HOWEVER
No disrespect to Socceroos, but this kind of qualifying is and getting even worse.
Huge teams with big stars (from mostly Europe) missing out only because the "lesser" known parts of the soccer-world should have even more teams in the finals.
I always thought that those "extra" places from these should be in qualifying against the "better" known teams. Taking the 8 Euro teams should play against the likes of Honduras, Aussie, Kiwis and Peru then it would really be a strength to get to Russia.
The World Cup next time will have even more of the "Blueberry" nations getting shots to join the big party, while quality teams beat each other to join. Bloody shame.
In all honest a team from Honduras would simply get perhaps 1-2 win (if lucky) of 10 against the likes of Italy or Holland. Both of those beaten by Sweden. Which proven to have had a much harder road to Russia then the Socceroos
Yet it's the fourth trip to the finals for the Socceroos, but almost nothing to show on those trips.
Well some teams I guess joins the party only to be spoilers and also-runs.
Don't be too mad at me, since I really happy Australia made it and hoping even the Kiwis makes it too. Both hard fighting teams and the finals in Russia perhaps needs this kind of teams too. Always a shot to mess up the bigger nations plans during the first round, and then quietly return home.
Then the World Cup should be renamed Europe-South America Cup, because the tournament would be almost entirely of teams from Europe and South America. UEFA and CONMEBOL get too many quotas IMO - over half of the teams are from these two.
When the European Championships were consisting of only 8 teams it was easy for Bulgaria, Sweden or Belgium to qualify for the world cup as it gave more berths for European teams. Thus UEFA increased the number of teams to 16 to make the Euros much easier to qualify for than the World Cup.
CONMEBOL is way overrated in terms of berths in the World Cup. Considering that CONMEBOL is consisting of just 10 teams, half of them maximum can qualify. And the teams are almost the same - Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay or Chile with the occasional appearance by Ecuador/Peru/Paraguay. CONCACAF is also suffering from this - Mexico, USA and Costa Rica are way above Honduras, Panama Trinidad and Tobago or Canada. But as we know the USA can't even qualify for Russia even if their lives depend on it.
Bottom line - OFC and CONMEBOL qualifiers should be droped in favor of joint Asia-Pacific and Americas qualifiers respectively. AFC-OFC would get 5.5 berths, while the Americas - 8 berths. CAF would get the additional Intercontinental play-off berth for possible 6-th entrant
Edited by ivaneurope on 15-11-2017 11:59
HOWEVER
No disrespect to Socceroos, but this kind of qualifying is and getting even worse.
Huge teams with big stars (from mostly Europe) missing out only because the "lesser" known parts of the soccer-world should have even more teams in the finals.
I always thought that those "extra" places from these should be in qualifying against the "better" known teams. Taking the 8 Euro teams should play against the likes of Honduras, Aussie, Kiwis and Peru then it would really be a strength to get to Russia.
The World Cup next time will have even more of the "Blueberry" nations getting shots to join the big party, while quality teams beat each other to join. Bloody shame.
In all honest a team from Honduras would simply get perhaps 1-2 win (if lucky) of 10 against the likes of Italy or Holland. Both of those beaten by Sweden. Which proven to have had a much harder road to Russia then the Socceroos
Yet it's the fourth trip to the finals for the Socceroos, but almost nothing to show on those trips.
Well some teams I guess joins the party only to be spoilers and also-runs.
Don't be too mad at me, since I really happy Australia made it and hoping even the Kiwis makes it too. Both hard fighting teams and the finals in Russia perhaps needs this kind of teams too. Always a shot to mess up the bigger nations plans during the first round, and then quietly return home.
Then the World Cup should be renamed Europe-South America Cup, because the tournament would be almost entirely of teams from Europe and South America. UEFA and CONMEBOL get too many quotas IMO - over half of the teams are from these two.
When the European Championships were consisting of only 8 teams it was easy for Bulgaria, Sweden or Belgium to qualify for the world cup as it gave more berths for European teams. Thus UEFA increased the number of teams to 16 to make the Euros much easier to qualify for than the World Cup.
CONMEBOL is way overrated in terms of berths in the World Cup. Considering that CONMEBOL is consisting of just 10 teams, half of them maximum can qualify. And the teams are almost the same - Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay or Chile with the occasional appearance by Ecuador/Peru/Paraguay. CONCACAF is also suffering from this - Mexico, USA and Costa Rica are way above Honduras, Panama Trinidad and Tobago or Canada. But as we know the USA can't even qualify for Russia even if their lives depend on it.
Bottom line - OFC and CONMEBOL qualifiers should be droped in favor of joint Asia-Pacific and Americas qualifiers respectively. AFC-OFC would get 5.5 berths, while the Americas - 8 berths. CAF would get the additional Intercontinental play-off berth for possible 6-th entrant
Europe and South America deserve to have more places because they have the best teams. When was the last none European/South American team to reach the semi finals without hosting the event?
