There doesn’t seem to be any structure. USA isn’t in a group with Peru, Germany, and Zimbabwe. Peru’s other opponents are Romania, New Zealand, and Malaysia. Germany’s other opponents are Uruguay, Czechia, and Montenegro. Zimbabwe’s other opponents are Montenegro, Czechia, and Egypt.
It is random and all 32 teams of the tournament seem to be in a single group. Following the first four random games, teams will be sorted into quartiles by an undisclosed formula that takes into account the team’s in-tournament record and strength of opponent, the latter of which is also derived via undisclosed formula.
The bracket reads to me as an otherwise black page with the words “trust me, bro” scrawled in the center.
I would guess there is no seeding because there is no World Championship framework before 16u to seed from. At 18u they can look back at the results from 16u two years earlier and cross check same or new players on the different teams and try to seed accordingly.
The format is laid out that the bottom of this document. Though given that the knockout is not starting on Day 4 tomorrow they may be using a modified version of the girls 24 team format.
I think the tournament would be more competitive and fair if it used a Swiss-style format. Teams with the same record would play each other for example, 2-0 teams play other 2-0 teams, while 0-2 teams play other 0-2 teams. That way, winners continue to face winners, and teams compete against opponents with similar performance throughout the tournament.
Whoever designed this ranking system with 36 teams appears to be completely clueless. The ranking after just three games, coupled with the potential of a team like Egypt to finish in the top 8 despite not having faced a single competitive team, makes absolutely no sense. Did anyone with any common sense question this?
Egypt advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament after defeating Kazakhstan, Uruguay, China, and Zimbabwe. On the other hand, Greece was eliminated from the 1/4 after winning against Hungary with a score of 12:7, despite Hungary being ranked 6th. Another instance is Brazil, which ranked 2nd overall after defeating Israel, China, Ukraine, and New Zealand.
The structure of the tournament is a disgrace to World Aquatics.
Looking at the rosters, it’s interesting how majority are 2010s playing on the boys’ side. The girls’ rosters seem to have a lot more 2011s and even a few 2012. Does relying more on the oldest eligible players make the boys’ tournament more physical and competitive? What drives that decision
My guess (complete guess) is that it’s correlated to the later onset of puberty in boys. The strength and power difference between a 14 year-old and a 16 year-old boy is typically tremendous whereas there are plenty of girls who are fully grown at 14/15.
Completely idiotic. Montenegro 3-1 with win over #4 Italy and sold loss to #1 Russia in a shootout and they are ranked 19th! Have to think 9,10,11,19 should actually be in top 8. Like someone said, this is an embarrassment in the day of AI and different computer model rankings.
ZIM received 64.6 ranking points for their loss to USA (USA received 76.2 points for the win)
But MNE received only 38 ranking points for their Shoot-out loss to Russia (RUS received 99.2 points for the win).
If MNE had received the same points for losing to RUS as ZIM received for losing to USA, MNE would likely be in the same vicinity as ESP, SRB, ROU, and GRE (roughly 80-81 points).
At this point, the best option would be to scrap whatever they had planned for the rest of the tournament and use these silly performance numbers to seed all 32 teams in a single-elimination bracket. Everybody is still in. Play five games and whoever wins all five will be the world champion.
