World Cup draw is set with Mexico receiving toughest draw
Tournament host Russia heads a surprisingly soft group while Mexico faces two potential hurdles in its hopes to make history in next summer’s World Cup.
The world championship will be the first to be played without the U.S. since 1986. The Americans finished a non-qualifying fifth in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying this fall.
In a brisk draw held Friday at the 6,000-seat State Kremlin Palace, Russia was paired with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Uruguay. Russia, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament at No. 65 in the October FIFA world ratings, will open the competition against No. 63 Saudi Arabia on June 14 in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.
With the exception of South Korea at No. 62, every other team in the 32-team field is ranked in the top 50. And with the top two teams in each of the eight four-team groups advancing to the knockout round, Russia could move on with a win over Saudi Arabia and a draw against either Egypt or Uruguay, the other two teams in the group.
Mexico, meanwhile, will open its World Cup against defending champion Germany, the world’s top-ranked team. A loss there would leave Mexico needing results against Sweden and South Korea in its other two group-play games to move on.
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Mexico will face tough group, tougher matchup if they advance
All teams want to start out with an easier matchup in the World Cup to get themselves acclimated to the tournament and to settle the nerves of their fans.
Mexico will get no such luck to open the 2018 World Cup in Russia as they will face defending champion Germany to open Group F play.
If Mexico does advance to the second round, likely as the runner-up in the group, it will face a very tough test in Brazil, the early favorite to lead their group.
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Here is what you’ll need to know for the World Cup draw
According to Soccer America:
At past draws, there has been a pot of seeded teams and three other pots of teams filled geographically. (For the 2014 World Cup draw, the USA was placed in a pot with teams from CONCACAF and Asia.)
For the 2018 World Cup draw, teams have been distributed through the four pots in order of their place in the October FIFA rankings. The one exception: Host Russia — the lowest ranking of the 32 teams — is in Pot 1 with the top seven seeded teams.
Pot 1: Russia (65), Germany (1), Brazil (2), Portugal (3), Argentina (4), Belgium (5), Poland (6), France (7).
Pot 2: Spain (8), Peru (10), Switzerland (11), England (12), Colombia (13), Mexico (16), Uruguay (17), Croatia (18).
Pot 3: Denmark (19), Iceland (21), Costa Rica (22), Sweden (25), Tunisia (28), Egypt (30), Senegal (32), Iran (34).
Pot 4: Serbia (38), Nigeria (41), Australia (43), Japan (44), Morocco (48), Panama (49), South Korea (62), Saudi Arabia (63).
No more than two European teams can be placed in one group, and teams from other confederations can’t be placed in a group with a team from their own confederation.
This will be the confusing part: After teams are drawn in the Pot 1, teams drawn from the other pots won’t automatically be placed in the group in the order they are picked. To avoid geographic conflicts — or conflicts of teams yet to be picked — teams may skip groups and be placed in the next non-conflicting group down the line.
Based on the FIFA rankings and draw rules, the toughest group would be Brazil, Spain, Denmark and Nigeria.