This brings up another issue for us. We usually make it out of the first round of the world cup, but thanks to Henry's cheating, the linesman's incompetence and FIFA's intransigence our seeding is now going to be lower for the next 10 years or so.
it's on a 4 year cycle so i wouldnt say it was decades long.
released today in fact:
http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/uefa/KeyTopics/92/18/20/921820_DOWNLOAD.pdf
ireland will be in the third pot - there's splits of 9.
the draw will be on february 7th
"Final Draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ – note to media
The detailed criteria to determine the seeded teams for the Final Draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ will be confirmed at the next meeting of the Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup™ in Cape Town on 2 December 2009 (and announced at a press conference following the meeting).
If the criteria to determine the seeded teams were to include, as in the past, the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, then it would be the October 2009 edition of this ranking which would be considered, and this for sporting reasons. In fact, using the November 2009 edition would create an uneven situation, specifically for the European Zone, where the play-offs involving the eight best runners-up led to an imbalance in the number of qualification matches played between the teams."
this means england have nothing to fear. by any foreseeable seeding formula they should be in the top pool of seeds.
2006 world cup seeding formula list:
1 Brazil 59.3 29.3 30.0
2 Germany 59.0 30.3 28.7
3 Italy 56.7 27.3 29.3
4 Spain 56.3 25.3 31.0
5 England 50.7 26.3 24.3
6 France 49.0 23.3 25.7
7 Argentina 49.0 21.0 28.0
--------------------------------
8 Portugal 48.7 22.3 26.3
9 Netherlands 43.0 14.7 28.3
10 Mexico 38.3 19.3 19.0
11 USA 34.0 13.7 20.3
12 Switzerland 30.0 15.3 14.7
13 Paraguay 28.7 11.7 17.0
14 Ghana 24.7 13.3 11.3
15 Cameroon 24.3 3.0 21.3
16 Korea Republic 23.3 15.7 7.7
17 Australia 23.3 11.3 12.0
18 Japan 23.0 13.3 9.7
19 Greece 22.0 0.0 22.0
20 Côte d'Ivoire 21.0 6.0 15.0
21 Nigeria 20.7 2.7 18.0
22 Serbia 20.0 5.3 14.7
23 Denmark 19.7 7.7 12.0
24 Uruguay 19.3 2.7 16.7
25 Chile 12.7 0.0 12.7
26 Slovenia 8.3 2.7 5.7
27 Honduras 7.0 0.0 7.0
28 Slovakia 6.7 0.0 6.7
29 Algeria 6.3 0.0 6.3
30 South Africa 6.0 3.0 3.0
31 New Zealand 2.3 0.0 2.3
32 Korea DPR 1.3 0.0 1.3