Obviously it is impossible to know for sure who would be the exact 32 teams in the old format, because the ow qualifiers fomat would have been different in most cases. So, this is a personal guess based on standings, rankings, how hard they had it to get in, and personal bias.So, the question is, was it worth it?
soccer is desperate not only to court rich american viewership but also rich saudi/oilarab and semi-rich swedish and kiwi vieweship
>>154966870NoSimply because the format is fucked (some teams placing 3rd advancing, some group winners therefore playing 3rd-placed teams while others play second-placed teams and some second-placed teams play other second-placed teams)It also does water down quality, the distribution of new spots was an obvious political maneuver. And it makes organizing the tournament considerably harderIt’s just not worth it. The old format was clear and concise, and yet every region was represented well
>>154966870If that's the actual 16, then that's... not terrible. Not worth it, though. Whatever, SHANT be following this tournament regardless. Other countries should've followed Iran and refused to participate.
>>154966870>So, the question is, was it worth it?For FIFA it was im sure
>>154966870Yeah it's worth it. It is the WORLD cup, including more of the world isn't a bad thing.>It doesn't dilute the quality of play in the knockout stages, the bad teams die in the group stage>Shitters qualifying may start feeling a sense of pride and desire to improve themselves, so in the future more nations can become actually exciting to watchLike just imagine a good Japan vs a good China/Korea, or a good India vs a good Britain.And on the social side:>More people can see their team and feel proud of it, football is one of the few things even poor background Blacks and Browns can pick up to live a normal life instead of being criminalsIt is all positives from every angle
all the most important countries in the world (America, China, Russia) don't care about soccer so it's not a real world cup anyway
>>154966953Russia definitely cares. Chinese are bandwagoners par excellence, they tried really hard to become a serious football nation. And there are plenty of soulless bandwagoners in the US as well. You can be contrarian all you want, the world watches this event and none of yours
Countries that for sure wouldn't have mind it in the old format>Curacao>Czech Republic>Ghana>Paraguay>Saudi Arabia>Qatar
>>154966870If I’m being honest New Zealand or whoever wins the OFC should qualify anyway, OFC should be allocated 1 spot even in a 32 team tournament.The three UEFA teams, Paraguay, and three of the CAF teams are all pretty strong too. The rest of them are making up numbers and wouldn’t be expected to make it out of their groups. It’s not really a problem though, having more teams in the tournament, of bloated the issues are more related to tournament structure. There’s now less emphasis on the group stage and more on the knockout stage whereas before it was more balanced, it’s actually still too many at 32 as 16 teams is just about the perfect format.
>>154967004>mindmade*
>>154966919We are scheduled to play Israel in October for UEFA nations league and it looks as though we are going to forfeit that match rather than host them
>>154966870Greed really does run the world. Why fix something that wasn't broken in the first place, 32 teams was completely fine. The only flawed thing at the old system was that OFC teams did not get an automatic spot.
>>154967104Based.
>>154966870Saudi arabia, senegal, ghana, paraguay and sweden are ok The rest is bullshit
>>154966953Every thread this mutt posts this nonsense
>>154966918The sad thing is that FIFA will not step back from this decision. It will probably want to expand even more. Soon the WC will take nearly two months, people will lose interest with so many boring group stage matches. I hope clubs, which are affected directly, do something against it.
>>154966944Based. Fuck elitists.
