What is a 'good' World Cup draw for the Caltex Socceroos?

Jason Pine 1511895663,1511895662

The Caltex Socceroos will learn their World Cup fate on Saturday morning (AEDT) when the draw for the 2018 tournament is made.

But which nations will Australia want to meet in Russia?

We've taken a look at some favourable group stage pairings.

HOW IT WORKS

Unlike previous years, the four pots in which the 32 teams are placed are based entirely on October's FIFA rankings.

By tradition, the hosts are always placed in Pot One, so Russia and the top seven teams are in Pot One. The next eight best teams are in Pot Two, the next eight in Pot Three and the next eight (including Australia) are in Pot Four.

One country from each pot will land in each of the eight groups.

Australia can't be drawn into the same group as another Asian nation, so that rules out Iran from Pot Three.

The other three Asian nations (Saudi Arabia, Japan and South Korea) are in Pot Four with Australia, so they will all end up in different groups anyway.

World Cup draw — Which nations will we meet?

POT ONE: AN OBVIOUS PRIZE

Everyone will want Russia in their group.

While they are hosts and that brings with it unrivalled support, the fact is they are the lowest ranked country in the entire tournament at 65th in the world.

If you can dodge the bullet of one of the top seven sides in Pot One and instead play the team that is 65th, you'd be very confident of securing a result.

The rankings make Russia a desirable opponent.

POT TWO: ANYONE BUT SPAIN

Whichever group Spain are drawn into is highly likely to be a "Pool of Death".

The 2010 champions and perennial World Cup participants have missed out on a spot in Pot One because they're ranked eighth in the world.

Unless Spain happen to be drawn with Russia, two of the top eight sides in the world will be in the same pool.

Imagine being drawn into a pool with both Germany and Spain? Or Brazil and Spain?

POT THREE: AVOID THE DANES

Two European sides can feature in any one group, so there's also the prospect of having 19th ranked Denmark in the same pool as Spain.

Getting Denmark from Pot Three would be the worst case scenario for Australia.

For example, they could potentially end up with Brazil, Spain and Denmark.

That would be very difficult to negotiate.

GETTING OUT OF THE GROUP

On their day, Australia would back themselves to beat pretty much all the countries in Pot Three, even Denmark.

But because only two teams go through to the knockout rounds from each group, you still need to get a result against one of the top two teams to progress.

The lowest ranked team in Pot Two is Croatia, who Australia drew with in 2006.

While they're still a good side at 18th in the world, they wouldn't be anywhere near as imposing as Spain.

Other sides in Pot Two who Australia might fancy themselves against are Peru (who haven't been to a World Cup since 1982) and the unpredictable Mexico.