With all the qualifiers done with, the stage is set for next year’s Brazilian World Cup!
After a night of excitement last night in the European play-off’s, Uruguay and Mexico booked their places in next Summer’s tournament today completing the set of 32-teams.
The next step is the group-stage draw and that will take place in Salvador, Brazil on December 6, 2013.
All we know for certain now is the pots that each country are in and below you can see the categories and which country is in which pot.
Pot 1: Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Uruguay and Switzerland.
Pot 2: Australia, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, USA.
Pot 3: Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Chile, Ecuador, France.
Pot 4: Bosnia, Croatia, England, Greece, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Russia.
The way FIFA have done it is so that there is a maximum of two European teams in each group.
However in 2014, there is an extra European team floating around outside Pot 1 and one less South American team, so an adjustment will have to be made. France, for example, as the lowest ranked European qualifier could go into Pot 3 with Africa and South America and then be kept apart from the top seeded European teams.
So these rankings mean England could be drawn in a group with France, Mexico and Brazil/Argentina. OUCH!
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles
