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Whatever the draw, Brazil is the favorite to win
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-05 09:34

Serbia has the worst record of anybody among the second seeds and is ranked 47th. Paraguay is ranked 30th, 15 places below Japan. Both easily could be dropped into the third tier, which would leave one team too many in the third seeds.

The bottom three there are Iran, Tunisia and Switzerland.

Iran is ranked 19th and qualified easily back in June. Tunisia is the only African team not among the last group of seeds, and trying to drop it likely would resurrect accusations of racism last loudly heard after Germany won the vote over South Africa to host World Cup 2006.

That leaves Switzerland, which hasn't played in a World Cup since 1994, and is the lowest-ranked side not in the last group already. Down it goes.

The only other potential land mine among the lowest group is Ukraine. It may have been the first team from Europe to qualify, but it has never played in a World Cup and is ranked 40th. The Ivory Coast is right behind it at No. 41.

But if those hurdles are cleared, the seedings are reset as follows:

_ Brazil, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Croatia, Argentina and the Netherlands in Pot 1.

_ South Korea, Mexico, England, Sweden, the United States, Japan, Czech Republic and Portugal in Pot 2.

_ Paraguay, Serbia-Montenegro, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Tunisia in Pot 3.

_ Switzerland, Angola, Ivory Coast, Togo, Ghana, Ukraine, Trinidad and Australia in Pot 4.

After that, it's a matter of separating Germany into Group A, then picking blindly until the groups are filled. FIFA's current rules would prohibit one team from facing off against another from its region, except Europe.

So the mock draw looks like this:
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