Anonymous
Years ago
World Cup Finals Draw
I was looking at the World Cup draw and how the finals are working this year which is different to U17 and U19 competition as the finals are held in 2 different cities (Real Madrid and Barcelona) so the cross over games only happen between 1 group each rather than missing all 4 groups up (i.e. group A plays B and group C plays D).
This basically means that a gold/silver medalist HAS to come from each side of the draw, so for instance if France and Spain (both group A) are the 2 best teams in the competition, they can't play each other in the gold medal match. This also means that the USA probably has the easiest chance at making the gold medal game.
What this does for Australia is give them a GREAT chance at making top 4 because groups C and D are far weaker than the other 2. I would say there are 7 teams in groups A and B that Australia would struggle with: Spain, France, Brazil, Serbia, Argentina, Croatia and Greece. While in groups C and D it is only USA with Lithuania, Slovenia and Turkey being tough matches, but they all have weaker line ups than the other 7 teams.
Even tough Australia is missing Patty Mills and Bougt I still think this is our best chance of making the top 4 (hopefully medal) based on the draw. We need to finish our group either 1st or 3rd. 2nd means we would play USA in round of 8. Tactically if we lose to Slovenia first up should we throw the game against Lithuania as we should beat Mexico, Angola and Korea? Playing Turkey in the semi finals would be better than playing USA in the quarters.
My Tip for the Championship (and group they are in):
1 - Spain (A)
2 - USA (C)
3 - France (A)
4 - Australia (D)
These teams don't play off, but
5 - Brazil (A)
6 - Argentina (B)
7 - Lithuania (D)
8 - Slovenia (D)
9 - Serbia (A)
10 - Croatia (B)
11 - Greece (B)
12 - Turkey (C)
13 - Puerto Rico (B)
14 - Finland (C)
15 - New Zealand (C)
16 - Mexico (D)
17 - Senegal (B)
18 - Dominican Republic (C)
19 - Ukraine (C)
20 - Iran (A)
21 - Egypt (A)
22 - Angola (D)
23 - Korea (D)
24 - Phillipines (C)
Also - may have ben covered elsewhere, but why isn't Steve Adams playing for NZ. They have an easy draw and good chance to do well.
