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World Cup qualifiers - Qatar 2022


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1 hour ago, VincentGuerin said:

A 64-team World Cup would be a b*****d of a wallchart.

It's all quite sad, really. I'd go back to 16 teams. That's men from the boys stuff. Proper World Cups.

I like that, but let's not f**k about and make it 8 teams. 3 from Europe, 2 from S America and one each from Asia, Africa and North America/Oceania.

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8 hours ago, Boaby Fisher said:

I like that, but let's not f**k about and make it 8 teams. 3 from Europe, 2 from S America and one each from Asia, Africa and North America/Oceania.

It's just a shame that World Cups are no longer majority games between good teams. Now, when the good teams get to play each other, they're knackered.

Basically, football is rubbish now.

16-team World Cup, 8-team Euros, knock-out continental competitions, please.

This stuff worked absolutely fine.

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Some talk of FIFA wanting to change the rules on how long the ball is in play (before the WC).

There's no direct quotes but corriere dello sport in Italy said Infantino confirmed that they want to lengthen the time the ball is in play.

Not sure what the the British associations in IFAB will think of that just before a WC in Qatar. 10 more minutes in the baking sun against Iran doesn't sound great. England play them at 4pm local time, Wales or Scotland potentially playing at 1pm).

Rule changes used to take effect on 1st June but that was changed to 1st July for last season . Not sure if it would affect the playoff games. UEFA's choice I think.

https://football-italia.net/fifa-considering-playing-time-rule-change-ahead-of-2022-world-cup/

Edit: FIFA have now said they have no intention to change the rules regarding the length of a match.

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12 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

Groups of 3 will be a dire format but maybe no more or less dire than 1934 or 1938 (which were knockout so half the teams sailed home after 1 game)... or 1950 (which had no Final)... or wacky 1954.

Hopefully it's set so the top seed plays in the first two games - much more likely then to have the last game being a decider with less chance of dodgy goings on.

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23 hours ago, true_rover said:

Hopefully it's set so the top seed plays in the first two games - much more likely then to have the last game being a decider with less chance of dodgy goings on.

Have fifa indicated how long the tournament is expected to last under this new format? Ignoring this year’s anomalous schedule, the format is usually 31 days, with 15-4-2-2-2-2-2-1-1 (group stage, last 16, rest days, QF, rest days, SF, rest days, bronze medal match, final)

 

I’d imagine fifa won’t be keen to extend the tournament much longer than that, so assuming that the same 16 days are needed for the last 16 onwards, no rest days are needed between the last 32 and last 16 or between the groups and last 32, and that you need 4 days for the last 32, that only leaves 11 days to cram 48 matches in. They’ll probably stick one extra day in (2018 started on a Thursday, a day earlier than usual, and had a rest day between the groups and last 16. Starting on the Thursday again allows for this).

 

So then the group stage is 4 games a day for 12 days. Groups A-D have their games on days 1, 5 and 9 respectively, etc.

 

4 games a day would continue into the last 32, and each quarter of the draw would still be playing on the “correct” day.

 

Then 2 games a day for the last 16 and QFs and 1 thereafter 

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Actually I’ve changed my mind. 64 team World Cup should scrap the groups altogether and do a double knockout system.

 

Round 1: 32 fixtures. Fully open draw no seeding or continental protections. All matches played to a finish with no draws possible. 32 winners to round 2A. 32 losers to round 2B.

 

Round 2A: 16 matches involving the 32 winners from round 1. Matches again played to a finish. 16 winners reach the knockout stages, 16 losers drop into round 3.

 

Round 2B: 16 matches involving the 32 losers from round 1. Matches again played to a finish. 16 winners go to round 3, 16 losers are eliminated.

 

Round 3: 16 matches involving the 16 losers from 2A and 16 winners from 2B (i.e., teams who won 1 of their first 2 matches). Winners go to the knockout stages and the losers are eliminated.

 

 

From there it’s just a straight 32 team knockout.

 

 

It’s a bit of a shame to be sending 16 teams home after 2 games but at least that way, the only teams going home after 2 games are those who lost their first two, and under the current format, game 3 for them is very likely a dead rubber anyway. Also means every single game would have something on the line. Round 1 teams are playing to have 2 bites at the cherry to get through, round 2A teams are playing to get extra rest before the knockouts, 2B/3 they’re fighting to stay in the competition.

 

The main complaint would come from the clubs who are unhappy that a team could theoretically play 8 games and also that all 8 have the possibility of going 120 minutes. To appease them, I’d propose the following:

 

- Games that don’t result in the loser being eliminated (rounds 1 and 2A), no extra time will be played, and if they’re drawn after 90 mins, it’s straight to penalties.

 

- 30 player squads 

 

- 7 substitutions can be made, but still only allowed to stop the game 3 teams. If it goes to extra time you can make a further 2 (with 1 extra stoppage allowed) 

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  • 1 month later...
1 hour ago, NorthernLights said:

Canada getting the traditional "World Cup bonus arguments" underway nice and early.

Canada-Panama match cancelled amid spiralling World Cup bonus dispute

I was hoping that nobody here would have noticed that.  Basically the CSA (Canadian Soccer Association) are still thinking as a small organization and the players are unhappy.  There is also the matter of some sort of contract with an organization called Canadian Soccer Business for commercial rights that nobody was aware of and seems to be a bit shady.  

The CSA are not competent

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Well, now's the time for players to put their foot (feet? feets?) down - history's taught them that if you wait 'til afterwards, you're getting hee-haw and the association will be picking out the gold-plated hot tubs.

Hope they get it sorted well before the tournament so they can have a good run at it.

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3 minutes ago, BFTD said:

Well, now's the time for players to put their foot (feet? feets?) down - history's taught them that if you wait 'til afterwards, you're getting hee-haw and the association will be picking out the gold-plated hot tubs.

Hope they get it sorted well before the tournament so they can have a good run at it.

Agreed.  At least the players are back in training in preparation for the nations league game later this week but some serious questions need to be answered about the terms of this deal with "Canadian Soccer Business" and why the CSA are claiming that they can't afford to increase bonus payments to the players.  If they have already spent or allocated the World Cup money they are incompetent, if they haven't and just don't want to give it to the players then they are corrupt.  Either way this does not look good on the CSA (who have a long track record of fucking things up)

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On 20/04/2022 at 08:47, Eednud said:

Brazil will play Argentina in Australia although local media has it as a friendly and not a replay of the game abandoned in September last year. Venue is the MCG on June 11.

Winner takes on a Celtgers select in the Angeball Final 

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