FIFA World Cup 2022

[The Lusophone]

3 minutes ago, Szumi - A Polack said:

POLSKA!!!! So happy for the players. They barely survived, but they're finally in the Knockouts! 

So weird that they didn't even try to attack Argentina. They could've beaten them.

[Bobfoc]

10 minutes ago, Adam said:

Tunisia didn't qualify, but I do agree. You never know, but I'll be surprised if France and Argentina don't advance to the Quarters. 

Oh, you're right. I don't know how I confused Tunisia with Australia.

[Szumi]

Wojciech Szczesny's been the undisputed player of the tournament. Should absolutely be in the running for the Golden Ball, no matter how far Poland go.

[Colly]

1 hour ago, Matt said:

I think it's more mental that his name is MacAlister 

His brother is genuinely called Kevin.

[The Lusophone]

4 minutes ago, Colly said:

His brother is genuinely called Kevin.

And the other is called Francis. It's all very odd.

[Slogger]

From needing Grey Wiggle shithousery to beat Peru on pens to even qualify to the last 16 of the world cup...

If i'm dreaming don't wake me up 😍

[Szumi]

 

 

[gunnar hendershow]

Great day for Aussie and Polish fans who have been waiting quite awhile to look forward to the knockouts with a sense of "maybe it *could* happen".

[Baddar]

The Athletic are reporting that FIFA are considering adding penalty shoot outs to the group stages of the 2026 World Cup, which would help decide games in their 16 groups of 3 teams.

[Hobo]

14 minutes ago, Baddar said:

The Athletic are reporting that FIFA are considering adding penalty shoot outs to the group stages of the 2026 World Cup, which would help decide games in their 16 groups of 3 teams.

FIFA                  early seasons of MLS

            🤝

needless penalty shootouts

[gunnar hendershow]

1 hour ago, Baddar said:

The Athletic are reporting that FIFA are considering adding penalty shoot outs to the group stages of the 2026 World Cup, which would help decide games in their 16 groups of 3 teams.

This would cut into the risk of team collision in some cases. Will still feel rather pointless when we have 12 shootouts across the group stage matches.

I also think if you do it this way then the losing team should still get 1 point for a 90 minute draw and the winning team only 2 points for not winning it in the first 90 minutes.

[Colly]

I like the idea of following up horrible ideas with horribler ideas. Top FIFAing going on here.

[Bobfoc]

17 minutes ago, damhausen said:

I also think if you do it this way then the losing team should still get 1 point for a 90 minute draw and the winning team only 2 points for not winning it in the first 90 minutes.

They do that in the Papa Johns Trophy over here. I think it was an attempt to make the competition more interesting, but most fans still don't care about it.

[Adam]

15 minutes ago, Colly said:

I like the idea of following up horrible ideas with horribler ideas. Top FIFAing going on here.

Yeah, would it not be easier to just...not do 3 team groups?

Far too sensible.

[Gorka]

Step 1: More teams at the World Cup

Step 2: ?????

Step 3: Profit! 

[gunnar hendershow]

There's a lot written about the expansion but they said they didn't want to force players into any extra matches from the current format. So finalists still play 7 total matches instead of 8 which they would have with 4-team groups. Also, let's be honest, this gives every single match an exclusive time slot and every match will have some level of stakes to it - even if it is a matter of finishing 1st or 2nd in a group. TV networks will love both that and more knockout games, which always draw better audiences.

Regardless this is better than the 32-team "one-and-done" knockout format that would then have those winners join 16 seeded teams in the group stages. 

In the end I do expect come 2030 they'll rethink the format and make adjustments. I could see disgruntled fans being used as the cudgel that forces La Liga, etc. to back off their stance of no extra matches.

[Adam]

In reality, Infantino simply used "we'll get more nations from less represented confederations in to the finals" as his big gambit to be elected as President, and it obviously worked. That's the only real reason they are expanding. Not unlike Blatter promising to take the World Cup to Africa in order to get elected in 1998.

None of the proposals really work. It will dilute the quality of the tournament, render the Group Stage less important, mean teams go home after only two games played (or one in the one-and-done format Damshow mentioned) and lead to potential collusion in deciders ala West Germany v Austria in 1982.

Can't wait.

[METALMAN]

There’s just too much football. I know I’m like a broken record here: Scotland would be more likely to qualify for a 48 team World Cup but that wouldn’t make me any more in favour of a 48 team World Cup. Increasing the size by 50% makes the World Cup less exclusive and the exclusivity is one of the things that makes qualifying for the World Cup special.

[Bobfoc]

Sixteen European nations will qualify for the next World Cup, compared with thirteen now. It will only be slightly easier for European teams to get to the World Cup.

Contrast that with CONCACAF, which will have six automatic qualifiers, up from three, and AFC, which will have eight automatic qualifiers, up from four. I think one of the big goals of the new format is to ensure that teams with massive potential markets, such as USA and China, are either more likely or more or less guaranteed to qualify. 

Without wanting to be a snob about it, it does very much tilt the balance in favour of non-European nations that probably wouldn't have much hope of qualifying in the European section.

[Baddar]

Did look offside to me in the run up to the pen.

Jenas is talking bollocks moaning about it btw. Taylor went to the monitor to check not whether the player was offside, but if he thought it was a different phase of play by the time it reached Kramaric I'm assuming. It's the right call either way.