Tuesday, September 17, 2013

The African playoff was drawn yesterday giving the following matches:

Ivory Coast vs Senegal
Ethiopia vs Nigeria
Tunisia vs Cameroon
Ghana vs Egypt
Burkina Faso vs Algeria

The table below reflects the chances after the African draw. In addition the FIFA ranking has been updated, which determines the seeding of the playoff in Europe.

CountryQualSep-1Apr-1ChampSep-1Apr-1
Brazil100+0.0+0.034.6+9.0+9.0
Japan100+0.0+0.00.08-0.3-0.3
South Korea100+0.0+1.80.013-0.2-0.2
Australia100+0.0+21.40.028-0.1-0.1
Iran100+0.0+58.50.022+0.0+0.0
Argentina100+0.0+0.09.6+1.6+1.6
Netherlands100+0.0+0.04.4-0.4-0.4
United States100+0.7+15.60.46+0.4+0.4
Italy100+2.0+4.63.22+1.4+1.4
Costa Rica100+11.6+52.40.05+0.0+0.0
Colombia>99.9999+0.4+0.52.11+0.7+0.7
Spain99.88+0.3+0.321.5-8.5-8.6
Switzerland99.88+1.9+5.10.66+0.4+0.4
Germany99.87+0.0+0.611.1-2.0-1.9
Belgium99.27+28.6+48.71.02+0.9+0.9
Chile98.91+5.4+22.50.67+0.4+0.4
Uruguay94+50.9+64.32.41+2.2+2.3
Ecuador93.2-4.2-5.60.28-0.3-0.3
Russia93+1.5-6.00.69-0.5-0.6
Nigeria91.5+29.1+39.70.04+0.0+0.0
England90.4-3.2-2.82.79-1.7-1.7
Honduras89.1+40.3+32.30.006+0.0-0.0
Bosnia and Herzegov88.4+12.9+18.30.18+0.1+0.1
Ivory Coast85.5-4.3-2.80.2-0.5-0.5
Portugal77.5-3.9+3.91.41-0.8-0.6
Greece66.8-0.9-0.90.29+0.1+0.1
Croatia66-10.7-22.70.66-0.1-0.2
Cameroon58.2+32.9+35.30.001+0.0+0.0
Sweden57+7.0-8.50.65+0.1-0.0
Ukraine56.8+28.4+45.50.2+0.2+0.2
Algeria54.2+19.8+37.60.001+0.0+0.0
France53.9-14.4-14.60.49+0.0+0.0
Egypt50.8-27.2-23.70.017-0.0-0.0
Ghana49.2-11.0+10.50.015+0.0+0.0
Mexico48-48.8-48.90.04-2.2-2.3
Burkina Faso45.8+33.2+40.90.0003+0.0+0.0
Tunisia41.8-22.9-14.80.0002-0.0-0.0
New Zealand31.8-4.2-4.60.001+0.0+0.0
Panama31+3.2-24.90.012+0.0+0.0
Romania16.4-8.5-8.00.008-0.0-0.0
Senegal14.5-6.6-2.80.001+0.0+0.0
Jordan13+2.9-5.00.0001+0.0+0.0
Ethiopia8.5-3.2+4.80+0.0+0.0
Bulgaria7.9-0.6+2.80.002+0.0+0.0
Hungary4.8-1.8-1.60.001+0.0+0.0
Iceland4.5+3.6+2.20+0.0+0.0
Denmark4.14+3.3-7.70.005+0.0-0.0
Montenegro3.22-2.2-14.70.0002+0.0-0.0
Norway2.82-10.2-16.60.001-0.0-0.0
Austria2.77+1.0+2.40.001+0.0+0.0
Turkey2.75+2.1+2.10.001+0.0+0.0
Slovenia1.33+0.6+1.10.0003+0.0+0.0
Venezuela0.88-25.3-54.20.0004-0.0-0.0
Czechia0.33-17.8-13.20.0004-0.0-0.0
Poland0.28-2.8-5.20.0001-0.0-0.0
Albania0.05-1.0-1.10+0.0+0.0
Jamaica0.04-2.7-22.00+0.0-0.0
Israel0.024-1.8-1.80-0.0+0.0
Armenia0.012-0.0+0.00+0.0+0.0
Ireland0.0001-7.1-3.60-0.0-0.0

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Italy, Netherlands, Costa Rica, United States, Argentina, and Colombia all qualified yesterday. Congratulations! [Correction: Colombia is theoretically not qualified. They may miss it if: 1) Colombia lose remaining two matches AND 2) Ecuador and Uruguay draw AND 3) Uruguay beat Argentina AND 4) Ecuador beat Chile. In addition Colombia have to lose the goal difference advantage they've got against Uruguay (13) and Uruguay (9).]

