World Cup 2006 - Nemacka - 09/06/2006 - 09/07/2006 :: Arhiva: Svetsko prvenstvo u Nemacka 2006

It is common knowledge that the FIFA World Ranking system is imperfect. However, it is still good because it provides a quantitative basis to compare teams' relative strengths. Using the points on which the rankings are based, I attempted to find out the "Group of Death" by simply summing the points of teams in each group (December 2005 Rankings). The results follow:

Team.......................Points......Total
A
Germany...................710
Costa Rica.................699
Poland.......................696
Ecuador.....................650.........2755

B
England.....................757
Paraguay...................672
Trinidad & Tobago.......607
Sweden......................731.........2767

C
Argentina...................774
Côte d'Ivoire..............626
Serbia & Montenegro...612
Netherlands................791.........2803

D
Mexico........................768
Iran............................702
Angola........................570
Portugal......................754.........2794

E
Italy...........................741
Ghana........................608
USA...........................766
Czech Republic............796.........2911

F
Brazil..........................841
Croatia........................701
Australia......................610
Japan..........................713.........2865

G
France........................772
Switzerland.................654
Korea Republic............682
Togo..........................582.........2690

H
Spain........................771
Ukraine.....................627
Tunisia......................683
Saudi Arabia..............669..........2750

The results indicate the group strengths in decreasing order:
1. Group E
2. Group F
3. Group C
4. Group D
5. Group B
6. Group A
7. Group H
8. Group G

Clearly it's generally agreed that Group C is tougher than Group F, but Brazil's ridiculously high points skew their group over Group C. However, the general trend isn't lost and we can all tell we'd like to be in Group G.