MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — world cup If it were an NCAA basketball tournament, teams like Morocco and the Netherlands would be seriously angry with the selection and seeding committees by now. England, Mexico, Portugal and Spain may not be so happy either.
Lionel Messi and Argentina, on the other hand, probably won’t complain too much about their potential path to the World Cup’s final four.
This slot is set for the final tournament of the World Cup. There was no selection committee. It wasn’t quite the same as how the NCAA Tournament would play out, as the spots were pre-determined, with the Group A winner on this line, the Group D runner-up on this line, and so on. Also, FIFA doesn’t do reseeding like in some sports, so it’s certain that some of the lower seeds will at least make it to the round of 16.
So if you take the 32 qualifying teams for the knockout stage and rank them like they would in the NCAA Tournament (basically seeding the field from 1 to 32 based on the FIFA Live Rankings going into Sunday), it’s easy to see why some “regions” are harder to navigate than others.
Breakdown of World Cup spots:
foxboro region
— Quarterfinals: July 9, Foxboro, Massachusetts.
— Round of 32 matchups: No. 12 Germany vs. No. 27 Paraguay, No. 2 France vs. No. 26 Sweden, No. 29 South Africa vs. No. 25 Canada, No. 7 Netherlands vs. No. 6 Morocco.
— Outlook: Netherlands vs. Morocco in the round of 32 means at least one of the top seven teams remaining in the tournament won’t even make it to the round of 16. There is a possibility that Europe’s regular powers, France and Germany, will meet in the round of 16. The winners of South Africa and Canada may also have to change time zones twice to advance to the quarter-finals, while Germany, Paraguay, France and Sweden will all advance to one. Massachusetts, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania in Rounds 32 and 16.
— If the seeding holds, France will face Morocco in the quarterfinals.
Inglewood region
— Quarterfinals: July 10, Inglewood, California.
— Round of 32 matchups: No. 8 Portugal vs. No. 13 Croatia, No. 3 Spain vs. No. 18 Austria, No. 14 USA vs. No. 30 Bosnia and Herzegovina, No. 10 Belgium vs. No. 17 Senegal.
— Outlook: The U.S. begins the Round of 32 as one of the lowest-ranked teams in the tournament and will remain in the Pacific time zone until the semifinals. Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal were never going to have an easy draw, with Croatia opening the game and potentially Spain in the round of 16. (I can’t imagine Spain is too excited about this either.) Belgium vs. Senegal will be played in Seattle, with the winner remaining in Seattle to face the winner of the U.S. game. It’s a great break for tired legs.
— If seeding holds: Spain will play Belgium in the quarterfinals.
miami gardens region
— Quarterfinals: July 11, Miami Gardens, Florida.
— Round of 32 matchups: No. 5 Brazil vs. No. 16 Japan, No. 24 Ivory Coast vs. No. 19 Norway, No. 9 Mexico vs. No. 20 Ecuador, No. 4 England vs. No. 28 Congo.
— Outlook: Mexico and England will be heavily favored in the round of 32, before meeting in the round of 16. This will be a road game for England in Mexico City. And Mexico is one of only two teams to keep a clean sheet in the group stage, the other being Spain. Brazil has a slightly easier path to the quarter-finals, opening against Japan and if they win they will draw with the winner of Ivory Coast vs. Norway.
— If seeding holds: Brazil will play England in the quarterfinals.
kansas city area
— Quarterfinals: July 11, Kansas City, Missouri.
— Round of 32 matchups: No. 1 Argentina vs. No. 31 Cape Verde, No. 22 Australia vs. No. 21 Egypt, No. 15 Switzerland vs. No. 23 Algeria, and No. 11 Colombia vs. No. 32 Ghana.
— Outlook: Again, there is no “selection committee,” but if there were, they would have gotten this match right by pitting Argentina’s top scorer in Lionel Messi against the tournament’s best story in Cape Verde in the Round of 32. And Messi will be at home in Miami Gardens, a few miles from Inter Miami’s stadium, for that matchup. Australia or Egypt await the winner of the match against Argentina, Switzerland vs. Algeria has the potential to score a lot of points, and Colombia face a Ghanaian team with nothing to lose.
— If seeding holds: Argentina will play Colombia in the quarterfinals.
inside the bracket
Round of 32 matchup news and notes:
— France, Mexico and Argentina were the only teams to escape group play with records of 3-0-0.
— There are four Round of 32 matchups between undefeated teams: Netherlands (2-0-1) vs. Morocco (2-0-1), Belgium (1-0-2) vs. Senegal (1-0-2), Brazil (2-0-1) vs. Japan (1-0-2), and Argentina (3-0-0) vs. Cape Verde (0-0-3).
— Expect goals in France vs. Sweden (17 goals in total in the group stage), Netherlands vs. Morocco (16 goals), Belgium vs. Senegal (14 goals), Brazil vs. Japan (14 goals), and USA vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina (13 goals).
–Conversely, the opening goal between Mexico and Ecuador could decide the match. Mexico did not score in group play, and Ecuador conceded just two goals in three games.
— The semifinal matchups will be the winner of the Foxboro quarterfinals vs. the winner of the Inglewood quarterfinals (July 14 in Arlington, Texas) and the winner of the Miami Gardens quarterfinals vs. the winner of the Kansas City quarterfinals (July 15 in Atlanta). The finals will be held on July 19th in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
___
See more of The Associated Press’ World Cup coverage here.
