Team USA didn't get off to a great start on Thursday as Zain Retherford lost nailbiters to two reigning medalists. Zain Retherford fell 10-9 in the opening round to Tobier (CUB) and Daton got beat on a late, controversial call in the second round against Takahashi.

Nothing to do but regroup and get our next four warriors ready to go. We have four former World medalists on tap for Friday, two of them that have been to the top.

Like clockwork, Jordan Burroughs has a difficult path with much talented crammed into his 2-seed quadrant and a Russian World Champ on his side.

Let's get to it. Below are bracket breakdowns for each weight starting Friday.

70kg - James Green vs. Vincent Di Marinis (CAN)

Full Bracket Link

Overview: The top half has almost all the top guys in what is the best non-Olympic bracket we've seen yet this week. Outside of the seeds on the bottom, it's barren. But up top is loaded.

James' Road: James is up top and has an easy one first but each step of the way thereafter will present a challenge. In Round 2 he'll have either Gadzhiev (POL) or Ganzorig (MGL) who makes his first appearance at 70kg in two years. The quarter would be the top-seeded Adam Batirov (BRN) who went silver last year behind Gazhimogomedov.

Top Half Analysis:

The other quarter is led by #2 seed Iakob Iakobishvili (GEO) the 2017 World champ. Great bout with him and Russian Dave Baev in the Round of 16. Likely to meet them in quarters is Navruzov (UZB) who was bronze in Rio after wowing everyone in Vegas to the finals.

Bottom Half Analysis: 

The #3 seed is Iran's Younes Emami who is making his second SR Worlds appearance after going 0-1 last year. He's not your standard-issue #3 seed at Worlds; his points came from thin fields at Asians and Sassari. But, as stated above, there isn't much else down there. Shiga (JPN), the Asian silver could meet him in quarters.

The #2 seed Kaipanov (KAZ) is a first-year SR. Under the circumstances or the bracket, he's a finalist contender as the winner of Asians and Sassari. There ain't much else to write about as his quad is filled with Singapore, Qatar, Great Britain, Uganda, and Palau.

Best First Round Match: Round of 32 - Gadzhiev (POL) vs. Ganzorig (MGL)

74kg - Jordan Burroughs vs. Azamat Nurykau (BLR)

Full Bracket Link

Overview: Go figure; beyond the seeds, the talent is bunched up down below where Jordan Earnest Burroughs resides as the #2 seed. It's a bracket that, on the surface, you can probably map out pretty clearly if you're picking quarterfinalists.

JB's Road: Jordan will have a tough one almost every step of the way. He'll start with Nurykau who is ranked sixth with points from Yarygin (bronze) and a seventh-place showing at Worlds last year where he lost to Demirtas (TUR) in quarters. The Round of 16 is likely to bring someone tough but not on Jordan's level. Likely Kirov of Bulgaria. That'll be his lone respite, however as the the group that filters in is absurd. Franklin Gomez and Bekzod have a date in the pigtails. The winner will have to go through the Cuban (who is super old) or the Iranian (who hasn't wrestled at SR Worlds since 2014 went he went 1-1). Sushil Kumar (IND) hasn't wrestled in a Worlds since he was silver in the London Olympics. His first-round opponent Gadzhiev (AZE) was a Junior World bronze last year. Interesting to say the least. The winner gets Demirtas. And the winner of all that mess the Gomez-Bekzod-Cuba-Iran mess. Then the winner of that gets JB...in the quarters!

Top Half Analysis:

Frank Chamizo (ITA), who made a medal match every year since 2015, is the top seed. His second bout will be Seung-Chol Lee (KOR) who lost to Tobier (CUB) in the bronze bout at 65 last year. Asian champ Daniar Kaisonov (KAZ), who is making his Worlds debut, would be the quarterfinal opponent in a rather simple draw.

The next group of four is pretty bad. Following that is the foursome led by #4 seed Avtandil Kentchadze (GEO), the World silver to Sidakov last year. He has decent one vs. Khadjiev (FRA) round 1 and then Nedealco (ROU). Very easy path to semis.

Bottom Half Analysis: 

JB's quad is covered above so let's move to the #3 seed's group with Sidakov (RUS), the returning champ who went through both Burroughs and Chamizo last year. He can sleepwalk to the semis. I mean, there's nothing there. 

