Jump to content

WORLD CUP PLAY-OFFS: the Scottish balls-up scenario. It couldn't happen, could it?!


nate

Recommended Posts

20 hours ago, craigkillie said:

That is ludicrously harsh on Africa, who should have more places, not less. It's miles stronger than North America or Asia, particularly in terms of depth.

Oceania definitely don't deserve an automatic spot either.

Africa seems to have one of the harshest qualifying formats too.  The second of three rounds sees all the big nations come in, and you get four team groups in which only one goes through.  Almost guaranteed that one "big" nation drops out there.  Then the final round is a straight two-leg playoff where only the winners go.  Seems incredibly harsh compared to other feds.  In Europe the pot 1 teams are almost guaranteed to go through, South America you have to really go some to drop out of that top 4, North America and Asia similar.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's their own choice in fairness, they could structure their qualifiers however they liked. The issue is that they should probably have at least an extra two spots, most likely by taking one each from Asia and North America, by far the two worst and most overrepresented continents.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

That's their own choice in fairness, they could structure their qualifiers however they liked. The issue is that they should probably have at least an extra two spots, most likely by taking one each from Asia and North America, by far the two worst and most overrepresented continents.

Yeah, absolutely.  It's CAF's doing, just always seems the most cut-throat and unfair.  Agree they should have more.  Maybe the intercontinental playoff part should be expanded slightly to more than just the four teams and make it more than just "will New Zealand make it this time?".  But if it's automatic spots, one each from Asia and North America would probably be the fairest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, forameus said:

Africa seems to have one of the harshest qualifying formats too.  The second of three rounds sees all the big nations come in, and you get four team groups in which only one goes through.  Almost guaranteed that one "big" nation drops out there.  Then the final round is a straight two-leg playoff where only the winners go.  Seems incredibly harsh compared to other feds.  In Europe the pot 1 teams are almost guaranteed to go through, South America you have to really go some to drop out of that top 4, North America and Asia similar.  

Match fixing is much easier to organise over a two-legged affair.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, craigkillie said:

That's their own choice in fairness, they could structure their qualifiers however they liked. The issue is that they should probably have at least an extra two spots, most likely by taking one each from Asia and North America, by far the two worst and most overrepresented continents.

True, but the confederations' representation has nothing to do with merit. Europe would surely have more places too if it was. It's one of the few things about FIFA's voting structure that works for me.

I don't mind there being a few more diddies. The tournament wouldn't be as interesting for me without Brazil playing North Korea or England against Trinidad & Tobago. These are the fixtures that cause me to start planning my days off to see them, and they rarely disappoint.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The draw itself - Have to be happy with it in that we have avoided Italy, Portugal and probably even throw Poland in there as well. It is still going to be very tough though. I have no idea what sort of side Ukraine are to be honest. The last game I saw of there's they were an absolute shambles against England. Unbeaten in qualifying though in a group containing France means they must have something about them. Hopefully a packed, noisy Hampden will give us the edge. I cant remember ever being this excited for a game of football! anyone any idea when tickets will be available to supporters club members? relatively soon or will it be into the new year?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Elgin Macca said:

The draw itself - Have to be happy with it in that we have avoided Italy, Portugal and probably even throw Poland in there as well. It is still going to be very tough though. I have no idea what sort of side Ukraine are to be honest. The last game I saw of there's they were an absolute shambles against England. Unbeaten in qualifying though in a group containing France means they must have something about them. Hopefully a packed, noisy Hampden will give us the edge. I cant remember ever being this excited for a game of football! anyone any idea when tickets will be available to supporters club members? relatively soon or will it be into the new year?

Ukraine are an enigma - unbeaten, but also without a win at home, or against group whipping boys Kazakhstan in two attempts. France also made heavy weather of that group until the very end, and were reportedly quite poor.

Slightly worrying that their two wins came on the road, I suppose, but we really don't belong at the the tournament if we can't get past them, and they'll rightfully feel the same about us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 28/11/2021 at 08:32, Donathan said:

Not remotely true at all. Read up on how the NFL playoffs work. They’re played on four consecutive weekends in January/February and in each case, the highest surviving seeds play at home to the lowest surviving seeds. 

Are the play offs every 4 days now? Read up on them and get back to me.

Also find examples in baseball and basketball about teams having to go away for game against an unknown opponent with 4-5 days notice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Elgin Macca said:

The draw itself - Have to be happy with it in that we have avoided Italy, Portugal and probably even throw Poland in there as well. It is still going to be very tough though. I have no idea what sort of side Ukraine are to be honest. The last game I saw of there's they were an absolute shambles against England. Unbeaten in qualifying though in a group containing France means they must have something about them. Hopefully a packed, noisy Hampden will give us the edge. I cant remember ever being this excited for a game of football! anyone any idea when tickets will be available to supporters club members? relatively soon or will it be into the new year?

Not sure about the tickets but it'll be interesting to see if the SFA stick with the sensible pricing structure or go baws oot and charge us 50 quid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, RobbieD said:

Are the play offs every 4 days now? Read up on them and get back to me.

Also find examples in baseball and basketball about teams having to go away for game against an unknown opponent with 4-5 days notice.

They play every week in the NFL. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, RobbieD said:

Are the play offs every 4 days now? Read up on them and get back to me.

Also find examples in baseball and basketball about teams having to go away for game against an unknown opponent with 4-5 days notice.

I'm no really sure what your point is here, because 

a) that's exactly what is happening in the play-offs already, the tie venue and teams won't be settled until after the first game

B) it happens every single year in the NFL and NBA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...