Q. for you and others:

If those were the groups and you were France, would you swap with Switzerland?

lol Switzerland and Poland. Just go by Elo ratings stupid FIFA.

By Elo pot 1 would be Brazil, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, France, Colombia and Italy. Pretty spot on.

FIFA (Elo ranking in brackets)

Pot 1

Russia (#42)
Germany (#2)
Brazil (#1)
Portugal (#5)
Argentina (#4)
Belgium (#10)
Poland (#18)
Switzerland (#12)

Pot 2

France (#6)
Colombia (#7)
Spain (#3)
Peru (#11)
Mexico (#15)
England (#9)
Uruguay (#13)
Italy (#8)

Fifa Pot 1 average ELO rank : 11.75 (7.4 exc: Russia)
Fifa Pot 1 median ELO rank: 7.5

Fifa Pot 2 average ELO rank: 9
Fifa Pot 2 median ELO rank: 8.5

Yeah, not much in it.

FWIW these are the pots if FIFA used ELORatings

ELO

Pot 1

Russia
Brazil
Germany
Spain
Argentina
Portugal
France
Colombia

Pot 2

Italy
England
Belgium
Peru
Switzerland
Uruguay
Chile
Mexico

If they didn't automatically seed hosts then Italy get bumped up to pot one and 17th ranked Croatia join pot two (Netherlands are 16th).

qflangering / this may be relevant to my interests

Spain and France going to be in groups of death.

Switzerland almost certainly need to win in Lisbon to get seeded in pot one.

I thought they were awful and just running semi good by being with a glimmer of a hope and then they somehow beat Ecuador in the altitude which is a monster result.

I actually googled their squad, they have 3 or 4 very important players playing in the brazilian league which has to be the most underrated league by europeans which make most of that betting market. People literally dont know who they are.

Btw I still think they are not a top 5 side in South America, they are too prone to stupid mistakes but Im guessing the market will have them really underated. Unless they somehow qualify by winning in Buenos Aires( which is posssible after the argentinian team decided to return to La Bombonera 48 years after Perú eliminated them in that stadium from the 1970 world cup).

I think the new system for pots is such that a "group of death" isn't really possible anymore. Pots 3 and 4 are weak enough that they don't really include a team who is a legit contender whereas before you could have groups with 3 legit WC contenders and often a darkhorse 4th team. Obviously a France or Spain group rates to be toughest unless they draw Russia/Poland/Swiss from pot 1. I suppose it depends how you define group of death though and mostly people throw out that moniker at least once a tournament now regardless.

I just checked back on the article and they will use the October ranking, published on the 16th next month (probably so that the play-off teams don't gain any advantage)

Germans gonna get got tonight

GAWA

lol ****

What a hit

This opening 15 minutes has been a good illustration of England's naivety and lack of basic football intelligence.

FYP

I wouldn't blame him for individual errors where under 15s should know better, let alone professionals.

lol boy just got sent off for diving

Looked like a stone wall penalty, cracking spot by the ref. Credit due to the ref for spotting that like

What is Sterling doing out there? Why is he playing so deep? Giving away the ball on halfway when he should never have in that position. He should be wide right.

They are down to 10 and all over us, god we are awful

We were doing much better against 11. Strachan should appeal to the 4th offical to get the lad back on again.

Kyle Walker on free kicks? I've seen it all now!

So awesome that Hart is still Englands #1

I guess technically England are getting the job done, but they really couldn’t be more tedious or uninspiring if they tried.

England's absolute ceiling in a world cup is a quarter final

Was gonna go see USA#1 tomorrow but ticket prices are rather stupid

To lazy to look this up, but was Southgate even good with the u21s?

Will they be seeded?

I doubt they get out the group stage. Getting out of the group would be a great achievement imo

Where is Sterling playing btw? Is he playing upfront along with Kane? Or in the hole - ala a 10? I'm not watching but have it on in the back ground.

Why is he playing there?