For something fun for my classes I'm needing a) 6 groupings of countries in the WC, b) each group to have at least an outside chance of having the WC champion, and c) A lower likelihood that one group will have both teams in the Final

That being the requirement, what do you make of these 6 regional groupings?

For what you appear to be doing, not bad at all. The likelihood of 2 teams from the groupings you proposed would most likely be the South American one.

Yup, overall pretty solid. I'd say your group 5 is probably the weakest, Croatia is the only country in there I'd say has any kind of shot and they're probably a reach.

Maybe find a way to slide one of France/Belgium/Netherlands into that group? You've got 3 of the world's top 8 there in group 4.

Current odds, Croatia coming in at 11.

2022 WORLD CUP WINNER ODDS

Brazil +400
France +600
Argentina +650
England +750
Spain +800
Germany +1000
Netherlands +1200
Portugal +1400
Belgium +1600
Denmark +2800
Croatia +5000
Uruguay +5000
Senegal +8000
Serbia +8000
Switzerland +10000
USA +15000
Poland +15000
Mexico +15000
Ecuador +20000
Canada +20000
Wales +20000
Morocco +20000
Cameroon +25000
Japan +25000
South Korea +25000
Ghana +25000
Qatar +25000
Australia +35000
Tunisia +50000
Iran +50000
Saudi Arabia +75000
Costa Rica +75000

Not sure if you're meaning to agree or disagree with me, but per those odds every group except 5 has a team with top six odds.

This isn't much better, but I'm a geography nerd and went far enough down this path it felt like a waste not to finish... at the very least it's fun to think about.

By primary export:

1) Petroleum (Crude or Refined):
Netherlands, Croatia, United States, Ecuador, Canada, Cameroon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran

2) Soybeans
Brazil, Argentina

3) Cars (EU)
Spain, Germany, Portugal, Belgium

4) Cars (Non-EU)
England, Mexico, Morocco, Japan

5) Other Machinery/Manufacturing
France (aircraft), Denmark (med. supplies), Serbia (wires), Poland (car parts), Korea (chips), Tunisia (wires), Costa Rica (med. instruments)

6) Other Raw Materials
Uruguay (wood), Senegal (gold), Switzerland (gold), Ghana (gold), Australia (iron ore)

fig96 said:

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Yup, overall pretty solid. I'd say your group 5 is probably the weakest, Croatia is the only country in there I'd say has any kind of shot and they're probably a reach.

Maybe find a way to slide one of France/Belgium/Netherlands into that group? You've got 3 of the world's top 8 there in group 4.

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If you can slide Germany into group 5 and then backfill Germany with Netherlands into group 3, then it's a bit more balanced even if the group names aren't as accurate.

The biggest issue is that splitting Argentina and Brazil into two separate groups based on region will be hard to rationalize. The silver lining is that the way the bracket has been set, if both Argentina and Brazil win their groups (and they are both favorites to do so), they can't meet in the final. They would meet in the semis if both teams make it that far.

Cultural geography can link Brazil with West Africa. Actually physical geography quite literally has ties there too.

Call it the Samba group. Or Pangaea.

So move Brazil into Group 3.

Move all the European from 3 to 5. "Places Nazis owned"

Move all the SW Asia from 5 to 2. "Places the Umayyad Caliphate owned"

Move Australia to 1 and Mexico to 6.

Then 4 is the only truly hodge-podge group.

Dude y'all are clutch. This is going to be fun, especally when my students find out I'm bringing food for the winning class. They're going to buy in.

deadbq03 said:

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Cultural geography can link Brazil with West Africa. Actually physical geography quite literally has ties there too.

Call it the Samba group. Or Pangaea.

So move Brazil into Group 3.

Move all the European from 3 to 5. "Places Nazis owned"

Move all the SW Asia from 5 to 2. "Places the Umayyad Caliphate owned"

Move Australia to 1 and Mexico to 6.

Then 4 is the only truly hodge-podge group.

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This is almost exactly how I set up my WC project one year back when I was teaching human geog. Another year I held a draft and every kid got assigned one nation from the bracket. They had to create a full breakdown of the nation and present to the class and then got little rewards based on how far their drafted team went in the tourney.

Absolutely but I (perhaps falsely) assumed this was more like elementary/early geography and not high school/college geography.

My major at A&M was held in the Dept of Geography but I didn't have time to go down the rabbit hole.

Man I wish I had known Geography/GIS existed as an undergrad.

I'll spare the details but 2010 was the year I fell in love with soccer and also the year I went back to school to make a career change to GIS, so Geography and soccer go hand in hand in my brain.

Class contest turned out really fun. Now it's down to 6th and 8th period to see who gets the W.