WUC Mixed Division Preview
Looking ahead to an exciting division - particularly for European fans
The mixed division is going to be a really fun watch. There’s a lot more diversity of teams, more like we’d expect to see from a Worlds event, it’s always cool to watch teams you’ve never seen before. The competition between the top 12 teams is going to be incredibly intense to make quarters and due to the format we’re going to need to see that intensity level from the very start.
You can watch all the action on Ultiworld and follow along with the results here
Format
Starting off with 4 pools, 3 with 5 teams and 1 with 6. I think the margins between the top teams and bottom teams will be quite large so I do expect some blowouts to start but results between the top teams carry into power pools so there’s no sense in cruising through with a couple of extra losses being a smart idea here.
(I’m expecting Switzerland to beat Austria for 3rd in the pool here)
(India is a very dangerous bottom seed would not be surprised to see them find a route through to power pools, probably at the expense of New Zealand)
(expecting Canada, GB and Germany to get through comfortably)
(France, Colombia and Singapore should get through here. Singapore could possible spring a surprise on either of Colombia or France).
The power pools themselves don’t look like they’ll be particularly dramatic in terms of who will progress, but the results between the top teams carry and will have significant weight.
Top 3 from each of the pools go to make up 2 power pools of 6 teams each. Pool A and C’s top teams will be placed together as will Pool B and D. Results carry from the initial pools into power pools. If you finish 4th or worse in the initial pool you can’t make the bracket.
Top 4 from each of the subsequent power pools will go to quarter finals and I’m predicting the power pools to look like this:
(I think Switzerland are the weakest team here and the USA clearly the strongest but the 4 way fight to not be 5th between Japan, Canada, GB and Germany will be very intense. Points difference in the games between those 4 could be crucial)
(Australia, Italy and France should go through here and all will be eyeing up the major prize of first seed as you will avoid the USA in bracket until the final. That’s a massive reward. I would probably favour Colombia to progress with that trio but would not be at all surprised if India or Singapore manage it. Really, anything at all could happen in this power pool, it’s going to be a very exciting few days watching it)
To win the tournament you play 11 or 12 games total. That’s a lot, particularly at the intensity you’ll need from power pools onwards and the teams that are able to manage their time and recovery best will have an advantage.
Tiers
There’s too many teams overall so I’m only looking at the teams I think can make power pools - the 12 I predicted above plus New Zealand)
Gold or Bust
USA
They should win. The roster is absolutely stacked with many of the most influential players in the game right now. The only concerns are chemistry - and I think they win without getting near having great chemistry, the only concern is do they somehow have awful chemistry which seems unlikely.
Medal Contenders
These are the teams I think are competing to join the US on the podium - and perhaps even knock them off the top perch if everything goes right,
France
I love France, I think this team is brilliant and talented and deep and have great chemistry and coaching and momentum. I’m excited about them! France keep defying expectations at the international level and they could do it again. I’m rooting for them.
OK, that’s just hype and not very informative. More concretely, France are European champions, have several members of the team that won beach worlds last year and had some excellent performances at Windmill finishing second to Superteam and pushing them pretty close. This team has been playing together a lot for the past couple of years and I don’t think any of the other contenders can match that level of chemistry and trust in their systems. They’re on the opposite side of the draw to USA so would avoid that matchup until the final and in a final ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN…sorry, reverted back to pure hype…
Australia
Before the season started I thought that Australia would be the team to really push the US, they have a great track record in mixed international events, both their impressive World Games silver medal performance and also a silver medal at the last WUC all the way back in 2016 showing they can really come together in this division. A lot of that top World Games talent are playing open/women’s however, and their performances at Windmill were a level below what I had expected, losing to GB in their final game and behind France and Italy in the rankings. They looked better a week later in London Invite, reversing that result against GB in the final, and they’ve been working hard since. Home advantage should give them a boost as well. Yeah this is some prime fence sitting because I have no idea what to make of this team’s true level.