Has it ever happened? I'm sure it has but only one i can think of off top of head is South Korea when they hosted the World Cup.
There are probably very few Quarter Finalist from outside Europe/South America.
Teams from Asia/Africa et al need to actually achieve something before they start crying for more places. The current proportion of teams from various continents is perfectly fair.
Well done Australia by the way. At least OzRocker will have someone to support now
"Ringo is exactly right", Shonak - 8 September 2016
FIFA kepps increasing the teams, so the big teams can be safe. When the WC was 24 teams the chance England, France or even Italy or West Germany not to qualify was high. So Blater added 8 more spots, so England can qualify and then do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. With WC 2026 going from 32 to the ludacrouus 48 teams (36 would have been more convenient) the chances of big teams missing out would be slim to none.
And let's not forget how in volleyball FIVB created the "safe" countries bullshit for the new Volleyball League of Nations, just because Italy finished last in D1 of the World League ad was set to move to lower division. The reason why such sports federations can't afford losing big teams is single - MONEY. So that's why they change the format or increase the teams.
Back to the World Cup - For only 10 teams in a single confederation, 5 is way too big. That's why FIFA should ditch North and South America have their separate qualifiers. This new single Americas qualifiers should have at least 8 berths. The Century Copa America was successful and it featured both CONCACAF and CONMEBOL teams, so why not give the a unified qualifying cycle? OFC should also be droped as they have only one credible team - New Zealand - who can be on par with most AFC teams. That's why Australia jumped ship to AFC in 2006
I don't understand how you can be a very well fed team full of the best players as in "Huge teams with big stars" : and still lose you qualifier, and yet deserve to come to the world cup.
To some extent I agree that the best teams should be there, but to say that all the teams outside of Europe and South America are just "also-rans" is very dismissive of their achievements at past World Cups. Yes, they haven't had a high rate of success but that's the beauty of the competition. Teams from all over the world have the chance to prove themselves on the biggest stage possible, and that's what often produces the best and most memorable moments from each tournament (unless your country wins, of course )
Looking at the qualifying positions of teams for the previous World Cup, I decided to set the benchmark of making the knockout phase as a measure of success. In this case I'd say the balance of spots is pretty good right now.
Uruguay and Mexico both had to win playoffs to make the final tournament and then went on to make the round of 16. Two of the four second placed teams in Europe (France and Greece) also progressed to the knockout phase.
Breaking it down by confederation
CAF 2/5
CONMEBOL 5/6
CONCACAF 3/4
UEFA 6/13
AFC 0/4
So the only real cause for concern was that no team from Asia was able to win a game. As bad as that sounds, both South Korea and Japan performed far better in 2010, while South Korea were unlucky not to progress in 2006 when Australia narrowly lost to eventual champions Italy in the round of 16.
CONMEBOL/CONCACAF combined for 8-9 places seems pretty fair to me, and why OFC isn't already incorporated into Asia for a full 5 places I really can't explain. Both seem to be really sensible ideas, which means FIFA and the confederations won't agree to it.
Has it ever happened? I'm sure it has but only one i can think of off top of head is South Korea when they hosted the World Cup.
There are probably very few Quarter Finalist from outside Europe/South America.
Well. at the 2014 World Cup there was Costa Rica, and Mexico should have gone through as well if it weren't for Arjen Robben.
At the 2010 World Cup, there was Ghana, who also should have gone through if it weren't for that Cape Town crossbar.
At the 2002 World Cup, there was Senegal as well as South Korea.
And this doesn't count the 'unfancied' European teams, such as Ukraine.
Disclaimer- Most of my posts are me thinking aloud. And most of what I think is rubbish.
Winner of a FIFA Prediction Fair Play Award (a phrase becoming increasingly ironic) "... Because he (me) has a sound tactical mind in general..." jandal7, at 9:30 am GMT on 12th May 2016
Has it ever happened? I'm sure it has but only one i can think of off top of head is South Korea when they hosted the World Cup.
There are probably very few Quarter Finalist from outside Europe/South America.
Well. at the 2014 World Cup there was Costa Rica, and Mexico should have gone through as well if it weren't for Arjen Robben.
At the 2010 World Cup, there was Ghana, who also should have gone through if it weren't for that Cape Town crossbar.
At the 2002 World Cup, there was Senegal as well as South Korea.
And this doesn't count the 'unfancied' European teams, such as Ukraine.
Well if Ghana should have been there if not that crossbar on the other hand Senegal would never went to QF if not that post shot... https://www.youtu...Tdx7GHuv3E
well I know its 15 years ago but I cant forget this, Anders Svensson my favorite player was so damn close to get us through. In the group he did this: https://www.youtu...R8Dnk7v4nQ
Sorry for a bit outside the subject post but could not let that Senegal game past undisturbed Edited by viking90 on 15-11-2017 19:21
People seem to forget that New Zealand in the 2010 World Cup drew all their 3 games against Italy, Paraguay and Honduras so they were no pushover. They were close to making the Round of 16.
