Switzerland & Columbia in top 8 seeds WTF?

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

BBC Sport - World Cup 2014: England will not be seeded in Brazil next summer

Ok England don't deserve to be in there but what about Italy, France, Portugal, Holland?!

[Platypus]

Ok England don't deserve to be in there but what about Italy, France, Portugal, Holland?!

Really?

England wins World Cup

[gingerjedi]

BBC Sport - World Cup 2014: England will not be seeded in Brazil next summer

Ok England don't deserve to be in there but what about Italy, France, Portugal, Holland?!

There's so many good teams not seeded it doesn't really mater that much, expect another 'group of death'!

[BoredBloke]

Who cares - by the time the world cup rolls around the press will be headlong into how we can win it, only for us to struggle out of a fairly pants group and probably get done by an average team in the next round.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Who cares - by the time the world cup rolls around the press will be headlong into how we can win it, only for us to struggle out of a fairly pants group and probably get done by an average team in the next round.

your that optimistic?

[GazCol]

BBC Sport - World Cup 2014: England will not be seeded in Brazil next summer

Ok England don't deserve to be in there but what about Italy, France, Portugal, Holland?!

I think you need to actually look at their results; Italy, for example, in the last 18 months have been beaten by the US, beat 3-0 by Russia, beaten by England and then throw in draws against Haiti, Armenia, Czech Republic & Denmark. France is just as wobbly and the less said about Portugal the better. Holland are 9th, so will be seeded if Uruguay lose in the play-offs.

Given the nature of international tournaments and their bi-annual nature, it would be beyond unfair if teams were seeded based on achievments 2 years ago if recent results have been poor.

The FIFA ranking system is far from perfect, but in the sense of deciding the seedings, it's pretty accurate. It's the middle of the spectrum where something like ELO is much more reliable.

[DodgyAgent]

Good news:

Scotland have climbed 28 places to 35th in the world after beating Croatia and Macedonia in the final two games of their unsuccessful qualification campaign

[minestrone]

England will struggle to get out the group stages.

[amcdonald]

The FIFA ranking system is far from perfect, but in the sense of deciding the seedings, it's pretty accurate. It's the middle of the spectrum where something like ELO is much more reliable.

Is ELO more reliable because thats the way life's meant to be or because they're just so serious ?

[Doggy Styles]

England will struggle to get out the group stages.

Maybe, but England have always qualified from world cup groups.