2022 World Cup Discussion

BlueMoonAcrossThePond said:
I've no problem at all that teams qualify on the merit.

My complaint is that very weak leagues such as CONCACAF field multiple teams. Italy is far better than the USA or Mexico or any other team in CONCACAF.

More games between leagues should be required in order to adequately seed each league - and then each league should be allotted qualifiers based on league strength except that every league is guaranteed at least one side in the WC - and the host is guaranteed a spot too.

As it is - too many sides from weaker leagues participate at the expense of far better teams.

I suppose that this sort of seeding exists somewhat currently - but it's broken IMO to the detriment mostly of European sides where so many good teams exist to compete for too few qualification spots.
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It’s ok saying Italy are better than Mexico ( ranked 12 ) and USA ( ranked 14 ) but they had a second chance to qualify after blowing the group, at home to North Macedonian ( ranked 64 ) and lost that aswell. So they clearly haven’t been good enough to qualify on merit.

Europe also have 13 spots in the finals. Eight more than any other region. I don’t think we’re that hard done by.
 
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BlueMoonAcrossThePond said:
I've no problem at all that teams qualify on the merit.

My complaint is that very weak leagues such as CONCACAF field multiple teams. Italy is far better than the USA or Mexico or any other team in CONCACAF.

More games between leagues should be required in order to adequately seed each league - and then each league should be allotted qualifiers based on league strength except that every league is guaranteed at least one side in the WC - and the host is guaranteed a spot too.

As it is - too many sides from weaker leagues participate at the expense of far better teams.

I suppose that this sort of seeding exists somewhat currently - but it's broken IMO to the detriment mostly of European sides where so many good teams exist to compete for too few qualification spots.
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You could make the same argument about the Champions League. Arsenal and most other Premier League teams are much better than FC Copenhagen and Victoria Plzen. There is a bigger gap between West Ham and Maccabi Haifa, then there is between Mexico and Italy. Mexico beat Germany in the last World Cup and have got to the knock out stages loads of times. CONCACAF had three teams in the knock outs at 2014, Costa Rica finished top of a group that contained Italy, England and Uruguay, and only lost on penalties to Holland in the quarter finals. They have the spots they do on merit, I would say 3/4 is about a fair reflection on their strength. Europe currently has 13 (14 if hosting) which I would also say is roughly fair. Qualification should be a challenge.
 
Pell said:
You could make the same argument about the Champions League. Arsenal and most other Premier League teams are much better than FC Copenhagen and Victoria Plzen. There is a bigger gap between West Ham and Maccabi Haifa, then there is between Mexico and Italy. Mexico beat Germany in the last World Cup and have got to the knock out stages loads of times. CONCACAF had three teams in the knock outs at 2014, Costa Rica finished top of a group that contained Italy, England and Uruguay, and only lost on penalties to Holland in the quarter finals. They have the spots they do on merit, I would say 3/4 is about a fair reflection on their strength. Europe currently has 13 (14 if hosting) which I would also say is roughly fair. Qualification should be a challenge.
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I guess we'll need to agree to disagree.

To begin with - each national league should have at least 1 qualifying side - simply to maintain global interest. Thus some more talented sides will miss out perforce.

Next - and this is I suppose the biggest point of contention - I think that the top sides based on overall performance - as ranked by an appropriate system should get in no matter what.

How might this happen?

In the USA, men's basketball has a selection committee composed of very knowledgeable judges of the game. Each league has an auto-qualifier to keep interest up - but then, the remaining field is ranked top to bottom - strength of schedule, bad losses, big wins, recent performance, and so on are all factors. At the end - the committee mostly gets things right - the top sides in men's basketball get into the tourney. This sort of system fields the best sides - the ones that fans want to watch.

Italy out? No way. Portugal having to qualify - shouldn't happen. Based on strength of schedule, ranking, recent performance and so on - those teams should be in.

In short - the system I'd prefer...
1) Each conference hosts a tournament. The tournament winner is in the WC no matter what. This is important to maintain world interest in the sport.
2) The WC host nation is in no matter what - too, this is important to maintain interest.
3) Every other spot in the WC is subject to review by a panel of experts - similar to that which decides qualification for the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. Sides are force-ranked from best to worst. The rest of the field is filled based on the force rank. This rule ensures that all the best sides are in in spite of perhaps a unfortunate losses at the worst possible time.

#3 is of course particularly difficult to implement for World Football given rampant corruption in the system.
 
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Team USA - overrated? Against Japan, USA looked poor. Japan had most of the chances and deserved to win.

Of note, USA appear to be unable to play from the back/midfield. Time and again, poor passing lead to extremely dangerous scoring opportunities for Japan.

Probably USA gets out of the qualifying round - I doubt they'll go much further.
 
BlueMoonAcrossThePond said:
Team USA - overrated? Against Japan, USA looked poor. Japan had most of the chances and deserved to win.

Of note, USA appear to be unable to play from the back/midfield. Time and again, poor passing lead to extremely dangerous scoring opportunities for Japan.

Probably USA gets out of the qualifying round - I doubt they'll go much further.
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Japan has been learning Spanish football for a while and they are good on the feet. I remembered once they made even Belgium almost losing the game in last WC? KDB struggled a lot in the first half of that game because Japan pressed very well.
 
BlueMoonAcrossThePond said:
Team USA - overrated? Against Japan, USA looked poor. Japan had most of the chances and deserved to win.

Of note, USA appear to be unable to play from the back/midfield. Time and again, poor passing lead to extremely dangerous scoring opportunities for Japan.

Probably USA gets out of the qualifying round - I doubt they'll go much further.
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I don’t think the group will be a simple England and USA 1-2.
 
mat said:
Sir Harry is going to wear a rainbow armband as a token of support the LGBTQ+ community and protest against the local government.

Isn't that the kind of thing you don't announce before you get there. Just in case they find a way to not allow you in the country?
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Never mind Kane, someone should stuff Maguire’s suitcase full of gay porn magazines and alcohol so he gets rumbled at the airport and deported or jailed and can’t play.
 
SWP's back said:
As a little aside, I proposed to my Mrs on the beach here at sunset. It’s a lovely place. (The picture is slightly inaccurate though, it doesn’t have a golf course, it’s a 9 hole putting course)

View attachment 56767
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It's like a cleverly contrived posh quarantine to keep them away from the locals ;)
 
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