Group of Death - Debates and Definitions

Debates and Definitions

In the World Cup finals, the European Championships, and the Champions League, each preliminary group has four teams, of which two qualify for the knockout phase. Some sources imply all four teams must be in contention for a "group of death"; others allow for three teams fighting for two places, with one underdog making up the numbers. In the latter case, the term gains an addition facet from the expected "death" of the weak team: Ally McCoist and the Glasgow Herald described Euro 1992 Group B as the "Group of Certain Death", because Scotland were grouped with Netherlands, Germany, and the CIS. More extreme still, Ian Paul suggested Semi-final Group B of the 1992–93 UEFA Champions League was a "group of death" for three of the four teams, with Milan almost sure to top the group and reach the final. (Milan did in fact win all six matches against IFK Göteborg, Porto, and PSV Eindhoven.)

In the case of UEFA qualifying tournaments, groups have deeper seeding and always feature some weaker teams. For example, Qualifying Group B for Euro 2008 was dubbed the "group of death" in Scotland because Scotland were drawn against Italy, France, and Ukraine, respectively champion, finalist, and quarter-finalist at the 2006 World Cup; the presence in the group of Lithuania, Georgia, Faroe Islands did not contribute to the label.

There is often an assumption that a tournament has precisely one Group of Death. In the 1994 World Cup, Group E (Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Norway) was often given the label; Brazil's coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said it was Group B (Brazil, Russia, Cameroon, Sweden); some reporters suggested both were "groups of death".

On the other hand, after the draw for the 2010 World Cup finals, some commentators said there was no group of death, including Raymond Domenech, Carlos Alberto Parreira, and Gavin Hunt. Sports Illustrated said Group G was the group of death because it had two of the FIFA top 5 in Brazil and Portugal and the second-ranked African team in Ivory Coast; it described fourth team North Korea as "unenviable underdog". On the other hand, Andrew Downie of the Christian Science Monitor said "No self-respecting Group of Death would be caught dead with North Korea in it ... As far as I'm concerned, there is no Group of Death in this World Cup."

The "Group of Death" may simply be the one with the strongest teams, or the most strong teams. Using FIFA World Rankings as a measure of the strength of the teams, The Guardian calculated in 2007 that the strongest "Group of Death" was Euro 1996 Group C. The teams (and world rankings) were Germany (2), Russia (3), Italy (7), and Czech Republic (10). This record was exceeded by the May 2012 rankings for Euro 2012 Group B, with Germany (2), The Netherlands (4), Portugal (5) and Denmark (10), but not the June rankings immediately before the tournament (3, 4, 10, 9 respectively) In women's football, 2007 World Cup Group B featured three of the top five teams in the FIFA Women's World Rankings entering the tournament —the USA (1), Sweden (3), and North Korea (5)— with Nigeria (24) being the "minnows".

There may be an emphasis on the "group of death" having a tight finish, with all four teams in contention. This was the case in Group F of the 1990 World Cup, in which five of the six matches were drawn, and in Group E of the 1994 World Cup, when all four teams finished level on points and goal difference.

However, the label is usually applied in anticipation of the tournament rather than in retrospect. Simon Burnton comments, "Inevitably, one of the big teams involved gets so scared about being in the Group of Death that they play really badly, meaning not only that they go home in disappointment and disgrace, but that the group turns out not to be so very troublesome after all.". David Lacey said, "Draws may nominate a group of death but results decide its real mortality rating. France and Argentina found this out in Japan." Lacey also said, "There are groups of death and groups of death wishes. In Euro 2000 Group D looked daunting but was shrugged aside by Holland, the co-hosts, and France, the eventual champions, with the Czechs, runners-up in 1996, and the Danes, winners in 1992, offering scant resistance. Group A turned out to be the killer."

Lack of consensus about which is the group of death can fuel enjoyable debates among fans and journalists. In the 2002 World Cup, The Guardian called Group F (Sweden, England, Argentina, Nigeria) "the group of death" and Group E (Germany, Ireland Rep, Cameroon, Saudi Arabia) "The other Group of Death". South Koreans called Group D (Korea Rep, United States, Portugal, Poland) the "Real Group of Death". In the 2006 World Cup, both Group C (Argentina, Netherlands, Côte d'Ivoire, Serbia and Montenegro) and Group E (Italy, Ghana, Czech Republic, United States) were nominated as "group of death".

Fans may describe as the "group of death" any tough group which contains their favoured team; George Vecsey says, "In soccer, every nation always thinks it has been stiffed into the toughest pool, the Group of Death." In this sense, David Warren comments that a "top seeding in a finals group gives a country a good chance to advance and the best chance to avoid a so-called group of death".

Group B, consisting of The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Portugal is widely considered to be the "group of death' for Euro 2012. All four of these teams have reached the final of the competition in the past, and only Portugal have failed to win it. Also, all were in the top 10 of the FIFA World Rankings entering the event (Germany 3, Netherlands 4, Denmark 9, Portugal 10).