World Cup draw: Socceroos aiming to avoid ‘group of death’

AUSTRALIA will be desperate to avoid a repeat of the disastrous World Cup draw from four years ago when the groups for Russia 2018 are finalised early on Saturday.

Could the Socceroos face Neymar’s Brazil?

AUSTRALIA will be desperate to avoid a repeat of the disastrous World Cup draw from four years ago when the groups for Russia 2018 are finalised early on Saturday.

The best outcome for the Socceroos would be to be drawn against the likes of Russia, Peru and Tunisia, although Australian fans would salivate at the prospect of taking on the old enemy England for the first time in a major tournament.

But being placed in the fourth pot for the lowest-ranked teams means the number of worst-case scenarios far outweigh the favourable outcomes for the Socceroos, who could land in a group featuring Brazil, Spain and Denmark.

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The Socceroos’ fate was sealed before they kicked a ball at the Brazil 2014 tournament when they were pitted against defending champions Spain, European powers the Netherlands and South American nation Chile.

Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak.

Despite some encouraging performances, including the 3-2 cliffhanger against the Dutch, the Socceroos walked away with three losses.

That’s why a victory in the early hours of tomorrow morning at the World Cup draw in the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, is critical to any thoughts of escaping the group stage in seven months time.

After the red carpet arrivals in freezing Moscow tomorrow it will be down to business with representatives from all 32 participating countries in attendance at the historic venue.

For the Socceroos, assistant coach Ante Milicic will be joined by FFA boss David Gallop, who jumped on a plane to Russia immediately following Thursday’s annual general meeting in Sydney.

Former England captain and 1986 Golden Boot winner Gary Lineker will host the ceremony alongside Russian sports journalist Maria Komandnaya.

All eight World Cup champion nations will send a representative of their winning teams to assist in the draw.

Could the Socceroos face Neymar’s Brazil?

For England, who won their only World Cup in 1966, that will be Gordon Banks.

Laurent Blanc will be representing France’s triumphant team of 1998, Cafu for Brazil 2002, Fabio Cannavaro will be there for Italy 2006 — although his country won’t be there at all. Representing the Uruguayan 1930 and 1950 champions will be Diego Forlan, while Spain’s Carlos Puyol (2010) and Germany’s Miroslav Klose (2014) will be there for their respective countries.

Diego Maradona is expected to be here to represent Argentina and, in a local touch, 91-year-old Nikita Simonyan, who played for his country at the Sweden tournament in 1958, will represent host nation Russia.

Australia’s draw difficulties come as the teams are split into four pots based on their FIFA world ranking. Pot 1 features Russia and the seven highest-ranked teams, led by Germany, Brazil, Portugal and Argentina.

Pot 2 contains the next best eight teams, followed by Pot 3 and Australia alongside the lowest-ranked nations in Pot 4.

Teams will be drawn into eight groups of four from A to H and play three group games, with the top two advancing to the second stage.

Russia, as hosts, will be in Group A and represent arguably the easiest of the possible top-ranked opponents.

...or Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal?

Each group will have a maximum of two European teams, while no two teams from any other continental confederation can be drawn together.

The Socceroos will be hoping to avoid a return clash with Spain, who have fallen into Pot 2 alongside more favourable opponents Switzerland, Peru and Mexico..

The best outcome from Pot 3 would have the Aussies facing Tunisia, Senegal or Iceland

Following the draw, countries will scramble to organise friendly matches with nations not in their groups and FFA already having earmarked the March and May international windows to host games.

It just leaves one minor detail for FFA to sort out — to find a coach after Ange Postecoglou walked away from his post.

Originally published as World Cup draw: Socceroos aiming to avoid ‘group of death’