Worlds - Open Division Preview

I’m not confident there’s going to be gold medal drama in this division, but the fight for silver and bronze should be fascinating. Don’t get me wrong - I believe more than anyone that in a one-off game you can find a way to beat a better team on paper so I am hoping to see an intense battle for gold and a shock….just wouldn’t bet on it.

You can watch all the action on Ultiworld and follow along with the results here

Format

Another division, another type of format. Happily this division has the purest number for a schedule, 16, so it’s pretty straightforward.

Initial Pools

Starting with 4 pools of 4.

I would be surprised if this didn’t go exactly to seed

I would be surprised if this didn’t go exactly to seed

I would be surprised if this didn’t go exactly to se…wait, this could get crazy! I can see any team here beating any of the others. The winner of this pool might feel hard done by because they’ll meet the US in power pools, however come second in that power pool and the US are in the other side of the bracket.

Not as crazy as pool C but could be very competitive with the top 3 teams.

Power Pools and Crossovers

Top 2 teams from each initial pool will progress to power pools. Unlike in mixed and women’s there will be only 1 team from each initial pool in the power pools so not games carry over.

The top 2 from the power pools will go straight to quarters with the bottom 2 crossing over against the top 2 teams from the lower pools. After the crossovers our quarters will be set and the bracket will commence.

With all that there will be 9-10 games for each team depending on whether they’re in a crossover or not. Like in women’s that means 1 game a day for the second half of the week so plenty of time to rest and prepare for opponents. That should advantage teams with good coaching staff setups and gives a boost to teams that maybe don’t run super deep that they can compete with deeper squads.

Tiers

Similar to my mixed preview, I’m not going through every single team, just those that I think are realistic contenders to go into the bracket.

Gold or bust

USA

This is a STACKED team. Unlike the mixed division where the US players may have some challenges adapting to a division they don’t play regularly, this squad all play open at the very highest level and the majority are at the peak of their careers.

Medal Contenders

All these teams will be entering justifiably thinking they can leave with some hardware. But at least 3 from 5 here won’t.

Australia

The home side should be approaching this tournament with a great deal of confidence. Home comforts and support should help their cause, as should their previous international performances - the performances of their MMP at World Games in 2022 was a real highlight with Rob Andrews arguably the most influential player of any team there. If that cohort can find a similar level here then they are going to win a medal.

Canada

With that glowing assessment of Australia, Canada would feel very secure in their ambitions having recently beaten Australia 15-12 on their way to a respectable 3rd place finish at the US Open. A London Invite win where their D line really took charge against GB rounded off a European trip to Windmill and London where they looked better and better in every game. I thought this year was the year Canada could slip out of the semi-finals but on recent form they will justifiably feel confident of going all the way to the final.

GB

After getting knocked off their European throne last season by Belgium, GB have really reasserted themselves in the time since. They went undefeated (I believe -results not published!) at an invitational tournament in Belgium earlier this year and blew Belgium away 15-7 at the London Invite. However they followed up that semi-final win with the aforementioned loss to Canada - which joined an earlier 13-10 pool play loss to the same team. If Canada are a bogey team for them the bad news is they’ll play them in power pools if the groups go to seed, which will then put GB on a collision course with the US in the semis.

Belgium

After their incredible start to the summer last year with the silver medal at U24s and the EUC gold things haven’t gone all Belgium’s way since with a few losses to GB, and more devastatingly, a couple of losses to ACL tears. It can be really hard to go from those big international events back to the grind of playing smaller events so now the big show is here again I’m backing the Belgians to bounce back to brilliance The performances of Daan De Maree and Tobe Decreane in the US recently should add even more confidence to a duo that probably didn’t need any more confidence!

The ceiling of this team’s ability is a finals place. The 1 game a day towards the end will definitely help this squad too. If they win their pool and power pool they’ll avoid the US side of the draw and have a real run at a final place. But first thing is beating Japan in their initial pool…

Japan

…and that Japan Belgium encounter was the first game I circled from the pool. Should be a fascinating mix of styles of play and I’ve no idea who will come out on top. This is a team with a lot of familiar names, a veteran heavy team and my fear for the team is that it might be one tournament too far for some of these players.

Quarters Contenders

Singapore

You can refer back to my women’s and mixed previews for generic comments on why I think Singapore will generally be quite strong. News from the friendlies in the Gold Coast backs this up - an 8-7 win over Belgium and a similar loss to Canada in short games indicates they could be dangerous and certainly if they were the FOURTH seed in my group I’d be cursing my luck.

Germany

And Germany are the second seed in Singapore’s group - group C really is the group of death. Germany looked a step behind Belgium and GB last summer so they’re firmly in this group behind but they certainly haven’t taken any backwards steps since and the integration of some of the U24s that shone on their way to a bronze U24 medal last year could elevate their ceiling.

New Zealand

Rounding off the group of death, New Zealand are probably also cursing their luck. They’ve done the reverse of France and Italy (below) and after winning their continental mixed championship a lot of the MMP stars of that campaign - notably Liam Habberfield and Nicolas Whitlock - have moved across to the Open team. With top end throwing talent, athleticism and some unusual stylistic touches that come with being a relatively isolated community, it’s going to be a lot of fun watching this team I think. Really, just set your alarms for any game from Pool C!

France

It’s no secret that the French mixed team is really, really good and that’s where a lot of their top end talent has gone. But France is brimming with young talent and if some of that clicks here they could outperform expectations.

Italy

A similar story to France - the top players are mostly playing mixed this season so that limits their ceiling. But just like France, the production line of young talent in Italy is impressive and they won’t be walkovers for any team.

Colombia

I found it hard to place Colombia - they haven’t had any international matches in preparation from what I have seen. Their club teams didn’t set the world on fire at WUCC 2022 and their U24 team struggled last season too so I’m probably overrating them here. I initially had them in the tier above because of their top end talent - Simon Ramirez and Jonathan Cantor were sensational at World Games - but overall I think quarters would be a good finish for them.