Best First Round Match: Khadjev (FRA) vs. Kentchadze (GEO)

Best First Round Match: Gomez (PUR) vs. Abdurakhmanov (UZB)

Best First Round Match: Sushil (IND) vs. Gadzhiev (UZB)

92kg - J'den Cox vs. Mohamed Fardj (ALG)

Full Bracket Link

Overview: This might be the one time this week that we have a bracket in which the talent is spread out to give what us Americans think of as the fairest. Even beyond the seeds, the top talent is separated giving us a shot for the best eight in the quarters. 

J'den's Road: Our defending World champ hasn't lost in over a year (Dogu 2018) and has won Pan Ams and Dogu in 2019. He's the top seed with a nice path. A short putt in round 1 followed by a quarter against Nurgaipuly (KAZ) who lost to Luvsandorj in the first round last year. 

Top Half Analysis:

The next quad filters into J'den's semi and has a #4 seed of Mtsiuri (GEO) who has always been blocked by Marsagishvili. He was bronze at Euros this year and will get Toth (HUN) who was the runner-up to J'den at Dogu. The winner should win his next bout and meet J'den a round later.

Bottom Half Analysis: 

Iran's Alireza Karimi is the #2 seed as the returning bronze medalist, Asian champ, and Sassari champ. He has a sneaky-good match against once-Russian, now Moldovan Gheorghe Rubaev who has placed bronze at Yarygin before. He should cruise to the semis, though.

Your #3 seed was the runner-up to J'den last year — Ivan Yankouski (BLR). But he's taken a ton of losses since and opens with a tough one in Russia's Ailikhan Zhabrailov. In the quarters the winner will get one of two bronze medalists from Dogu: Turkey's Suleyman Karadniz or Shamil Zubairov of Azerbaijan.

Best First Round Match: Mtsiuri (GEO) vs. Toth (HUN)

Best First Round Match: Yankouski (BLR) vs. Zhabrailov (RUS)

125kg - Nick Gwiazdowski vs. TBD

Full Bracket Link

Overview: The top four guys have separated themselves from the pack literally and figuratively. There is a group of consistent performers and medalists and, for once, they are the top four seeds. That being said, some land mines lurk, to be sure, and Gwiz is in a very scary group.

Nick's Road: In his entire SR career, Gwiz has failed to medal just twice - 2017 at Yarygin and this year at Kolov where he lost to Hadi of Iran (who is out with an injury) and Deng (CHN), the World silver, in a match he basically gave away at the end. He's your #4 seed as a returning bronze. But his group is pretty wicked. On the plus side, he'll need to win just two matches to get to semi's rather than the three that everyone else does. He'll get Iran's backup Mohebbi in his first bout who is solid and actually ranked 10th. Who he gets in the quarters is anyone's guess. Russia's Alan Khugaev has been knocking on the door for a while but could never break through to secure his nation's #1 spot despite winning Yarygin and Dogu previously. He has Oleg of House Bolten (KAZ) a decent wrestler but one he should get by before hitting the winner of Berianidze (ARM), who was fifth in Rio and bronze in 2017, and Ukraine's ninth-ranked Khotsianivski who 1) beat Mohebbi in last year's Dogu finals and 2) will scare the living daylights out of you. The man looks like he was built in a lab.

Top Half Analysis:

The #1 seed's quad starts with Geno Petriashvili (GEO), who won the last two World Championships and who has medaled in every Worlds/OLY since he entered the SR circuit in 2013. He walks to the semis.

Bottom Half Analysis: 

Taha Akgul (TUR) is the #3 seed and a perpetual title threat. He had a "bad" Worlds last year, losing to Hadi, but and he takes occasional losses but he just beat Petriashvili 7-0 in Euro finals and made World/OLY finals five straight years prior. He should cruise to semis after beating Sumit, India's seventh-ranked Heavyweight, in the quarters.

All the way at the bottom is returning silver medalist Zhiwei Deng (CHN) who will see the winner of Robert Baran (POL) or Kory Jarvis (CAN) in round 2 before getting Jamalladin Magomedov (AZE) in the quarters.

Best First Round Match: Khotsianivski (UKR) vs. Berianadze (ARM) (BLR)