2014 World Cup Qualification Thread - UEFA Second Round

[LittleOzzy]

Format

All 53 UEFA national teams entered qualification, and 13 teams will qualify for the 2014 World Cup. The draw for the qualification groups will be held in Brazil on 30 July 2011. The qualification format will be the same as 2010. The teams will be split into eight groups of six teams and one group of five. The nine group winners will qualify directly to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and the eight best runners-up (determined by records against the first-, third-, fourth- and fifth-placed teams only for balance between different groups) will be drawn in two-legged play-offs to determine the other four qualifying nations.

The matches are scheduled to be played between 7 September 2012 and 15 October 2013.

Seeding

The July 2011 FIFA Ranking was used to seed the teams. In consideration of the delicate political situations of the relationships between Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as between Russia and Georgia, UEFA have requested that FIFA maintain the current UEFA policy to not draw these teams into the same qualification groups. Armenia and Azerbaijan are in the same pot and therefore cannot be drawn together. The mechanism for keeping Russia and Georgia apart will be confirmed by the FIFA Organising Committee on 29 July 2011 once the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking for July 2011 has been established and the respective pots for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia and Georgia confirmed.

Pot seeding is as follows. (Rankings shown in brackets)[5]

I'll have the first round up right after the draw is made.

[5DOM]

Wales and Scotland are in the same group. Watch England join them

[5DOM]

Group A should be really interesting



Btw how the hell did Greece, Norway and Croatia get in Pot 1...

[El Turco]

Greeks always end up in cream puff groups.

over/under 4 pitch invasions in group A. really putting Croatia and Serbia (and Macedonia to lesser extent) in the same group is more dangerous than putting Armenia and Azerbaijan together which they avoid.

[Slava]

Group A looks brutal.

[Foye]

I bookmark this group C as Germany being qualified for the 2014 world cup.

[MitchellUK]

Group A should be interesting. A healthy Wales squad has the young talent to cause trouble for any of those teams (not saying they will qualify, but I can see them getting results against those other nations and having a big impact on who comes out of the group). Macedonia have similar upset potential, Belgium are youthful and improving, Scotland aren't bad, and while Croatia and Serbia are the best two teams on paper, they don't stand head and shoulders above the other nations like Germany or Holland do.

[5DOM]

I really like the Belgian team. A lot of promising players

Kompany
Vermaelen
Vertonghen
Defour
Witsel
De Bruyne
Hazard
Lukaku
Fellaini
Dembele
Courtosis

[AdamTheGreek]

Greeks always end up in cream puff groups.

over/under 4 pitch invasions in group A. really putting Croatia and Serbia (and Macedonia to lesser extent) in the same group is more dangerous than putting Armenia and Azerbaijan together which they avoid.

Considering Greece was in some very difficult groups in '04 and '06, I'll take our recent luck of easy draws.

We're in Pot 1 because we do damn well in qualifying campaigns. We would be higher too if Otto didn't **** us in friendlies.

Seriously though, we've been gifted big time. If we don't take 1st place a lot of people need to be hung. Even if Santos leaves after Euro 2012, we shouldn't need a coach to reach the top of that group.

Group A is going to be a security nightmare. Skops, Croatia, and Serbia duking it out? Wow. Then you add in Scotland's rough fans? Yikes.

[fudgie]

Lol, Croatia and Serbia in the same group. Can you say high risk match?

[LittleOzzy]

Because one group has one team fewer than the others, matches against the sixth-placed team in each group are not included in this ranking. As a result, eight matches played by each team will count for the purposes of the second-placed table.

The eight best runners-up will be determined by the following parameters in this order:

Highest number of points
Goal difference
Highest number of goals scored

The 8 best group runners-up will contest the second round ("continental play-offs"). The 8 teams will be paired into 4 home-and-away series. The 4 winners will qualify for the World Cup. There has been no mention of seeding this draw to date, as happened in qualification for South Africa 2010, but the rules may change at a later point.