Is the Group of Death a myth? Not if your team is in it.

Everybody talks about it, nobody desires to be in it, and it could not even actually exist.

The reply to this riddle? The Group of Demise.

You’ll be able to guess that instantly as quickly because the draw is concluded, followers and journalists will choose the group that has the strongest groups and dub it the Group of Demise. There may be one each 4 years, a quartet during which hazard lurks at each flip and the place hand-wringing is the commonest pastime.

And even when the teams wind up pretty evenly matched, the punditocracy will choose a Group of Demise. It appears to be obligatory. Generally there may be disagreement, which is able to enable for weeks of spirited debate about video games which can be nonetheless seven months away.

Maybe essentially the most well-known Group of Demise — in Spanish, the much more colourful grupo de la muerte — got here within the second group stage in 1982. Argentina, Brazil and Italy all wound up in the identical group, from which just one group may advance. Italy gained and went on to take the entire event in an nearly anticlimactic semifinal and closing.

One attainable Group of Demise this 12 months? Think about a gaggle with France, the defending champion; the Netherlands, an all the time sturdy European group; Senegal, the African champion; and Canada, which topped Concacaf qualifying.

However even when you can’t spot the Group of Demise instantly, somebody will be sure you level it out.