International Football (non-USMNT)

Infield Infidel

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64 actually kind of works with the present-day qualifying

27 Europe= top 3 each group
10 Africa= all group winners
6 CONCACAF= all teams in Hex
9 CONMEBOL= everyone
10 Asia= all teams in final group phase
2 Oceania=Final 2 in OFC cup

You do lose a lot of drama from qualifying
 

Seen The Light

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Infield Infidel said:
You do lose a lot of drama from qualifying
 
That would probably be the biggest issue - There would be so few chances over the previous 4 years to play meaningful games as a national team.  The more I think about it, just keep it 32 and tweak the number of teams from each region every 4 years based on prior results, etc.
 

nickandemmasuncle

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dirtynine said:
Yeah, the qualification issue wouldn't be that bad; as it is, usually a few decent European sides stay home each cycle (this time around, that's Denmark, the Czechs, and one of Sweden/Portugal).  This proposal simply moves the final round of qualifying to a global scope, so if you're good enough, you progress.  It probably even helps better-than-average Euro teams.  Imagine you're Denmark or the Czechs this time around.  ELO has them both ranked in the mid-20s in the world, which sounds fair to me.  To qualify out of Europe, they needed to finish top (or a strong second) in a group that included each other, plus Italy, plus some feisty Eastern European teams.  Under the 64/global system, either would likely be in a 4-team group with one better side (an Argentina, maybe) and two worse top 70-ish sides (let's say, Senegal and Uzbekistan).  A top-2 finish there gets them through.  In general, better teams (regardless of confederation) are given a fairer shot than they have now. 
 
The one flaw I can think of is simultaneous starts to end the groups, on a global scale - depending on the teams involved, the logistics could have games kicking off at crazy/nonsensical hours.
I think you could still realistically have simultaneous start times for the last round of games. In a four-team group, in the worst-case scenario, there are going to be at least two teams within 6-7 hours of each other in terms of time zones. If that happens, you could schedule those two teams to host simultaneous games on the last match day for their group, and at worst you could do something like a 2:30 pm kickoff in one place and an 8:30-9:30 pm kickoff in the other.

As far as eliminating the drama from qualifying, I don't think that will necessarily happen. I think that you'll just push the drama a little further down the table. Like in this cycle of UEFA qualifying, instead of wondering whether Ukraine is going to overtake England, the drama lies in whether Poland is going to overtake Montenegro to get into the final 64. (Maybe you're saying it eliminates the drama for the bigger national teams, which is probably true.)

Now that I think of it, what might be a bigger issue with the 64-team system is that it short-circuits FIFA's efforts to control the distribution of teams by continent in the WC. You could conceivably end up with a WC Finals tournament that featured 25 UEFA, 7 CONMEBOL teams, and no one else, for instance. I don't think that's likely, but I could envision a scenario with like 26 UEFA/CONMEBOL, 2-3 CONCACAF, 2 African, and 1 Asian team in the Finals tournament. I don't think that would be acceptable at all to FIFA, since you'd have large chunks of three continents whose fans weren't really emotionally invested in the tournament to any great degree.
 

dirtynine

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nickandemmasuncle said:
Now that I think of it, what might be a bigger issue with the 64-team system is that it short-circuits FIFA's efforts to control the distribution of teams by continent in the WC. You could conceivably end up with a WC Finals tournament that featured 25 UEFA, 7 CONMEBOL teams, and no one else, for instance. I don't think that's likely, but I could envision a scenario with like 26 UEFA/CONMEBOL, 2-3 CONCACAF, 2 African, and 1 Asian team in the Finals tournament. I don't think that would be acceptable at all to FIFA, since you'd have large chunks of three continents whose fans weren't really emotionally invested in the tournament to any great degree.
 
A very valid point; the Cup is a celebration of the global game, not necessarily a tournament pitting the very best teams in the world against each other.  In that sense I think you're right.  Maybe instead of keeping the pots weighted purely by merit (with no thought to confederation) on a global scale, there could be some region weight to the pot seeding. For instance if the 64 are comprised as suggested above:
 
27 Europe
10 Africa
6 CONCACAF
9 CONMEBOL
10 Asia
2 Oceania
 
Pot 1: Seeds (16) 
Highest-ranked 4 Europe 
Highest-ranked 4 CONMEBOL
Highest-ranked 3 Africa
Highest-ranked 3 Asia
Highest-ranked 2 CONCACAF
 
Pot 2: Next-highest-ranked global 16
Pot 3: Next-highest-ranked global 16
Pot 4: Next-highest-ranked global 16
 
Make a rule that all groups must contain representatives from 3 confederations.  
 
