Football King Bale

As soon as the filing plan was introduced, it was met with huge controversy.

Why is the French team, who won the World Cup in 1998 and was runner-up in 2006, only as the second tier? And Wales and Norway, which are not considered top European teams at all, can be seeded?

Although Wales passed all the way in the just-concluded European Cup, defeated Portugal, Spain and Italy and other strong teams in a row, and won the final championship, but no one really regarded them as a strong team.

Before the World Cup in South Africa, the seeding team in the European zone was not determined according to the FIFA rankings. That is to say, the seeding method of the European zone this time is only the second time in history.

Greece also benefited from the European preliminaries of the 2010 World Cup. At that time, England's ranking in UEFA fell from ninth to tenth. The teams were divided together, and finally successfully appeared in the World Cup in South Africa.

This time, the beneficiary team has even changed from a Greek team four years ago to two teams from Wales and Norway.

If it is said that Wales can be ranked in the seeded team, many people have already expected it. Although everyone does not regard him as a strong team, it is the new European champion after all, and everyone can accept being included in the seeded team. But Norway's seeding is incredible.

In terms of qualifications, Norway only participated in the World Cup in 1938, 1994 and 1998, and did not have any outstanding results; it is hard to believe that such a resume is still a seeded team.

Looking back at the European ranking of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the Norwegian team could not even make it to the top 16. However, with the outstanding results in friendly matches in the past year, including several victories in the European Cup qualifiers, the Norwegian team's world ranking Rising to No. 12 in the world at once, if luck is better in the ensuing qualifying draw, Norway can look forward to the dream of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

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However, whether it is acceptable or not, the matter has become a foregone conclusion, and it will not depend on the will of some people.

The world-renowned ceremony will be attended by more than 2,000 people, including 1,000 journalists from around the world. Not only that, Ronaldo and other 10 Brazilian stars participated in the draw as guests, and Brazil World Cup ambassador Pele and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will also be present in person.

At the press conference before the draw ceremony, Blatter was full of confidence in Brazil's preparations for the World Cup, believing that Brazil would be able to complete the construction of venues, airports and other infrastructure within three years.

A reporter asked about the various scandals exposed by FIFA recently,

For example, when Harman criticized Blatter as a "dictator", Blatter replied: "We make decisions as a group, not me alone, and I am not a dictator."

At the same time, FIFA is also preparing to crack down on corruption, bribery and other unhealthy practices. It is reported that the FIFA Ethics Committee has sent letters to 25 countries and regions in the Caribbean to investigate the scandal of exchanging cash for voting rights. Heavy penalties in football.

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The draw ceremony officially started at 2:00 a.m. Beijing time on July 31. FIFA President Sepp Blatter took the lead to deliver a speech in Portuguese. I wish Brazil a smooth and successful World Cup, and thank the Brazilian people for their efforts.

Afterwards, Ms. Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil, took the stage to give a speech. She especially thanked Pele for his contribution to Brazilian football, and emphasized that Brazil has enough strength to host the 2014 World Cup.

FIFA Secretary-General Walker appeared on the stage, and the draw officially began. Valcke first drew a play-off match between the continents with half of the seats, the 5th place in Asia and the 5th place in South America competed for a seat, and the 4th place in Central and North America and the Caribbean competed for a seat with the champion of Oceania.

Finally, there is the much-watched group draw in the European region. The guests are "alien" Ronaldo and Santos stars.

According to the FIFA rankings in the European zone, six pools are filled in from high to low, and a lottery is drawn from each pool.

The nine teams in the first pool are Spain, Netherlands, Germany, England, Wales, Portugal, Italy, Croatia and Norway. A home and away round-robin match will be held within the group, and the nine winners will advance to the finals. The eight runners-up with the best results will enter the second round of competition. In the second round, there will be a home and away knockout match, and the four winning teams will advance to the finals. A second round will require a redraw.

Bell found that he and Wales are very close to G. In the previous European Cup qualifiers, Wales was drawn into Group G. This time, Wales was drawn into Group G again in the European qualifiers for the World Cup in Brazil. The only difference is that last time they were not the seeded team, but this time they are the seeded team.

