Original sentence: In this case, that would have been France, which wound up escaping the tough draw that befell Italy.Many officials, fans and journalists complained, pointing out that a Frenchman, the FIFA secretary-general Jérôme Valcke, suggested the change, and suspecting that another influential Frenchman, UEFA’s president Michel Platini, helped approve it.Previously, the lowest-ranked European team was sent there.There was some controversy before the draw, when FIFA decided that the European team in Pot 2 would be drawn there randomly
Edited sentence: A similar situation arose with the 2006 FIFA World Cup seeding, and on that occasion the lowest ranked European side, Serbia and Montenegro were placed in the alternative pot.For the 2014 draw, FIFA decided that the European team in Pot 2 would be drawn there randomly.However, in the 2006 draw, Serbia and Montenegro were selected based on their FIFA World Ranking at the time of the draw (November 2005), rather than by the seeding system which was otherwise in use.However, there were still 9 unseeded European sides, which meant that one European side had to be allocated to Pot 2, which otherwise consisted of African and South American sides.In spite of this, many officials, fans and journalists complained, pointing out that a Frenchman, the FIFA secretary-general Jérôme Valcke, suggested the change, and suspecting that another influential Frenchman, UEFA’s president Michel Platini, helped approve it.In the November 2013 rankings, Russia was the lowest ranked of the 9 unseeded UEFA nations.It was wrongly perceived by many that, based on the 2006 precedent, France would have been the lowest ranked side for this draw, and that the rule changed benefited them.Italy was the European side drawn to go into Pot 2 and ended up in a difficult group.Only 8 sides are seeded for the World Cup draw; the hosts plus the 7 sides ranked highest in the October 2013 FIFA World Rankings.The remaining 24 unseeded sides are allocated to 3 pots based on their geographical location.There was some controversy before the draw, when FIFA decided upon their allocation of the draw pots.This was based on France being the lowest ranked European side in the October 2013 FIFA World Rankings, which were used to determine the 8 seeded sides