In Asia, Uzbekistan and Jordan played 1-1, same result as in Jordan last Friday. After extra time and penalties Jordan managed to win and thereby qualified for the intercontinental playoff against 5th team in South America, likely Uruguay or Ecuador.

I've updated the ELO ratings that are used to determine teams strength (thanks Niclas for the feedback).

CountryQualSep-01Apr-01ChampSep-01Apr-01
Brazil100+0.0+0.033.8+8.2+8.2
Japan100+0.0+0.00.07-0.3-0.3
South Korea100+0.0+1.80.013-0.2-0.2
Australia100+0.0+21.40.028-0.1-0.1
Iran100+0.0+58.50.02+0.0+0.0
Argentina100+0.0+0.08.2+0.2+0.2
Netherlands100+0.0+0.06.2+1.4+1.4
Colombia100+0.4+0.53.13+1.7+1.7
United States100+0.7+15.60.33+0.2+0.2
Italy100+2.0+4.63.02+1.2+1.2
Costa Rica100+11.6+52.40.05+0.0+0.0
Spain99.89+0.3+0.322.7-7.3-7.4
Switzerland99.89+1.9+5.10.39+0.2+0.1
Germany99.87+0.0+0.611.1-2.0-1.9
Belgium98.89+28.2+48.30.77+0.7+0.7
Chile98.86+5.4+22.50.63+0.3+0.4
Ecuador94.5-2.9-4.30.36-0.2-0.2
Uruguay93.1+50.0+63.40.9+0.7+0.8
Russia92.8+1.3-6.20.6-0.6-0.7
England90.7-2.9-2.53.47-1.0-1.0
Honduras88.8+40.0+32.00.007+0.0-0.0
Ivory Coast84.1-5.7-4.20.21-0.5-0.5
Bosnia and Herzegov83.1+7.6+13.00.12+0.1+0.1
Portugal79.3-2.1+5.71.6-0.6-0.4
Nigeria75.3+12.9+23.50.034+0.0+0.0
Ghana74.3+14.1+35.60.023+0.0+0.0
Egypt72.2-5.8-2.30.02-0.0-0.0
Greece70.3+2.6+2.60.28+0.1+0.1
Croatia66.7-10.0-22.00.58-0.1-0.3
France63-5.3-5.50.42-0.1-0.1
Burkina Faso56.5+43.9+51.60.001+0.0+0.0
Ukraine52+23.6+40.70.18+0.2+0.2
Mexico50.7-46.1-46.20.06-2.2-2.2
Sweden50+0.0-15.50.54+0.0-0.1
Algeria32.3-2.1+15.70.0004+0.0+0.0
Cameroon32.1+6.8+9.20.001+0.0+0.0
Senegal31.8+10.7+14.50.0002+0.0+0.0
New Zealand30.9-5.1-5.50.001+0.0+0.0
Panama29.6+1.8-26.30.01+0.0+0.0
Tunisia26.8-37.9-29.80-0.0-0.0
Romania21.9-3.0-2.50.027-0.0+0.0
Ethiopia14.5+2.8+10.80+0.0+0.0
Jordan12.7+2.6-5.30+0.0-0.0
Bulgaria7.3-1.2+2.20.002+0.0+0.0
Norway4.5-8.5-14.90.003-0.0-0.0
Hungary4.05-2.5-2.40.001+0.0+0.0
Denmark3.86+3.0-7.90.003+0.0-0.0
Iceland3.35+2.5+1.10+0.0+0.0
Montenegro3.08-2.3-14.80.001+0.0+0.0
Austria2.23+0.5+1.80.0003+0.0+0.0
Turkey1.39+0.8+0.80.0001-0.0-0.0
Slovenia1.07+0.3+0.80+0.0+0.0
Venezuela0.87-25.3-54.20.0002-0.0-0.0
Czechia0.42-17.7-13.10.001-0.0-0.0
Poland0.27-2.8-5.20-0.0-0.0
Albania0.08-0.9-1.10+0.0+0.0
Jamaica0.038-2.7-22.00+0.0-0.0
Israel0.02-1.8-1.80-0.0+0.0
Armenia0.018-0.0+0.00+0.0+0.0
Ireland0.0001-7.1-3.60-0.0-0.0
 Table shows probability that a team will qualify for the playoff if they come second in their group.  Last column shows probability that team come second. The 9th runner up is not playing the playoff, and it seems likely that the 9th runner up will be a team from either group E or B.

