new fifa rankings out today?

[mr. destro]

read in the local paper they were and that japan and s. korea would be number one seeds. is this typical for host nations to receive the highest seeding? wouldn't mind the republic getting in s. korea's group. who else, six others:

germany
argentina
brazil
italy
spain
portugal/queen-lovers?

seeding is based on fifa world ranking and performance in the last three cups.

 

[scalisto]

France are also in, being the last champs. Portugal's last World Cup was in 1986, so the likeliest seeds will be

Korea
Japs
France
Argentina
Brazil
Italy
Germany
*Spain or England

*thanks to Holland bowing out of the finals.

 

[FresnoBob]

Per ESPN--England was not in the first group, losing out to Spain.

Probable groupings:
Group 1--Brazil, Italy, Argentina, France, Germany, Spain, South Korea, Japan
Group 2--England, Ireland, Croatia, Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, Belgium, Russia
Group 3--Paraguay, Saudi Arabia (do they have a coach yet?), Slovenia, Poland, Turkey, Ecuador, China, Uruguay/Australia
Group 4--Mexico, USA, Nigeria, Tunisia, South Africa, Costa Rica, Cammeroon, Senegal

The luckiest squad in the competition will probably be the Number 3 side that draws Korea as the Number 1.

 

[mr. destro]

crikey i forgot the frenchies!

 

[Gazza]

Josef Chovanec resigned as coach of the Czech Republic national team after failing to qualify for next year's World Cup finals, the Czech Football Federation announced here on Tuesday.
The 41-year-old former coach of Sparta Prague had been in charge since January 1998 and had presided over 27 wins in 45 matches.
The Czech Republic were beaten by Belgium in a play-off last week which put an end to the side's hopes of reaching the World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan.


Oooops

 

[mr. destro]

Originally posted by Gazza:
<strong>The Czech Republic were beaten by Belgium in a play-off last week which put an end to the side's hopes of reaching the World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan.


Oooops </strong><hr></blockquote>

seriously. i thought they'd have the beligians handy since they did pretty well in the group phase. but this is from the guy that forgot france so take it or leave it!