Canada
Canada have some excellent players on their roster with plenty of experience at the top level. They had an OK performance at the recent US Open but nothing to suggest they’re a number 2 behind USA. A narrow (13-11) loss to France in warmups indicates them as being in the same bracket as France but a step behind, and a 15-11 loss to
Italy
Looking at Italy’s performance at Euros last year where they knocked off heavily favoured opponents Germany and Ireland shows that this team is going to be a menace in knockout games. The squad has been completely overhauled since last season with a major infusion of talent from the open and women’s teams - the likes of Sebastian Rossi, Simone Gasperini, Irene Scazzieri, Elena Benghi to name just a few - and this talent upgrade allied to the proven ability of the coaching staff to manage big tournaments points to Italy as a major threat for a medal.
Fighting for Quarters
These are teams I expect to see make the power pools but
Colombia
With the majority of top talent in Colombia playing for the women’s and open teams I don’t expect Colombia to be quite on the level of challenging for a finals berth but they are consistently solid performers in the mixed division and I don’t see this being any different. I might be underrating them a lot here considering they did beat Canada 15-11 at TEP back in May - or maybe I’m overrating Canada.
GB
After a disappointing European campaign last season (finishing 4th, the first time ever GB had not won mixed EUC) I don’t see them outperforming Italy and France this year either based on how the results have gone. They haven’t been bad by any means, with wins over Australia and Italy in the season showing that they can certainly compete with those teams on their day. But to progress out of the power pools and beyond you have to beat a lot of teams and GB haven’t shown that consistency so far.
Japan
I don’t know anything about the squad but Japan are always decent at mixed but (similar to Colombia) firmly in and around the top 8. After a disappointing 5th place finish at the Asia-Oceania Championships this season we could see them not make the bracket for the first time in a while.
Germany
Similar to GB, a disappointing EUC campaign last year where they missed out on semis altogether after being a favoured to win by a lot of people (showing that pre-tournament predication are in fact, terrible and you shouldn’t pay any attention to what people on the internet say :( ). Some heavy hitters from that team have departed for open and women’s so it’s tough to see them usurping their European counterparts in France and Italy. 7th place at Windmill behind France, Italy, GB and Australia is why I expect them to be at the lower end of those teams.
Singapore
I’m super interesting in watching this team. Singapore’s record in mixed international events is pretty good and, same as I said in the women’s preview, the wind will blow strongly a few days in Gold Coast and I think Singapore’s game is pretty suited to that with a good zone and a quick short passing game. I was told after I published that post that Singapore themselves think they are weaker in the wind - but if I was them I’m be doing a wind dance.
Based on their performances I’ve seen at other worlds events they do tend to rely a lot on a small number of players to work the disc on offence - with a gruelling schedule ahead that’s my big concern for this team. I certainly don’t know enough about their players to know if that’s true for this squad. They’re in the pool of 6 so that’s an extra game for them too.
Fighting for Power Pools
Not all these teams will make it
New Zealand vs India
The third team progressing out of pool B is likely to come down to this matchup. New Zealand did win the Asia-Oceania Mixed championships last year, however some of the stars from that team have moved over to open/women’s so they’re probably not going to be as strong as that. India finished 3rd at the same championships and only have a mixed team so don’t have their playerbase split in the same manner. I don’t have any information on recent form for India bar a friendly earlier today against France which they lost 13-8 (no shame there, we love France), for New Zealand they played some games against Australia earlier this month and lost the all by 3-5 points so hard to gauge a level from that. They also played a friendly today and drew with GB which is promising. The big advantage New Zealand have is my former player Jess Chambers is on their squad and she is a phenomenal player and teammate and we all want her to succeed :D
Switzerland vs Austria
One of the surprises for me from the mixed invitational tournament Germany hosted in May was the strong performances of Switzerland. They beat France (and France are awesome!) and had a close loss vs Germany. They also, more relevantly, beat Austria 15-7 so they should beat them here too and break seed to qualify for the power pool. Apart from those games the rest of the Swiss results have been more in line with my expectations at the start of the season - 12th at windmill and some bigger losses to the top European teams. But maybe they can replicate that performance level of their French game and cause some upsets.
Love these previews. Thanks for your hard work.