Bully Wee Villa Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 40 minutes ago, Nightmare said: Yep, 6 CONCACAF positions up for grabs for WC26 and I’m assuming going forwards after that. Mexico and the States could field a youth team and still qualify with ease. Asia with 8 guaranteed slots is going to see some utter shite get in as well. Working out who would have qualified if everyone finished exactly the same in 2026, out of curiosity. I'm assuming Canada, Mexico and USA will all qualify automatically but it makes no odds as they finished top three anyway. I've assumed Qatar, as reigning Asian Champions, would still have qualified if they hadn't been hosts and have given Scotland the edge over Ukraine based on qualifying performance. AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS: Europe Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Croatia, England, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, Wales, Scotland, Poland, North Macedonia Africa Senegal, Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Nigeria, Mali, Egypt Asia Qatar, Iran, South Korea, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Australia, Oman North/Central America and the Caribbean Canada, Mexico, USA, Costa Rica, Panama, Jamaica South America Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia Oceania New Zealand PLAY-OFFS (World Ranking in brackets) Semi-Finals Iraq (72) vs Solomon Islands (137) El Salvador (74) vs Honduras (82) Final Chile (28) vs lower ranked SF winner DR Congo (67) vs higher ranked SF winner. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Most likely Europe will use the same format as this time, but have two-legged play-off finals involving the 12 teams rather than semis and finals. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theroadlesstravelled Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 6 hours ago, craigkillie said: USA scraping qualification on goal difference this time around, I genuinely think they'd only have qualified for about 2 World Cups in my lifetime if they didn't have the easiest path to the tournament. Yet they regularly get to the knockout stages unlike us. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukDukGoose Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 12 hours ago, craigkillie said: USA scraping qualification on goal difference this time around, I genuinely think they'd only have qualified for about 2 World Cups in my lifetime if they didn't have the easiest path to the tournament. About twelve years or so ago I thought they'd have a team capable of going further in to the tournament now. Went backwards. Or others have caught up. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 12 minutes ago, Merkland Red said: About twelve years or so ago I thought they'd have a team capable of going further in to the tournament now. Went backwards. Or others have caught up. Aye, they were pretty good around sort of 2010-2014 and seemed like they were doing everything right in terms of developing players. But it's all gone stale, probably because they've focused too much on athleticism over actually being good at football. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bully Wee Villa Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Is the system based around college sport like US sports? Because I feel if you're only starting to play professionally at 21, you're at a massive disadvantage. Or is it possible for teenagers to break through and play in MLS? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GNU_Linux Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Is the system based around college sport like US sports? Because I feel if you're only starting to play professionally at 21, you're at a massive disadvantage. Or is it possible for teenagers to break through and play in MLS?The MLS has a draft from college but it's not unheard for players to opt out of college after only a season in the NCAA which would never happen in other sports.MLS teams have fairly deep youth systems unlike other US pro sports (baseball is the only one to come remotely close). MLS teams run B teams in the lower tiers with a new 3rd tier league called 'MLS Next Pro' that currently has 20 of the 30 MLS teams with the rest joining or moving from other leagues next season. The league is open to non-MLS teams & currently has Rochester New York as a member. For a recent example of a super young player breaking through Caden Clark made his pro debut in 2020 at 16 first with the Red Bulls reserve team in the USL Championship (2nd tier) then the first team. Got signed by RB Leipzig in 2021 but has remained in the MLS on loan. Obed Vargas made his pro debut with the Sounders last year at just 15 again going from reserve ream to first team. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bully Wee Villa Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Well, so much for that theory, then. Okay here is my second theory why they haven't really improved. The "marquee" system which allows them to sign two stars. Said stars are nearly always attacking talent to bring the crowd/TV companies/sponsors in. So, if you're a good American goalkeeper, defender or defensive midfielder, you have every chance of getting lots of games and developing. If you're an attacking midfielder, winger or striker, you'll have some fading megastar ahead of you and won't get a look-in. As a result, America is perfectly good at bringing through defensive talent, but rarely develops attacking stars. So they produce competent but dull teams who rarely have the required spark to unsettle the elite international teams. Is this theory bollocks, too? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derry Alli Posted April 1, 2022 Share Posted April 1, 2022 8 hours ago, craigkillie said: But it's all gone stale, probably because they've focused too much on athleticism over actually being good at football. See Scotland : 1990 - 2018. