2018 World Cup Draw Is Complete With No Obvious Group Of Death

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The 32-team draw commonly produces a group of death where there are more highly ranked teams than chances to advance to the next stage after group play. But the draw for the 2018 tournament has no obviously imposing group.

After the U.S. failed to qualify in an upset loss at the hands of Trinidad and Tobago,Bruce Arena resigned as the teams coach. The Americans had played in seven consecutive World Cups, dating to 1990.

Spain will play Portugal; France will play Peru; Brazil will play Switzerland. Those are among the results of the draw for the World Cup field, held Friday by soccers governing body, FIFA. The 2018 World Cup will begin with host Russia playing Saudi Arabia in Moscow on June 14.

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2018 World Cup Draw Is Complete, With No Obvious Group Of Death

Argentinian soccer legend Diego Maradona was one of several stars who took part in Fridays draw for the 2018 World Cup. The widely watched draw was held at the Kremlin in Moscow.Dmitri Lovetsky/APhide caption

The main contender for the label is Group C, which pits France (No. 6 in the world) against Peru (No. 11) and Denmark (which recently rose to No. 12 inFIFAs world rankings).

The lack of a frighteningly strong group could be blamed on the absence of four normally competitive teams that failed to qualify. Missing from the picture are No. 14 Italy whichhadnt missed a World Cup since 1958 along with Chile (No. 10), the Netherlands (No. 20) and the U.S. (No. 24).

Spain will play Portugal, France will play Peru, and Brazil will play Switzerland but the draw for the Russian-hosted tournament lacks an obviously imposing group.

The situation prompted a number of Twitter users to joke that there is in fact an actual Group of Death this time around and that it includes the U.S., Italy, Chile and the Netherlands.

2018 World Cup Draw Is Complete, With No Obvious Group Of Death : The Two-Way

World No. 65 Russia was guaranteed a spot in the tournament because of its role as host; its in Group A which has no teams ranked in the top 20. The class of the group is Uruguay (No. 21). Egypt (No. 31) and Saudi Arabia (No. 63) round out the hosts competition to advance.

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Argentinian soccer legend Diego Maradona was one of several stars who took part in Fridays draw for the 2018 World Cup. The widely watched draw was held at the Kremlin in Moscow.

A similar dynamic is likely to play out in Group F, the only other group with more than two teams in the worlds top 20. There, defending champion Germany (currently No. 1) will contend with Mexico (No. 16) and Sweden (No. 18).