GroupCountryPlayoffSecond
ESwitzerland1000.20
CGermany1001.01
ISpain1001.36
ABelgium1002.44
FRussia10020.32
GBosnia and Herzegovina10025.95
GGreece10074.04
IFrance10098.63
FPortugal99.99579.58
CSweden99.9086.60
HEngland99.8518.09
HPoland99.450.773
HUkraine99.3874.95
HMontenegro98.726.17
EIceland98.4540.24
ACroatia98.2597.55
CAustria97.9712.37
FIsrael97.790.090
DRomania95.7170.02
DTurkey93.877.26
DHungary80.9122.70
BArmenia72.540.225
CIreland66.660.0003
BBulgaria54.7159.46
ENorway42.7338.71
BDenmark42.1731.33
ESlovenia32.7518.01
EAlbania27.892.81
BCzechia15.668.97

Table shows probability that a team will be seeded in the playoff if they qualify for the playoff. Last column shows probability that team qualify for playoff.


RankGroupCountrySeededPlayoff
1ISpain1001.36
2CGermany1001.01
6HEngland10018.06
7FPortugal10079.57
9FRussia10020.32
10ACroatia99.99795.85
11GGreece99.5974.04
13ESwitzerland85.60.20
17IFrance86.498.63
19CSweden23.986.52
20ABelgium29.42.44
23BDenmark3.6213.21
24ENorway2.8616.54
26GBosnia and Herzegovina8.1725.95
29BCzechia0.0141.40
31HMontenegro0.1276.100
32DHungary0.06618.37
33DRomania0.12867.02
40DTurkey0.1086.817
41CIreland00.0002
44HUkraine074.494
47ESlovenia05.902
50BBulgaria032.540
56HPoland00.769
63EAlbania00.784
68CAustria012.126
75BArmenia00.163
76FIsrael00.088
89EIceland039.624

Monday, September 9, 2013

In Africa the last round in the group stage was played last weekend and the 10 group winners will next play play-off to decide which five countries that get tickets to Brazil. In group A, Ethiopia won the group after coming back from 0-1 in half time against CAR and winning finally with 2-1. In group B, Cape Verde won against Tunisia with 2-0 (goal by Platini!) and thereby also the group. In group D Ghana won against Zambia and thus also the group. In group E Burkina Faso won against Gabon and since Congo only drew against Niger, Burkina Faso will play in play-off. In group F Nigeria won against Malawi and thus also the group. In group I Cameroon won against Libya and thus also the group. In group J Senegal won against Uganda and thus also the group.

In Asia Jordan and Uzbekistan played 1-1 in Jordan, which means 0-0 at home is sufficient for Uzbekistan in order to advance to the next round (playoff against 5th South American country).

In North (and Central) America both favourites, Mexico and USA, lost against Honduras and Costa Rica, respectively. Mexico now falling down to fourth place behind Honduras.

In South America, Chile and Uruguay won their very important games. Chile very close to cash in tickets while Uruguay still struggling on 5th place but got some air down to Venezuela and Peru which lost these two important games.

In Europe, Belgium almost qualified as Serbia managed to draw against Croatia and Belgium is now 5pts ahead with two matches left. Greece got some hope in group G when Slovakia beat the group leader Bosnia and Herzegovina, which allowed Greece to climb up to the same points as Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Please see below for a more detailed analysis of the European groups and especially the question of which teams are risking to become the 9th runner-up and thereby missing the playoff.

As usual this table is based on 1,000,000 simulations and it shows the estimated probabilities that a team will qualify for the World Cup and the that they will win the World Cup. Columns 3,4,6, and 7 show how the chances have changed since Sep 1st and Apr 1st.

