Russia World Cup draw Pots time date channel stream info and what to know

The Blues go on the road for a match they are expected to win

For the first time since 1958, theWorld Cup will not feature four-time tournament winners Italy. They were bounced in the UEFA playoff stage against Sweden. Other notable countries that failed to make it to the dance include the Netherlands (which hold the record for most World Cup finals appearances without winning the tourney),two-time Copa America champs Chile,United States(defending Gold Cup champs), Cameroon (defending Africa Cup of Nations champs) and Ghana (snapping a streak of three straight World Cup appearances dating back to 2006).

While these potential groups above are strong and balanced, I dont think they match up to the caliber of the group of deaths from the past, especially in 2014, which is probably why FIFA made the changes needed to balance out the groups. My take: If you want further balance, then take out the host team from the top pot and seed them based on ranking.

Here are the seeds for all 32 teams (with FIFA World Ranking in parenthesis):

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On Wednesday, 264 days after Brazil became the first team to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Peru defeated New Zealand in the second leg of the OFC vs. CONMEBOL playoff round to become the final team to punch a ticket to the dance. Now that the field is (practically) set, were counting down the days before the start of the tournament. But before the first match kicks off June 14 in Moscows Luzhniki Stadium, well need to know what group each team is in.

I know, right? These teams will have plenty of free time during the summer, and it appears as if that might come to fruition.More on the bizarro tourney from our CBS Sports soccer writer Roger Gonzalez:

You can catch the draw on Fox Sports 1 on TV and you can stream the event onfuboTV(try for free).

Sorry … no love for Poland, Switzerland, Mexico and Colombia from this scribe. Theyre contenders to advance out of the group stage, and maybe win a game in the knockout round, but thats about it. Expect some teams from Pot 3 or 4 to make a surprise appearance into the knockout rounds, but in no way shape or form should they be considered contenders.

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The top two teams in the Premier League square off on Sunday

There wont be one, because the new format of seeding means none of the pot 4 sides qualify as /cRfAeQgSH0

Title contenders:Germany, Brazil, France, Spain

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Heres everything you need to know about the World Cup draw:

Russia World Cup draw: Pots, time, date, channel, stream info and what to know

Everything you need to know about the World Cup draw

Alexis saves United with late winner

The seeding of teams in each pot are based off the October 2017 FIFA World Rankings. The draw takes place on the first day of December and the November rankings are readily available. So why October? Well, the October rankings reflect the end of the World Cup qualifying cycle and not the results from the intercontinental and European playoff rounds. Im not a fan of the algorithm used by FIFA to come up with the ranked field. In a perfect world, FIFA should hold the draw a little closer to June and use fresher rankings, but that might be too much of an ask because of ticket sales.

Russia World Cup draw: Pots, time, date, channel, stream info and what to know

Youre welcome. Now go on and enjoy your day.

Fringe contenders:Argentina, Belgium, England, Portugal, Uruguay

FIFA is set to expand in 2026 (after Qatar 2022) to 48 teams.

Yes, and no. Teams from the same confederation will not be drawn against each other in the group stage. This applies to every confederation except UEFA. As we touched on earlier, there are 14 European teams, which means its impossible to spread them into separate groups. Youre bound to get a few in the same group. FIFA limits no more than two European teams in each group. UEFA nations outside of the top pot include Spain, Switzerland, England, Croatia, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Serbia. A few from those eight are bound to get paired with a second European team in a group.

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The pots used to be determined based by geographic and sports criteria. For example, in the previous World Cup (Brazil 2014), FIFA placed the seven highest ranked teams in Pot 1 and that was it. The other pots were split based on geographic regions (Pot 2 was for Africa and South America, Pot 3 for Asia and North America, Pot 4 for Europe). This time around theyre split up based on the rankings.

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2010:France, Uruguay, Mexico, South Africa; Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast, North Korea

Mr. Cox is absolutely right about this. Here are some groups of death from previous World Cups:

All of the participants are split into four different pots based on the FIFA World Rankings, with Pot 1 being the strongest teams and Pot 4 being the weakest of the crop. The host nation, Russia, will automatically be placed in Pot 1 and in Group A.

Here are some doomsday group scenarios for this edition:

The biggest takeaway from the way these pots are structured is that Spain just missed out on becoming a Pot 1 team. France took that final spot. Youll notice Poland is sixth. I dont think it would be a shocking opinion to say that the 2010 World Cup winners belong in the first pot over Poland.

There are 32 teams in the World Cup broken into eight groups of four teams. UEFA, Europes soccer governing body, will have 14 participants, which is the most out of any other continent and nearly half of the field. CONMEBOL (South America), CAF (Africa) and AFC (Asia) each have five participants, while CONCACAF (Central and North America) will have three participants.

2014:Spain, Netherlands, Chile, Australia; England, Italy, Uruguay, Costa Rica

Well, if you go by the FIFA World Rankings, just about everyone in Pot 1 has a shot. But I wont go by that measurement.Our CBS Sports colleague Roger Gonzalez is pretty accurate in his World Cup Power Rankingswith Brazil and Germany in his top two. To me, there are about five teams that could win this thing. Here are my contenders:

U.S. Soccer is reportedly considering a tournament next summer for big nations who didnt qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Sources have confirmed to CBS Sports that U.S. Soccer, along with Soccer United Marketing, are exploring the possibility of hosting a tournament with teams like Italy, Netherlands, Ghana and Chile.

The draw takes place Friday, Dec. 1 from Kremlin in Moscow at 10 a.m. ET for those in the United States.