A world cup isn't the same if the smaller teams aren't there to cause upsets. This is what it's all about.
And the final spot at this world cup is up for grabs in 7 hours!
People seem to forget that New Zealand in the 2010 World Cup drew all their 3 games against Italy, Paraguay and Honduras so they were no pushover. They were close to making the Round of 16.
A world cup isn't the same if the smaller teams aren't there to cause upsets. This is what it's all about.
And the final spot at this world cup is up for grabs in 7 hours!
Luis Leon Sanchez wrote:
People seem to forget that New Zealand in the 2010 World Cup drew all their 3 games against Italy, Paraguay and Honduras so they were no pushover. They were close to making the Round of 16.
Luis Leon Sanchez wrote:
People seem to forget that New Zealand in the 2010 World Cup drew all their 3 games against Italy, Paraguay and Honduras so they were no pushover. They were close to making the Round of 16.
Only undefeated team! (Spain lost to Switzerland)
This is one of my all-time favourite bits of sporting trivia. It was actually Slovakia rather than Honduras, though that might make it even more impressive.
Peru is the last team to qualify after 2-0 win over New Zealand. Honestly The Americas should have single qualifiers for 8-9 places and OFC to make joint qualifiers with Asia for 5 places. No intercontinental play-off bullshit.
Honestly the teams I'll miss most at the World Cup will be Ivory Coast and Ghana, beneath the class of Italy of course. Otherwise maybe the Ukraine and Chile, but no really big nations out this year besides the mentioned. Luckily the 4 more likeable teams qualified in the European Qualifiers.
Croatia14 wrote:
Honestly the teams I'll miss most at the World Cup will be Ivory Coast and Ghana, beneath the class of Italy of course. Otherwise maybe the Ukraine and Chile, but no really big nations out this year besides the mentioned. Luckily the 4 more likeable teams qualified in the European Qualifiers.
Would have been good to see Northern Ireland Qualify. Apparently there are less than 50 professional Northern Irish footballers so the fact that they even got this close to qualifying is an absolute miracle.
"Ringo is exactly right", Shonak - 8 September 2016
Croatia14 wrote:
Honestly the teams I'll miss most at the World Cup will be Ivory Coast and Ghana, beneath the class of Italy of course. Otherwise maybe the Ukraine and Chile, but no really big nations out this year besides the mentioned. Luckily the 4 more likeable teams qualified in the European Qualifiers.
Would have been good to see Northern Ireland Qualify. Apparently there are less than 50 professional Northern Irish footballers so the fact that they even got this close to qualifying is an absolute miracle.
IMO debuting nations are the most unpredictable teams in World Cup. It was a shocker when Senegal stunned the world by defeating France, who were THE DEFENDING champions, in their first ever match in the World Cup and the openning match of the 2002 World Cup. Ukraine also shocked in Germany '06 by progressing to the 1/4 finals where they were defeated by eventual champions Italy. But perhaps Croatia holds the greatest debut in the modern history of the World Cup - bronze medalists in their first ever participation since the breakup of Yugoslavia.
IMO Iceland should be looked with caution by the big teams. Prior to Brazil 2014 Iceland was 121st in the FIFA World Rankings and in the final Pot 6, but managed to beat teams that allegedly were levels above like Norway and Slovenia and went to the play-offs only to be defeated by Croatia. After that Iceland shocked even further by winning their Euro 2016 qualifying group ahead of Czech Republic, Turkey and the Netherlands (who bottled it to the max). Then they drew with Portugal and Hungary, before beating Austria and more famously England to reach the Last 8. Even though they were thrashed by the French, their performace in the recent years can't be overlooked and for a country with just 300k or so people this is pretty big deal.
Poor Kiwis, going through that same situation and knowing how the OFC qualifying feels I was really hoping they would make it. Still, it's nice to see Peru get through one of the toughest qualifying tests for the first time in over 30 years. Farfan leading his team through after many years reminds me quite a bit of the Shevchenko/Ukraine situation, no doubt they will be hoping for a similar outcome in Russia.
OZrocker wrote:
Poor Kiwis, going through that same situation and knowing how the OFC qualifying feels I was really hoping they would make it. Still, it's nice to see Peru get through one of the toughest qualifying tests for the first time in over 30 years. Farfan leading his team through after many years reminds me quite a bit of the Shevchenko/Ukraine situation, no doubt they will be hoping for a similar outcome in Russia.
Yeah it sucks, we do have a really hard intercontinental situation but what can you do Hudson has done some good work with them and probably had a much bigger desire and definitely chance compared when to Mexico hammered us last time. Would have loved prime Winston Reid to go to a WC as captain (though actually, 2022 may still fall under that banner.
But Peru deserved it more and were better on the day in Lima. Very happy for them and if a country who wasn't us had to go through I'm happy it was Peru, they've had a long wait and obviously means a hell of a lot to them. Public holidays, starting earthquakes, that kind of stuff
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