>>154967263cope, nobody relevant cares about socceryou believe your country can gain some respect on the world stage via povertyball but you are wrong
>>154966944Why not go to 128? Are you a racist?At least the format would be okay that way again since you could have 32 groups of 4
>>154967270That’s a good point about the clubs, they pay the players wages
>>154967407We could have four 32 team tournaments and the winners of each tournament go to the semi finals for Super World Cup
>>154966888>rich americanwhy aren't the tickets selling
>>154967263it's just chikaner seething about his manlet browness
Third spot making it out of groups is absolutely retarded
>>154967688This, could’ve had 8 groups of 6
>>154967923That would actually be somewhat doable, but only if you ignore the club season. With 8x6 and 32 teams advancing, it would be up to 10 games per team. That's going to be really rough, the tournament would take two months. Some players already arrive at the World Cup with like 70 games played
>>154966918>>154967270>>15496768848 teams is a weird number for the tournament. It will inevitable lead to a 64 teams expansion. My guess is no later than 2038What I didn't like was that the quota for the confederations was fixed. Should've had some sort of coefficient-based ranking to determine how many teams each continent sent, with minimums and maximums. For Africa I got the feeling that many times they didn't sent their actual 5 best teams, while Asia and Concacaf always send the same ones and nothing seemed to happen with them>>154967020I've always said that Oceania shouldn't have their own Confederation. Asia/Pacific should all play together. If New Zealand or any other of the islands is good enough it would be easier for them getting in even with rougher opposition. Also, the bad teams get to play more, vs Myanmar, Tajikistan or whatever, and the not so bad teams could actually improve facing better teams like Japan or Korea.It's not even a novelty, in the 80s or so OFC and AFC played the qualifiers together
I hate best thirds format in all competitions. Would rather 64 teams so the format could be like it was with 32, even with more shit games
I'm bored and unemployed enough that I simulated a group draw based on this (and using OP's cuts as a hypothetical, though I'd be mildly surprised if Senegal didn't qualify from CAF). Kept in mind the FIFA rules about no more than one team from a confederation per group (except for UEFA where you can have two per group) and:Group A:MexicoBelgiumAustraliaScotlandGroup B:CanadaUruguayJapanTunisiaGroup C:ArgentinaMoroccoTurkeyUzbekistanGroup D:United StatesNetherlandsSwitzerlandEgyptGroup E:FranceGermanyIranAlgeriaGroup F: SpainCroatiaEcuadorPanamaGroup G:BrazilPortugalAustriaIvory CoastGroup H:EnglandColombiaSouth KoreaNorway
>>154966870the WC would've been a sham if senegal didn't make it, so yes it was worth ita bunch of the rest are good enough fits for the WC as well, iraq, czechia, paraguay, sweden, cabo verde and doctor congo to be specific
>>154968017>>154968105AgreedThe problem with the 64 expansion is/will be that they will use this to disproportionately benefit Asia and Africa again. And South America will basically have no need for qualifiers at that point. It will also be downright impossible for individual countries to host such an event, and the strain players have to endure will be even greater, leading to shittier games on average. Also, 64 teams will definitely lead to a massive downturn in quality, more noticeable than 32 -> 48But in terms of the pure format, it does make more sense. And since it means more games and more markets represented - and therefore more money in theory - FIFA will definitely try to expand to 64, and they will use this "hey, you didn't like the 3rd-placed teams advancing from the groups thing, so we heard you :) You're welcome" to justify itAnd yes, Oceania should not exist as a fully fledged federation
>>154968242>. And South America will basically have no need for qualifiers at that point.It would basically be musical chairs to invite everyone other than like two of Venezuela/Bolivia/Peru
>>154968199>>154968228I picked Senegal because they started slow, with draws against Sudan and Togo, and didn't qualify until the last match.The only teams that qualified without any sorts of complications were Morocco and Tunisia. The other 3 teams would surely be among Egypt, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Senegal or Ghana. Whoever you choose feels like a right answer.
Haiti fan TV after they qualified was kino
>>15496798316 advance so it’s like this:16 teams play max. 5 games (group stage)8 teams play 6 games (eliminated in ro16)4 teams play 7 games (eliminated in qtrs)4 teams play 9 games (semis + third place final/final)I think it’s fine, it’s an extra couple of group games for everybody, some teams will be able to rest players if they’re safe and it’ll give the shit teams more experience at a tournament. Just don’t play stupid warm up games
>>154968946It’s 32 teams eliminated from the group stage if it’s a 48 team tournament like that
>>154966944>Like just imagine a good Japan vs a good China/Korea, or a good India vs a good Britain.Way to kill your argument you dumb retard. Everyone sure would love to see Haiti vs curacao or whatever
>>154967688I completely agree. It ruins the raw anxiety and worry that came with each group game.
>>154968995And cross-group comparisons are just retarded in general + it fucks up the KO tree hardThere just is no upside to it. It's only that way because FIFA wanted more teams to make more money, but going to 64 right away would have looked ridiculous
>>154966870>Saudi Arabia>QatarSeems like it worked as planned