CountryQualSep-01Apr-01ChampSep-01Apr-01
Brazil100+0.0+0.025.6+0.0+0.0
Japan100+0.0+0.00.38+0.0+0.0
South Korea100+0.0+1.80.26+0.0+0.0
Australia100+0.0+21.40.13-0.0+0.0
Iran100+0.0+58.50.017-0.0+0.0
Argentina99.9999+0.0+0.08+0.0+0.0
Colombia99.998+0.4+0.51.45+0.0+0.0
Netherlands99.992+0.0+0.04.7-0.1-0.1
Spain99.97+0.4+0.430.2+0.2+0.1
Germany99.89+0.0+0.613.1+0.0+0.1
Italy99.76+1.7+4.41.87+0.0+0.0
Chile98.81+5.3+22.40.29+0.0+0.1
Belgium97.9+27.2+47.30.14+0.0+0.1
United States97.62-1.7+13.20.08-0.0+0.0
Ecuador97.15-0.2-1.60.59-0.0-0.0
Costa Rica95.93+7.5+48.30.009+0.0+0.0
Switzerland95.2-2.8+0.40.24+0.0-0.0
England94.5+0.9+1.34.5+0.0+0.0
Russia91.5+0.0-7.51.14-0.0-0.2
Ivory Coast89.6-0.2+1.30.66-0.0-0.0
Mexico87.8-9.0-9.12.02-0.3-0.3
Portugal83.4+2.0+9.82.21+0.0+0.2
Greece82.7+15.0+15.00.18+0.0+0.0
Honduras78.8+30.0+22.00.009+0.0+0.0
Egypt77.7-0.3+3.20.021-0.0-0.0
Ghana73.7+13.5+35.00.01+0.0+0.0
Uruguay71.9+28.8+42.20.36+0.1+0.2
Croatia70.3-6.4-18.40.64-0.1-0.2
Nigeria68.2+5.8+16.40.002-0.0-0.0
France66.5-1.8-2.00.47-0.0-0.0
Tunisia64.4-0.3+7.80.002+0.0+0.0
Sweden57.4+7.4-8.10.56+0.1-0.1
Bosnia and Herzegov55.7-19.8-14.40.024-0.0-0.0
Cameroon35.8+10.5+12.90.0002+0.0-0.0
Ukraine35+6.6+23.70.018+0.0+0.0
Algeria32.9-1.5+16.30.0002+0.0+0.0
Romania30.1+5.2+5.70.031+0.0+0.0
Senegal27.7+6.6+10.40+0.0+0.0
New Zealand27.6-8.4-8.80.0003+0.0-0.0
Burkina Faso18.4+5.8+13.50+0.0+0.0
Norway17.4+4.4-2.00.007+0.0-0.0
Panama11.8-16.0-44.10.002-0.0-0.0
Uzbekistan11.6-2.2-63.00.0001-0.0-0.0
Ethiopia11.5-0.2+7.80+0.0+0.0
Venezuela9.5-16.7-45.60.005-0.0-0.0
Jordan8.4-1.7-9.60.0001+0.0+0.0
Bulgaria4.8-3.7-0.30.0001-0.0-0.0
Denmark4.6+3.7-7.20.006+0.0-0.0
Montenegro3.38-2.0-14.50.0004+0.0-0.0
Peru2.54-13.7-6.30.001-0.0-0.0
Czechia2.23-15.9-11.30.003-0.0-0.0
Iceland1.65+0.8-0.60+0.0+0.0
Slovenia1.12+0.4+0.90+0.0+0.0
Austria0.97-0.8+0.60+0.0+0.0
Hungary0.92-5.7-5.50.0003-0.0-0.0
Turkey0.78+0.2+0.20.0004+0.0-0.0
Albania0.63-0.4-0.50+0.0+0.0
Jamaica0.5-2.3-21.50+0.0-0.0
Ireland0.49-6.6-3.10.0002-0.0-0.0
Poland0.39-2.7-5.10.0001-0.0-0.0
Israel0.35-1.5-1.50-0.0+0.0
Slovakia0.31+0.1-0.70+0.0-0.0
Armenia0.17+0.2+0.20+0.0+0.0
Finland0.08-0.2-0.20+0.0+0.0
Paraguay0.07+0.0-0.60-0.0-0.0
Cyprus0.0002-0.0-0.00+0.0+0.0
Estonia0.0002-0.0-0.00+0.0+0.0

In Europe the nine group winners qualify directly and eight best runner-ups will play against each other to decide the last 4 countries. The last runner-up will, in other words, not get this chance in the playoff. To rank the runner-ups they are ranked with respect to their points, goal difference, etc. As some groups have 6 teams and one has 5 teams, the matches against 6th team in the group is ignored for teams playing in a group with six teams. The table below shows two interesting probabilities for all teams. Column 4 shows the probability that the team will get 2nd in the group. Column 3 shows the probability they will get to the playoff if they get 2nd in the group.

