I think many of us are confused about what a group of death is. A group of death is a group that has strong teams in it where the difference in them is in a way that any of the 4 teams have a reasonable chance of advancing to a neutral observer. One can have a pure group of death where all 4 teams have a chance of advancing or a group of death relative to a single team, meaning it's a group of death for that team only as its 3 opponents are stronger than that team. The strength of the teams and the subsequent chances they are given for advancement are based on current strength and/or reputation and past performances.
Currently with the number of minnow teams participating in a World Cup, it is extremely hard to get a group of death as one or two minnow teams will always be present in every group. For this World Cup I don't see any group of death. In the previous World Cup we had a relative group of death for Costa Rica as it played Uruguay, Italy and England. The closest we have come to a true group of death in recent times is 2002 when we had Argentina, England, Sweden and Nigeria in a group where two were strong plus had reputations (as prior World Champions) and the other two were strong and had previously advanced from their group in past World Cups.
Looking at our group I find it laughable to call it a group of death. A group that has Iran and Morocco in it could not be a group of death. To any neutral observer, the clear favorites to advance are Spain and Portugal thus to those observers there is no balance or reasonable expectation for any team other than those two to advance. It's not even a group of death relative to us (or Morocco, only a quarterfinalist in the most recent African Championship) as we both fully expected to beat the other team. We have 2 strong opponents in our group. The group relative to us is a difficult group and to any neutral observer is simply a very straightforward group as to who advances. To a neutral observer anything other than Spain and Portugal advancing would be considered an upset. Meanuwhile to a neutral observer there are no upsets in a group of death as all 4 teams have a reasonable chance of beating each other and/or advancing.
Currently with the number of minnow teams participating in a World Cup, it is extremely hard to get a group of death as one or two minnow teams will always be present in every group. For this World Cup I don't see any group of death. In the previous World Cup we had a relative group of death for Costa Rica as it played Uruguay, Italy and England. The closest we have come to a true group of death in recent times is 2002 when we had Argentina, England, Sweden and Nigeria in a group where two were strong plus had reputations (as prior World Champions) and the other two were strong and had previously advanced from their group in past World Cups.
Looking at our group I find it laughable to call it a group of death. A group that has Iran and Morocco in it could not be a group of death. To any neutral observer, the clear favorites to advance are Spain and Portugal thus to those observers there is no balance or reasonable expectation for any team other than those two to advance. It's not even a group of death relative to us (or Morocco, only a quarterfinalist in the most recent African Championship) as we both fully expected to beat the other team. We have 2 strong opponents in our group. The group relative to us is a difficult group and to any neutral observer is simply a very straightforward group as to who advances. To a neutral observer anything other than Spain and Portugal advancing would be considered an upset. Meanuwhile to a neutral observer there are no upsets in a group of death as all 4 teams have a reasonable chance of beating each other and/or advancing.
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