This bends things slightly towards regional representation (and away from straight merit-based qualification).  The group bosses in this scenario (using FIFA's rankings)
 

Spain
Germany
Belgium
Switzerland

Ivory Coast
Ghana
Algeria
USA 
Mexico
Argentina
Uruguay
Colombia
Brazil
Japan
Iran
Uzbekistan
 
So you wouldn't guarantee that every confederation would have perfect representation in the final 32, but you would make it more likely.  
 
By the way, here's that same seed list using better ELO rankings:
 


Spain
Germany
Netherlands
England

Ivory Coast 
Nigeria
Ghana
Brazil
Argentina
Uruguay
Colombia
USA
Mexico

Japan
Australia
Iran
 

bosox4283

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Diego Costa, the Brazil-born striker for Atletico Madrid and the squad's current leading scorer, has formally announced his decision to play for the Spanish National team. Costa obtained his dual-citizenship a few years ago, so he had the option to choose which country to represent. Costa played in two friendlies for Brazil, but Scolari and the Brazilian team did not call up Costa for any official matches. Furthermore, it seemed like Brazil had no interest in calling him up. Del Bosque swooped in, showed Costa some respect, and the rest is history.
 
What has surprised me about this story is the venom with which Scolari and the Brazilian National team are criticizing Costa. Scolari has accused Costa of turning his back on his country, and there are reports that Braziilan Football Association is working to take away Costa's Brazilian citizenship.
 
It is interesting to note that Scolari was the coach for Portugal when Pepe and Deco both chose to play for Portugal, where they were dual citizens, rather than Brazil, where they were born.
 
 

Zomp

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I dunno.  Spain and Brazil are probably the 2 best nations in the world at the moment.  They just got done with a highly competitive final, no matter how trivial the tournament was, and will both be the favorites for the World Cup.  When you add in that Costa is exactly what Spain need, a striker that can score, and what Brazil could use, an alternative to Fred, I can see why Brazil is pretty jerked off by it.
 

Infield Infidel

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Also it's tough for Brazil to get him in a "competitive match;" since they are hosting the World Cup, outside of the Confederations cup they haven't had a competitive senior match since the 2011 Copa America. Only friendlies, no qualifiers, and he's too old for Olympics unless they use one of their over-age spots. I'm not even sure if Olympics counts as a full cap. 
 

Mr. Wednesday

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The Olympics would not count as a full cap, I do not believe, because it is an age-group competition (albeit one that allows overage exemptions in the finals).
 
They would cap-tie someone without additional nationalities, and they would make a multiple-national have to file a one-time switch to represent another of his at-the-time nationalities.
 

Titans Bastard

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Mexico has called up an entirely domestic squad for their qualifiers against New Zealand.  No Gio, no Chicharito, no Guardado, no Moreno, etc.  Ten of the 23 players from from Club América, Herrera's old club.  I still refuse to believe that Mexico will lose to a very poor NZ team, but they continue to make it interesting...
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Sorry to clutter this thread on account of my poor google skills, but has anyone seen US television information for the two intercontinental playoff series coming up for the last two WC spots?  I was think the Mexico games might be on ESPN, but I cannot seem to find the information anywhere.  Is it bein sports for the other series?  
 

djhb20

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Here:
 
 
Univision Communications will air both of the Mexican men’s national teams final World Cup Qualifiers against New Zealand later this month, Multichannel reports. Mexico, a group favorite, was third in its group and will have the chance to play New Zealand in a play-off for World Cup qualification next week. Univision will televise the Nov. 13 match from Mexico City and the return match on November 20 in Wellington (New Zealand). ESPN, which has forged a partnership with Univision under which it has been televising the home matches of the Mexican men’s national team, will be televising both play-in matches in English, as will Watch ESPN.
 
