When's the draw for Holland 2005?

[Robert]

When is FIFA going to hold the draw for the final tournament in Holland. There are only two undecided berths left (both from South America) and the start of the final tournament is only four months away.

[DJT]

I've been trying to find out as well, but no luck. It doesn't appear on FIFA's Calendar of Events, so perhaps they haven't scheduled it yet? But that would be odd. There is an Organizing Committee meeting set for February 16, so maybe the draw will be performed then, or at least scheduled.

[Guest Jeffery S.]

I have already looked at the schedule of games, and am thinking about going for the first weekend of the tournament, or just as well the third. Though I think if I have to chose one game it would have to be our first, as it will be most intense.

And the rest on Eurosport. Luckily if I go train connections in Holland are quick, most venue cities are small (Utrecht is a bit bigger), I am sure it would even be easy to camp.

[An Observer]

I will definitely go either the first weekend or the second depending on the schedule of games. Would probably be there for the mid-week match as well.

[Robert]

quote:Originally posted by DJT

I've been trying to find out as well, but no luck. It doesn't appear on FIFA's Calendar of Events, so perhaps they haven't scheduled it yet? But that would be odd. There is an Organizing Committee meeting set for February 16, so maybe the draw will be performed then, or at least scheduled.

Already qualified:

01) Canada

02) United States

03) Honduras

04) Panama

05) Korea

06) Japan

07) China

08) Syria

09) Nigeria

10) Egypt

11) Morocco

12) Benin

13) Australia

14) Holland

15) Germany

16) Italy

17) Spain

18) Ukraine

19) Turkey

20) Switzerland

21) Colombia

22)

23)

24)

The final 3 spots could be filled by the end of the day between Brasil, Argentina, Chilie, Uruguay and Venezuela.

We (Canada of course) will face one European team for sure, and the host Dutch would be a good one to draw because then we would not have to face them again untill the semifinals in the knockout stage. If we play the Dutch, we would also not have to face any of the other seeds, avoiding a Brasil or Argentina and probably get an easier opponent as well, because FIFA never orchastrates a group of death which involves the host nation. We would also not face a CONCACAF team in the group stage. Our minimum goal should be to get least to the second round. Getting one of the four out of six best third place finishes should be attainable for a defending quarterfinalist who will host the next tournament. Anything less would IMO be a failure. With our new found scoring weapon, I predict a semifinal finish.

[Guest Jeffery S.]

quote:Originally posted by An Observer

I will definitely go either the first weekend or the second depending on the schedule of games. Would probably be there for the mid-week match as well.

It starts on the Friday June 10, and all teams play that weekend first match, then there is a midweek set of matches, the third of the group stage on the next weekend, Friday to Sunday as well. You can find a pdf file on the sched at fifa.com, but until we know the draw it is not too helpful.

[FC Beast]

With Canada being involved, wouldn't it be nice if sportsnet covered it live, still waiting to hear back from them on that one.

[El Hombre]

quote:Originally posted by FC Beast

With Canada being involved, wouldn't it be nice if sportsnet covered it live, still waiting to hear back from them on that one.

Sportsnet has indicated that they will be covering all of Canada's games plus the final. See the first post in http://www.canadian-soccer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5880

Not sure if it would be live, but I don't see why it wouldn't.

[FC Beast]

quote:Originally posted by El Hombre

Sportsnet has indicated that they will be covering all of Canada's games plus the final. See the first post in http://www.canadian-soccer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5880

Not sure if it would be live, but I don't see why it wouldn't.

My question for them is why don't the show the whole tournament? I'm

not losing sleep waiting for a responce from them twits.

[El Hombre]

quote:Originally posted by FC Beast

My question for them is why don't the show the whole tournament? I'm

not losing sleep waiting for a responce from them twits.

Umm...on any given day there could be six matches (sometimes eight). You want them to devote 12 hours of programming to this? That seems a bit silly. I'm glad they're showing all of Canada's games and anything more than that is gravy. It's better than it was last WYC, that's for sure.

Or are we just complaining for the sake of complaining?