GroupCountryPlayoff2nd
DNetherlands1000.025
ISpain1000.530
CGermany1000.957
ABelgium1004.054
GBosnia and Herzegovina99.99860.495
FPortugal99.99770.276
GSlovakia99.9911.111
GGreece99.97938.393
FRussia99.96829.236
IFrance99.71798.972
HEngland99.69414.264
CSweden99.02490.987
ACroatia98.90495.945
DRomania98.51791.694
HUkraine98.45169.612
HPoland97.5481.460
ESwitzerland97.2997.868
FIsrael93.9270.487
EIceland93.20817.189
IFinland92.4390.497
CAustria92.0046.161
DTurkey90.1303.113
HMontenegro90.12914.662
CIreland83.5051.893
DHungary82.2865.163
BArmenia74.4132.297
BItaly70.5970.331
ENorway58.18660.457
IGeorgia50.0000.0002
EAlbania48.6266.121
BBulgaria47.47748.964
BDenmark41.91128.440
ESlovenia39.1918.346
BCzechia30.45119.966
ECyprus29.5180.016
DEstonia27.5000.004

The playoff in Europe will be seeded in such a way that the four best teams will play against the four not as good teams. This seeding is decided by the FIFA ranking and whether a country is seeded (as one of the better team) thus depends on which other teams that are qualified for playoff. The table below shows two probabilities. Column 5 shows the probabilities that a team will qualify for playoff and column 4 shows the probability that they will be seeded if they qualify for playoff.

Rank
GroupCountrySeededPlayoff
1ISpain1000.5302
2CGermany1000.9570
4BItaly1000.2341
6HEngland10014.2209
7FPortugal10070.2746
8DNetherlands1000.0250
9FRussia10029.2272
10ACroatia99.999494.8940
11GGreece99.757238.3857
13ESwitzerland94.32837.6555
17IFrance91.375898.6931
19CSweden51.452490.0999
20ABelgium52.98674.0546
23BDenmark7.297211.9197
24ENorway5.737735.1779
26GBosnia and Herzegovina4.042960.4943
29BCzechia0.21876.0802
31HMontenegro0.089313.2155
32DHungary0.07304.2487
33DRomania0.077890.3351
40DTurkey0.07482.8063
41CIreland0.00631.5811
44GSlovakia0.04501.1114
44HUkraine0.000768.5348
47ESlovenia03.2712
50BBulgaria023.2470
56HPoland01.4244
63EAlbania02.9765
68CAustria05.6692
72IGeorgia00.0001
75BArmenia01.7098
76FIsrael00.4578
83DEstonia00.0011
84IFinland00.4597
89EIceland016.0222
131ECyprus00.0049

Thursday, September 5, 2013

A few important matches this Friday evening in Europe. In Group B leader Italy
(14p) hosts runner up Bulgaria (10p). In Group C leader Germany (16p)
hosts runner up Austria (11p). In that group Ireland (11p) also plays
Sweden (11p). In Group D Hungary (11p) plays Romania (10p) likely to
decide who is going to be 2nd and 3rd in that group.

In Asia Jordan play Uzbekistan is first round of the Asian playoff.

On Saturday the African groups are decided. Group winners will play
play-off in November. Here is a summary of the 10 groups:

Group A: Ethiopia will win the group if, they win their last match against Central African Republic.
Group B is between Tunisia and Cape Verde who meet in the last round. Tunisia
will win group if they at least draw.
Group C is already won by Ivory Coast.
Group D is between Ghana and Zambia who meet in the last
round. Ghana need at least a draw to win the group.
Group E is between Congo, Burkina Faso and Gabon. Congo likely to win the group as they play Niger in last round and a win suffices.
Group F is between Malawi and Nigera. They meet in the last round and advantage Nigeria who only need a draw.
Group G is already won by Egypt.
Group H is already won by Algeria.
Group I is between Cameroon and Libya who meet in the last
round. Advantage Cameroon who only need a draw.
Group J is between Senegal and Uganda who play in the last round. Advantage Senegal who win the group in case of a draw.

In South America we have

4. Chile         21p  (13)
--------------------------------------
5. Uruguay   16p  (12)
--------------------------------------
6. Venezuela 16p  (13)
7. Peru          14p  (12)

where the 4th qualifies and the 5th plays play-off against an Asian
team. Two important matches tonight when Chile play Venezuela and Peru play Uruguay. Every team will play 16 matches.