Nope, they could meet in the semi though
Day 13: Ghana vs Uruguay | South Korea vs Portugal | Cameroon vs Brazil | Serbia vs Switzerland
- Thread starter Samid
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Agreed that 4.5 or even 5 makes sense for Conmebol, but next time you get 6+1/3, that seems crazy.
With Bolivia being completely useless away, basically that's 9 teams fighting for 6 spots and a playoff spot.
Coming home
It's about developing the game worldwide, which part of that isn't obvious? Slowly but surely it is working.
its called a world cup. and fights between two weaker teams are more often than not the best games. same with champions league its called that for a reason 5 clubs from england and 4 from other top nations is totally against the idea. I like more weaker teams
That Cameroon goal won me £4.50
As mentioned, African, Asian, North American teams have their own regional tournament if you're very interested in those teams.
Those group stages were fantastic!
Think this is the 1st time ever no nation has finished with maximum points in their group?
Think this is the 1st time ever no nation has finished with maximum points in their group?
Oh yeah, the new format is bonkers. It's actually going to be dogshit as well because each group will have a team that is useless so you are getting shot of the rollercoaster that this GW3 has been and instead go straight into knockouts, which are going to be cagey affairs.
They will get rid of what has been a huge success here!
Syria and El Salvador are under different continental bodies, by your very own examples.
At least get the geography right if you want to stick with your awful point.
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Cameroon stealing Norway's only relevance to the World Cup. Bastards.
Has it really worked? UEFA are dominating the WC like never before in the last 2 decades or so.
CAF teams made the QF decades ago, and have yet to make a SF after all these decades.
After 1994
so does europe
We have been shit for quite a while though.
I think we are going back to the 70s,80s and 90s (but with way less individual quality) when it was only Brazil or Argentina from Conmebol going far, the rest getting knocked out in group stage or R16.
The Conmebol qualifiers for 2018 and 2022 quality have been dire in terms of quality, and it's gonna be worse once we get the 6.5 slots.
When did I say they were in the same confederation?
Syria would have been 9th in AFC qualifying, El Salvador 7th in Concacaf.
They'd have made the playoffs according to the 2026 allocation, which was exactly what I said.
It’s a world cup and good diversity of countries from all corners who take part in the tournament is a good thing. If it was too top heavy with European sides it wouldn’t feel much like a World Cup at all
This is coming from someone from Ireland and I’d dearly love to be involved every 4 years but fully accept this it’s the way it’s meant to be
The World Cup is unique.
of course they do, i placed a bet on brasil...
Agreed, 3 teams groups will result in lots of collusion in the final matchday with many teams knowing exactly what is the required result for both to qualify.
and I said watching them is more interesting that Scotland vs Israel again (I swear that match happens every international break). Because when else would they play each other outside of a World Cup?
They can only meet at the quarter finals if Japan beats Croatia and South Korea beats Brasil
I get the point about diversity, but there has to be a balance with quality as well.
The current balance is about right, awarding non-UEFA confederations with many extra spots next time will just result in a drop in standard.
Also debated to be a red so yeah... perhaps that needs reevaluating?
and most of the times when two teams out of the top ten play they are so good they neutralize each other and the game is shit.
If the option is that or a dull game between second or third rate European sides facing each other over and over and over then yes, absolutely.Seriously? You want to watch Syria v El Salvador?
Each to their own I guess.
I tend to site with Cal here. On meritocracy alone, Europe is already getting less than it should, and in 4 years it would be worse.
It is the World Cup, so there should be the best teams in the World. Not diversity for the sake of diversity, there is no fun on seeing shit teams in the World Cup. Imagine Costa Rica vs Spain but much worse than that. There are gonna be teams who will concede over 10 goals in the next World Cup IMO.
Increasing the number of teams in the World Cup was a bad idea. Increasing the number so it means more awful teams is a horrible idea.
It is the World Cup, so there should be the best teams in the World. Not diversity for the sake of diversity, there is no fun on seeing shit teams in the World Cup. Imagine Costa Rica vs Spain but much worse than that. There are gonna be teams who will concede over 10 goals in the next World Cup IMO.
Increasing the number of teams in the World Cup was a bad idea. Increasing the number so it means more awful teams is a horrible idea.
Well done to Switzerland, they never looked like conceding after going 3-2 up, while we were much more shaky with 2-1 lead, just like we were shaky being 3-1 up against Cameroon. Shocking defending gets you nowhere, so 1 point out of 9 possible is about right. At least we were fun to watch unlike on previous World Cups, that's a positive.
You'd expect Portugal to beat Switzerland but it could be very difficult game for them. Portugal going out would mean laughing at Cristiano (yeah I'm petty) + Bruno and Dalot getting some rest.
You'd expect Portugal to beat Switzerland but it could be very difficult game for them. Portugal going out would mean laughing at Cristiano (yeah I'm petty) + Bruno and Dalot getting some rest.
UEFA isn't dominating more than they did. As I showed earlier, in 2010 and 2014 out of 8 quarter-finalists four were CONMEBOL and all the eliminated CONMEBOL teams had been knocked out by CONMEBOL teams. UEFA has never managed such a record with their qualifying teams.
Furthermore, you used to get 10 teams into R16 and now get 7, so others have been chipping away.
What UEFA has dominated is the winning, which isn't surprising seeing as you have 4-5 World Cup winning level sides, and usually 2-3 other challengers that are good enough to reach a semi or final. The rest of the world has two, one has been grossly mismanaged (Argentina) and the other hasn't had a great generation since the 2002 vintage (Brazil). This is the closest, and it's not a match for that one.
The only thing I agree with is that increasing the number of teams is an awful idea. Just like it is with the Euros, just like it is with the Champions League.
Inglend are going to win the whole thing. It’s coming home to the 7 point lions.
i agree the most anticipated games between two great football nations are usually the most boring games
By that logic you don't watch the CL but watch the League trophy?
I prefer games where the outcome is not obvious before the match even kicked off, imagine France v Syria (with no resting).
Good point about the bolded part, it's nothing more than a Fifa cash grab and it's a ridiculous format next time.
8! But overall I agree with your point.
However, it remains that Concacaf and CAF are being rewarded for not improving after decades. With AFC you can at least argue they have improved a lot this time.
We were hearing a lot of talk about the 'incredible' strength in depth of Brazil over the past week or so.... 
ingeland ingeland ingeland
yeah i dont watch cl when united isnt involved and i have travelled through europe to support my local team
and they never gonna win anythingFair enough, personally I find the tactical battle amongst top sides fascinating.yeah i dont watch cl when united isnt involved and i have travelled through europe to support my local team
it can be! mourinhos inter was fascinating to watch for example
Exactly, the airbus parking actually made for quite interesting battles against tiki-taka.
Just seen Aboubakar 's red card. What a legend
Imagine gettings red card and be super happy about it.
Imagine gettings red card and be super happy about it.