[Robert]

[canso]

At this level anyone can beat anyone on any given day...until they get to the final against Brazil!

There is no bad draw, but it's hard to imagine getting Brazil in the same group again.

[Robert]

quote:Originally posted by canso

At this level anyone can beat anyone on any given day...until they get to the final against Brazil!

There is no bad draw, but it's hard to imagine getting Brazil in the same group again.

That's a preety bold statement, which could lose you a lot of money, considering Brazil has only made it beyond the quaterfinals once out of the last four U20 World Cup Finals.

[gardencity]

We do have an uncanny ability of getting the worst possible draw, while our U.S. counterparts always seem to get a favourable draw. At the last WYC we got Brazil, Czech Republic and Australia (who've gone far in this tournament in years past). I think US' toughest group opponent might have been S. Korea! As US isn't seeded ahead of us in this tournament (or are they on goal differential??)I'll be interested to see how we draw this time around. I can see Brazil again. Power to the lads, they'll do well against any opponent I believe.

Cheers, Gardencity

quote:Originally posted by canso

At this level anyone can beat anyone on any given day...until they get to the final against Brazil!

There is no bad draw, but it's hard to imagine getting Brazil in the same group again.

That's a preety bold statement, which could lose you a lot of money, considering Brazil has only made it beyond the quaterfinals once out of the last four U20 World Cup Finals.

[marktci]

From the Globe and Mail (after an article about Peters):

Canada, which booked its ticket to the finals in the Netherlands by winning a qualifying tournament in Honduras last week, has to wait until March 6 for the draw in Utrecht to discover its first-round opponents.

Globe Article

[beachesl]

Great article in the Globe. Also interviews Jamie Peters, DeVos and discusses the W-League calendar, and a lot more at end. Need more of this stuff, never see it in the Edmonton papers.

about WYC:

"World Under-20 Tournament: The field for this summer's World Youth Championship is all but set with Chile playing Uruguay on Saturday to determine the final piece in the 24-team puzzle.

Colombia, defending champion Brazil and Argentina have already qualified from the South American zone going into the final round of weekend matches in the under-20 CONMEBOL competition.

Canada, which booked its ticket to the finals in the Netherlands by winning a qualifying tournament in Honduras last week, has to wait until March 6 for the draw in Utrecht to discover its first-round opponents.

FIFA has yet to decide on the ground rules governing the draw, ie which countries will be separated in the preliminary round-robin. Usually it is done by geography, with teams from the same region kept apart in the first round.

In 2003, in the United Arab Emirates, Canada was drawn in a tough group with Australia, Brazil and the Czech Republic but advanced as one of the top two third-place teams in the round.

With Canada winning its qualifying tournament this time around, instead of finishing runner-up to the U.S., it may make for a more benign draw this time around although there are no pushovers at this level.

The host Dutch will be joined by Nigeria, Egypt, Benin and Morocco from Africa; Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, Switzerland, Italy and Germany from Europe; South Korea, China, Japan and Syria from Asia; Australia from Oceania; Canada, Honduras, the U.S., and Panama from North and Central America and the Caribbean; and Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and either Chile or Uruguay from South America.

Colombia might bear watching. It tied Argentina and beat Brazil in qualifying."

[marktci]

quote:Originally posted by beachesl

Great article in the Globe. Also interviews Jamie Peters, DeVos and discusses the W-League calendar, and a lot more at end. Need more of this stuff, never see it in the Edmonton papers.

Actually, the Toronto Star also ran the first column by their new weekly soccer columnist today. It's not exactly groundbreaking ("Racism in Soccer is Bad"), but it's a start.

The article was removed from this post because it is not related to this thread and it is also posted in the General Discussion section. - Admin

[marktci]

quote:Originally posted by beachesl

Great article in the Globe. Also interviews Jamie Peters, DeVos and discusses the W-League calendar, and a lot more at end. Need more of this stuff, never see it in the Edmonton papers.

Actually, the Toronto Star also ran the first column by their new weekly soccer columnist today. It's not exactly groundbreaking ("Racism in Soccer is Bad"), but it's a start.

