since Jun 2011

70433 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 11:21 am to pvilleguru

quote:
We were already fricked because of the old way.

Meh, if we stay in pot 3 it's basically the same... if we drop to pot 4, then we could realistically get a group of:

Germany
France
Italy
USA

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Posted by pvilleguru

Member since Jun 2009

60453 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 11:23 am to Broski

quote:

Meh, if we stay in pot 3 it's basically the same... if we drop to pot 4, then we could realistically get a group of:

Germany
France
Italy
USA

Nope. Still can't have 3 UEFA teams in the same group.

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Posted by Broski

Member since Jun 2011

70433 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 11:29 am to pvilleguru

Ah, good to know.

Just typing the group out gave me AIDS.

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Posted by pvilleguru

Member since Jun 2009

60453 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 11:38 am to Broski

I actually don't think we'll be that bad off. We're still ranked ahead of all CAF, OFC, all but 1 AFC team.

We are behind all CONMEBOL teams, and can only draw 1 of them.

We're ahead of Serbia, Montenegro, and B&H from UEFA (just looking at teams in the top 2 of their group.)

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Posted by pvilleguru

Member since Jun 2009

60453 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 11:51 am to pvilleguru

Right now, the only teams we are behind, are Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Costa Rica, Iran, France, Sweden*, Switzerland, Portugal*, Germany, Northern Ireland*, Wales*, Poland, England, Slovakia*, Spain, Italy*, Belgium, Croatia, Iceland*.

We're ahead of Russia, but they will be in pot 1 and will count as a EUFA team.

*currently 2nd in their group in UEFA. Only 4 of the 9 2nd place teams qualify.

This post was edited on 9/14/17 at 11:57 am

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Posted by pvilleguru

Member since Jun 2009

60453 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 1:21 pm to pvilleguru

Using the current status of qualifying (with the exception of Senegal), this is what the pots would look like with the current rankings. For the 2nd place UEFA teams, I just chose the 4 highest ranked teams. For the intercontinental playoffs, I assumed the higher ranked teams won. USA finished 4th in CONCACAF IN this scenario.

Pot 1
64 Russia
1 Germany
2 Brazil
3 Portugal
4 Argentina
5 Belgium
6 Poland
7 Switzerland

Pot 2
8 France
10 Colombia
11 Spain
12 Peru
13 Wales
14 Mexico
15 England
16 Uruguay

Pot 3
17 Italy
18 Croatia
19 Slovakia
21 Costa Rica
25 Iran
28 USA
30 Egypt
31 Tunisia

Pot 4
32 Serbia
33 Senegal
40 Japan
44 Nigeria
51 South Korea
53 Saudi Arabia
54 Ivory Coast
60 Panama

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Posted by pvilleguru

Member since Jun 2009

60453 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 1:23 pm to pvilleguru

If assuming we hold onto our current ranking, that is the worst case scenario. It's possible for our ranking to drop and we wind up in pot 4.

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Posted by pvilleguru

Member since Jun 2009

60453 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 1:28 pm to pvilleguru

UEFA is the only Confed that can have 2 teams in a group.

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Posted by pvilleguru

Member since Jun 2009

60453 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 1:30 pm to pvilleguru

Best case scenario, we get...

Russia
Wales
USA
Saudi Arabia?

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Posted by SUB

Member since Jan 2001

Member since Jan 2009

20724 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 2:30 pm to pvilleguru

A Russia vs USA 2018 world cup match would be epic. I hope it happens.

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Posted by Keys Open Doors

In hiding with Tupac & XXXTentacion

Member since Dec 2008

31888 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 5:12 pm to SUB

I wonder who the Poli board would cheer for.

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Posted by uway

Member since Sep 2004

33109 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 5:13 pm to Keys Open Doors

quote:

I wonder who the Poli board would cheer for.

Depends who Trump and Richard Spencer tell me to pull for, bro

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Posted by thenry712

Zasullia, Ukraine

Member since Nov 2008

15795 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 5:21 pm to Keys Open Doors

If Wales manages to qualify and get in Pot 1 or 2, their federation deserves an award for gaming the system by not scheduling friendlies which artificially boosted their FIFA ranking.

ETA: I'm glad FIFA is changing this system. The old system punished CONCACAF and the Asian teams who couldn't draw each other, while rewarding African teams who were put in the same pot as the remaining non-seeded South American teams.

This post was edited on 9/14/17 at 5:27 pm

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Posted by thenry712

Zasullia, Ukraine

Member since Nov 2008

15795 posts

Posted on 9/14/17 at 5:36 pm to thenry712

Switzerland
Peru (Low probability of qualifying)
USA
South Korea

Probably my preferred group.

I wouldn't want to play a host country, even if Russia is pretty lousy right now. Peru probably isn't going to qualify, and I'd like our chances against them, versus against a team like Wales. South Korea isn't very good right now, and our strengths match up well against them. I'd also like to play Nigeria who we've beaten in the past, or Saudi Arabia who don't score goals.

Granted most teams would want to face us in our current state.

This post was edited on 9/14/17 at 5:37 pm

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Posted by engvol