The five teams in the same group as Wales are Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, Latvia and Liechtenstein.

Obviously, for Wales, this is definitely a top pick, because this is almost the weakest group overall in the 9 groups in the European zone.

Slovakia may pose a certain threat to Wales' first place in the group.

In the 2010 World Cup, Slovakia lost 1-2 in the 18 finals. Although they failed to reach the quarterfinals, this team, which entered the World Cup finals for the first time, still received applause from the people.

After the World Cup, they did not show signs of being short-lived. In the 2012 European Cup qualifiers, they ranked first in Group B, and the qualifying situation was very good.

In addition, there are star players like Skrtel and Weiss in the team. Under the leadership of the old Weiss, the team still insists on the old way of defensive counterattack, but the weak offense is still their old problem.

The strength of Bosnia and Herzegovina is not bad, but the top-heavy team is more likely to suffer in the double round-robin competition system of the group, especially in the face of these two experienced teams who are good at defensive counterattacks. Lithuania, Latvia and Liechtenstein hardly pose too much threat, although Latvia also appeared on the stage of Euro 2004.

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Also getting the lottery is England, which is in Group H with Montenegro, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova and San Marino.

Looking at the European giants, England's grouping situation is considered the best, and the strength of the teams in the same group is not small compared to the Three Lions.

However, Capello, the current coach of England, still looks at this result in his usual conservative style, "This is by no means an easy group. You must take it seriously. The importance of every game is like the final!"

In Group H, the England team also encountered a familiar opponent. In the 2012 European Cup qualifiers, Montenegro and England were in the same group. In this regard, Capello said: "We know that Montenegro is a strong opponent, and I am very much looking forward to the second round with them."

Regarding the possibility of other opponents qualifying, Capello seems not optimistic. He said: "Ukraine? I remember the last time I played against them was in 2010. We defeated them and Ukraine also lost the qualification for the World Cup in South Africa. Moldova? This Not a strong opponent. San Marino is in the same situation as them."

Later, Capello changed the subject and directly mentioned a sensitive issue: "My contract will end in 2012. At that time, it is likely that another coach will lead England to finish the 2014 World Cup qualifiers."

"Sky Sports" also wrote that: England is generally not optimistic about Capello staying in the local area. The odds of most bookmakers show that Redknapp is likely to take over Capello's leadership in 2012.

However, Capello is still very optimistic about England's future, he said: "England's prospects will be bright, because we have many young people with great potential, and by 2014, they will provoke the backbone of the team! I am convinced that we have some very good young people and the future belongs to them!"

The other 7 groups are all anxious.

The seed team in Group A is Croatia. In the latest FIFA rankings, Croatia ranks 10th in the world and 8th in Europe. Greece ranks 14th in FIFA, Serbia 28th, Belgium 38th, Scotland 62nd and Macedonia 97th. Judging from the FIFA rankings, Croatia, which participated in the 2008 European Championship, is the strongest, while Greece, Serbia, and Belgium form the second group. Scotland and Macedonia basically play the role of soy sauce.

Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Armenia and Malta are drawn in Group B. For Italy, these opponents are not unfamiliar, especially in the 2004 European Championship, Italy was also in a group with Denmark and Bulgaria.

Germany, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, Faroe Islands and Kazakhstan are drawn in Group C. The German team, currently ranked No. 3 in the world, is undoubtedly the biggest favorite. Sweden and Ireland are more likely to compete for second place.

There are 6 teams in Group D, they are Netherlands, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Estonia and Andorra. South Africa's World Cup runner-up Netherlands undoubtedly has stronger strength, but the Turks must not be underestimated.

Six teams including Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland, Albania, Cyprus and Iceland were divided into Group E. This group does not have a traditional strong team, but this is what makes the competition in this group even more tragic.

In Group F of the European Zone, 6 teams including Portugal, Russia, Israel, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan, and Luxembourg are divided together.

Defending champion Spain is in Group I with France, Belarus, Georgia and Finland. Unfortunately, Spain encountered France, the strongest team in the second tier, but the other opponents in the same group were weaker. The situation in Group I can be described as a "twin match" between Spain and France.

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