WJC: 2021 groups

[Statsy]

Whoever finishes second in Group A, will have a very difficult QF. Not sure how, but maybe they need to change up the way Groups are composed. Instead of having 1,4,5,8 and 2,3,6,7 in both groups. Have a different combination like 1,3,5,7,9 and 2,4,6,8,10. Makes the groups more competitive possibly.

With five teams a cut above the rest, you’re guaranteed to have a group with three top teams. A group of death only requires on of the remaining two teams to also be particularly good. This will be a problem no matter how you slice it.

 

[Mestaruus]

Whoever finishes second in Group A, will have a very difficult QF. Not sure how, but maybe they need to change up the way Groups are composed. Instead of having 1,4,5,8 and 2,3,6,7 in both groups. Have a different combination like 1,3,5,7,9 and 2,4,6,8,10. Makes the groups more competitive possibly.

I agree that they should allow to swap 7-8 & seed or 5-6 seed from other group to another if it looks like it looked this year and the next year. I mean Czech is clearly more scarier team than the Swiss in general in U20 still.

Also it would suck if Finland and Canada faced in the opening day of the tournament when both teams aren't in their top form yet (probably), the same way Finland and Sweden faced each other in the opening day of the latest U20 tournament. The two clear favorites of that group. I mean that would kill a lot of excitement for the group and it would most likely be a huge match since the loser of this game will most likely be playing vs one of SWE/USA/RUS.

If I have to guess Canada and Finland will face on December 31st because there is no USA for Canada to face in this group and Finland is the best available option. I mean Canada pretty much always has the best available opponent of their group on Dec 31. USA automatically if they are in same group.

 

[Mestaruus]

With five teams a cut above the rest, you’re guaranteed to have a group with three top teams. A group of death only requires on of the remaining two teams to also be particularly good. This will be a problem no matter how you slice it.

It's mostly about Czech Republic. Most people consider Czech the clear #6 best junior team in the world and having them in the group with 3 of the top-5 nations feels pretty wrong to me and they should simply swap Czech and the highest seed from the other group that isn't a top-5 nation. In this case it's the Switzerland.

Switzerland did beat Finland in the past tournament and they are getting better but Czech is still the far scarier QF opponent compared to Switzerland. The fact that the group winner next year, Finland or Canada will most likely be rewarded with Czech isn't as nice reward as facing Switzerland.