Death, taxes and crappy draws for Canadian teams. Such is the assuredness of life. It wasn't quite the worst possible group that Canada could have drawn today, but it came damn close.
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Group A ( The Group of Maybe Death)
Germany (World No. 2)
France (No. 8)
Nigeria (No. 27)
Canada (No. 9)
Nigeria is likely tougher than the ranking would indicate and Germany should really be ranked No. 1 now ahead of the Americans. It very likely will come down to the Canada - France game and, as the rankings indicate, it will be a tight one.
Interestingly for Canadian fans, the Canucks will play Germany to kick-off the tournament. So, that's kind of cool even if we are playing the role of Washington Generals.
The other groups are:
Group B (AKA - The Powder-puff Group)
Japan (No. 5)
England (No. 10)
Mexico (No. 22)
New Zealand (No. 23)
Group C (the Group of Death-ish)
USA (No. 1)
North Korea (No. 6)
Sweden (No. 4)
Colombia (No. 32)
Group D (The Group of Brazil and the rest)
Brazil (No. 3)
Australia (No. 12)
Equatorial Guinea (No. 62)
Norway (No. 7)
Mexico did well to get the win against the USA but most people have selective memory when it comes to handicapping the Mexicans. Group B should be a cakewalk for the English (the 2018 bid team can only hope for half the fortune they got today - it's the best draw in the tournament) and Japan. New Zealand is here for experience.
The Americans' group lacks the top to bottom strength of Group A (Colombia will be a walk), but that top three is very tricky. Based on the USA's qualifying experience, I wouldn't be all that confident if I were the Americans. Regardless a better team than Canada or France is going to miss out from Group C.
Group D is a little bland. Brazil is the class, Equatorial Guinea will provide storylines but not much else and Norway and Australia are two programs going the wrong way.
One positive a Canadian might take away from the draw is that if they do finish second in the group they will likely draw one of England or Japan in the quarters. That's a winnable game and a semi-final berth is likely the best-case dream performance for the Canucks anyway.