The article was removed from this post because it is not related to this thread and it is also posted in the General Discussion section. - Admin

[FC Beast]

quote:Originally posted by El Hombre

Umm...on any given day there could be six matches (sometimes eight). You want them to devote 12 hours of programming to this? That seems a bit silly. I'm glad they're showing all of Canada's games and anything more than that is gravy. It's better than it was last WYC, that's for sure.

Or are we just complaining for the sake of complaining?

This is suppose to be the biggest soccer tournament next to the world

cup. Should we accept that sportsnet might just want to show Germany 2006 from the Qtr final's onwards? We have a big international soccer community here in Canada, Brits, Italians, Greeks,Portugese, Germans,

Dutch, South Americans, so the interest would be there for the whole WYC to be shown.

[FC Beast]

quote:Originally posted by El Hombre

Umm...on any given day there could be six matches (sometimes eight). You want them to devote 12 hours of programming to this? That seems a bit silly. I'm glad they're showing all of Canada's games and anything more than that is gravy. It's better than it was last WYC, that's for sure.

Or are we just complaining for the sake of complaining?

This is suppose to be the biggest soccer tournament next to the world

cup. Should we accept that sportsnet might just want to show Germany 2006 from the Qtr final's onwards? We have a big international soccer community here in Canada, Brits, Italians, Greeks,Portugese, Germans,

Dutch, South Americans, so the interest would be there for the whole WYC to be shown.

[DJT]

quote:With Canada winning its qualifying tournament this time around, instead of finishing runner-up to the U.S., it may make for a more benign draw this time around although there are no pushovers at this level.

I don't need to remind anyone here, but we finished first, not runner-up to the US, in our 2003 qualifying group.

I commend them for the coverage, but there just always seems to be at least one mistake. [|)]

[Free kick]

Some of these sides are really unfamiliar to me. I don't ever recall seeing Syria involved in a final phase of a FIFA tourny in the past. And what about Benin?. I always THOUGHT I was good in geography, But apparantly not. Plus, If I am not mistaken, Benin hosted the qualifying tournament.

This is just a hunch on my part. I have feeling that we will end up in ths same group as the hosts; Holland.

[jonovision]

quote:Originally posted by Free kick

Some of these sides are really unfamiliar to me. I don't ever recall seeing Syria involved in a final phase of a FIFA tourny in the past. And what about Benin?. I always THOUGHT I was good in geography, But apparantly not. Plus, If I am not mistaken, Benin hosted the qualifying tournament.

This is just a hunch on my part. I have feeling that we will end up in ths same group as the hosts; Holland.

I really hope we do NOT end up in the same group as Holland. This isn't from a competitive perspective, but rather because it will make it a lot harder to get tickets. Although I guess Holland matches would be played in the larger stadia (probably Utrecht) which makes things easier from a transportation perspective (only a 30min train ride from Amsterdam).

[beachesl]

quote:Originally posted by Free kick

Some of these sides are really unfamiliar to me. I don't ever recall seeing Syria involved in a final phase of a FIFA tourny in the past. And what about Benin?. I always THOUGHT I was good in geography, But apparantly not. Plus, If I am not mistaken, Benin hosted the qualifying tournament.

This is just a hunch on my part. I have feeling that we will end up in ths same group as the hosts; Holland.

Yes, Benin hosted the q tournament, where its opening GK got creamed outside a bar after losing bigtime to Nigeria in the first match. On your old atlases it was called Dahomey, changed its name about 15 years ago after one of interminable coups. Between Nigeria and Ghana, small, but not as small as neighbouring Togo. Francophone.

[Robert]

quote:Originally posted by jonovision

I really hope we do NOT end up in the same group as Holland. This isn't from a competitive perspective, but rather because it will make it a lot harder to get tickets. Although I guess Holland matches would be played in the larger stadia (probably Utrecht) which makes things easier from a transportation perspective (only a 30min train ride from Amsterdam).

Hypothetically speaking, how would Canada fair in a group with Holland, 60 years after liberating the country of my birth? It would be perfect if Germany got into this group. They'd have trouble finishing fourth. Talk about trying to get a ticket.