Now that we have the official list of thd 32 nations taking part in next summers World Cup Finals, all eyes are on the draw December 4th and how teams will be seeded for that draw.
There will be eight groups of four teams, so FIFA needs to split the 32 countries into 4 categories. According to FIFA’s regulations:
“The FIFA Organising Committee forms groups for the final competition by seeding and drawing lots whilst taking sports and geographic factors into consideration, as far as possible. The decisions of the FIFA Organising Committee on the group formation and the duration of the final competition are final.”
What is known is that South Arfica will be seeded in position A1 in the draw, leaving space for seven other seeds. A decision on who those will be will not be made until the committee meets on December 2.
Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives has looked at the FIFA regulations and believes that the four categories will be:
POT 1-Brazil, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Italy, Germany, South Africa
POT 2- Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark, Slovenia, Greece, Slovakia, Serbia, Switzerland
POT 3- USA, Mexico, Honduras, South Korea, North Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand
POT 4- Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria
That seeding structure could throw together a potential “Group of Death” of Brazil, Holland, Honduras and the Ivory Coast. It could also potentially throw up a group of South Africa, Switzerland, USA and Uruguay. I would fancy the U.S.’s chances of progressing in that group.