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted April 1, 2022 Share Posted April 1, 2022 8 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said: Well, so much for that theory, then. Okay here is my second theory why they haven't really improved. The "marquee" system which allows them to sign two stars. Said stars are nearly always attacking talent to bring the crowd/TV companies/sponsors in. So, if you're a good American goalkeeper, defender or defensive midfielder, you have every chance of getting lots of games and developing. If you're an attacking midfielder, winger or striker, you'll have some fading megastar ahead of you and won't get a look-in. As a result, America is perfectly good at bringing through defensive talent, but rarely develops attacking stars. So they produce competent but dull teams who rarely have the required spark to unsettle the elite international teams. Is this theory bollocks, too? 1) If you're talented enough then an ageing franchise player wouldn't stop you from playing - I'm sure that Pulisic wouldn't have struggled to break through at an MLS side. 2) If the issue was foreign signings crowding out talent then franchise restrictions would put the US in a far better position than most European countries, whose domestic leagues are a free for all and awash with foreign signings. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted April 1, 2022 Share Posted April 1, 2022 Surely the main issue is that “soccer” is about halfway down the top 10 in terms of popular sports in the US whereas it’s entrenched as the number 1 sport almost everywhere else, meaning that the top athletes in the US generally turn in to point guards and wide receivers rather than central midfielders? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latino Lover Posted April 1, 2022 Share Posted April 1, 2022 Really dull draw to the neutral imo. Brazil’s group almost identical to 2018 as is France’s. Germany Spain a standout. No obvious group of death although that never looked too likely. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theroadlesstravelled Posted April 1, 2022 Share Posted April 1, 2022 47 minutes ago, Latino Lover said: Really dull draw to the neutral imo. Brazil’s group almost identical to 2018 as is France’s. Germany Spain a standout. No obvious group of death although that never looked too likely. If the World Cup is about watching Equador v Senegal play out a 0-0 draw at 2am then I don’t know what is. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted April 2, 2022 Share Posted April 2, 2022 22 hours ago, Latino Lover said: Really dull draw to the neutral imo. Brazil’s group almost identical to 2018 as is France’s. Germany Spain a standout. No obvious group of death although that never looked too likely. Groups of death might become a thing of the past with the way the draw is seeded now. Prior to 2018, they just seeded the hosts + top 7 in the rankings, then everyone else was a free for all subject to the constraints that teams can’t face their own continental rivals/max two Europeans in each group. In theory you could have a seeded team and then the 8th, 9th and 10th ranked countries all in one group. Now that they do proper ranking based pots, it’s far less likely. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted April 2, 2022 Share Posted April 2, 2022 If they go to 48 entrants it'll get worse anyway: each group of 3 will contain 1 that would've previously made knockouts + 1 that would've gone out in groups + 1 that wouldn't have been there! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted April 2, 2022 Share Posted April 2, 2022 18 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said: If they go to 48 entrants it'll get worse anyway: each group of 3 will contain 1 that would've previously made knockouts + 1 that would've gone out in groups + 1 that wouldn't have been there! It’s been confirmed that this is happening I’m sure. I’m not opposed to expansion per se but the 3 team groups format is going to be absolutely horrific. The group stages at the moment are the most enjoyable part of the tournament but they’ll be unwatchable under this crap. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunning1874 Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 Even with the inevitable further dilution in quality it would cause, I'd honestly prefer a 64 team tournament to 48. Just as a 32 team Euros would be better than 24 despite over half the continent qualifying as it would mean not pissing about with third placed teams going through, at least it would allow the group stage to retain the same format. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 38 minutes ago, Dunning1874 said: Even with the inevitable further dilution in quality it would cause, I'd honestly prefer a 64 team tournament to 48. Just as a 32 team Euros would be better than 24 despite over half the continent qualifying as it would mean not pissing about with third placed teams going through, at least it would allow the group stage to retain the same format. I do agree with this. I honestly don’t have a massive issue with some more shite teams getting in. It gives more countries a chance to watch their team at a major tournament. I reckon where we might end up is a 32 team euros but then we have the nations league A which more closely resembles the old euros (albeit played over a period of months rather than as a summer tournament) Only thing with a 64 team World Cup is that it would be very difficult to fit within the current window, and any significant expansion to the length of the tournament is off the cards. If you have a month to fit in a 64 team tournament, I’d think the idea of an extra knockout round is off the cards. You’d need to fit the groups into the same time frame as we have just now and then only the group winners qualify for the last 16. You’d also be looking at a ridiculous 8 matches per day in the group stage. I think they could just about fit six unique time slots in (starting at 12pm local time, then going in 2 hour increments until the last game at 10pm local time) but some games would need to clash. Obviously in the last round of group matches it would be a non-issue. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bully Wee Villa Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 If you just have all the group matches played as double-headers then a 64 team tournament would only use up the same number of slots as a 48 team cup does. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spectre Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 I can't remember where I read it, but I'm I saw something about teams/players/regulations not wanting more than 7 games. I think the 48 team tournament is a bit crap, and whilst I think 64 teams would make qualification a little too easy for some teams (although probably better for Scotland), I would definitely prefer it to 48, although if it's only group winners that would qualify to limit it to 7 games, that would also be crap. The current format is definitely the best, 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.