 

Vinho Tinto

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We are already seeing New Zealand's plan of attack - Lure fouls for set pieces. 
 
Both teams looking nervy early. Mexico took an unnecessary foul that allowed NZ to pop a free kick in the area. Mexico just had an attack that the NZ keeper foolishly came off his line to defend. 
 

Vinho Tinto

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SoxFanInCali said:
Someone needs to teach that NZ keeper to stay on his line.
 
Yep. I literally have seen better keeper instincts in high school. Mexico has carried play and is rewarded with a goal. 1-0.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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SoxFanInCali said:
Yeah, even as much as this Mexico team has screwed up qualifying, I don't see them dropping the return leg 4-0.
 
Two wins out of ten in the last round of qualification -- to the two worst teams in the group with one requiring a late wonder goal -- and it now looks as though they are through.  
 
The intercontinental playoff would have been much more interesting if the draw had worked out the other way, with CONMEBOL v. CONCACAF and AFC v. Oceana instead -- Jordan v. New Zealand would have been great.
 

Titans Bastard

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DennyDoyle'sBoil said:
The intercontinental playoff would have been much more interesting if the draw had worked out the other way, with CONMEBOL v. CONCACAF and AFC v. Oceana instead -- Jordan v. New Zealand would have been great.
Jordan v NZ would have been more competitive. Unfortunately, it would have guaranteed a WC place to an obviously undeserving team.
 

dirtynine

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Big day in Europe as first legs of home-and-home qualifier playoffs commence.  
 
Portugal vs. Sweden
1st Leg: Lisbon, today, 2:45pm ET
2nd Leg: Stockholm, Nov. 19
 
Ukraine vs. France
1st Leg: Kiev, today, 2:45pm ET
2nd Leg: Paris, Nov. 19
 
Greece vs. Romania
1st Leg: Piraeus, today, 2:45pm ET
2nd Leg: Bucharest, Nov. 19
 
Iceland vs. Croatia
1st Leg: Reykjavik, today, 2:00pm ET
2nd Leg: Zagreb, Nov. 19
 
They all look good, but I'm most interested to watch Portugal/Sweden (CR7 vs. Ibra) and Iceland/Croatia (To me this is like when a 15 seed in the NCAA tourney - Iceland - upsets their first round high seed matchup, and then has to play a middling ACC team - Croatia - in the next round.)
 

Dummy Hoy

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I watched a bunch of Croatia because of my rooting interests in Group A...they played really uninspired football for most of the QR. I'm rooting like hell for Iceland, but I'm a bit worried we'll see Croatia wake up like our friendly neighbors to the south did.
 

DLew On Roids

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JayMags71 said:
Watching Portugal v Sweden. Nani is easily the biggest cunt on the field.
 
To be fair to all other players and clubs on the planet, this is the case on any field he's on.
 
It's nice to see that Raul Meireles still looks ridiculous.
 
Iceland has their own Rory Delapsson, who's sprinting all the way across the running track to take throws.  
 

JayMags71

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DLew On Roids said:
To be fair to all other players and clubs on the planet, this is the case on any field he's on.
Well, yeah. In this case, Dude's playing magnetball. At one point, he crowded CRonaldo away meant for CR7, and the ball bounced harmlessly out of bounds. Ronaldo glared at him with even more disgust than he usually regards hi teammates.
It's nice to see that Raul Meireles still looks ridiculous.
Its like he wandered off the set of a low-budget copy of The Road Warrior. At least He doesn't look Dirty like he did in his last month at Liverpool, and his time at Chelsea.
 

OCST

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Iceland had a man sent off just after the start of the second half but managed to hold Croatia to 0-0 in Rejkhyfjffxxx.
 
Too bad that the first leg was in Iceland.  I'd love to see them advance.
 

DLew On Roids

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They still have a chance.  Away goals count, so a scoring draw in Croatia would put them through.  Plus, I don't think Croatia has won anywhere in about nine months.
 
BTW, the biggest news affecting who might win the World Cup came from a friendly...Sami Khedira tore his ACL against Italy and may be out of the Finals.
 

Infield Infidel

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Nigeria and Ivory Coast both qualified, so the chances of the US getting into a Group of Death are going to be high.
 
It would be nice if Tunisia beat Cameroon tomorrow, or for us to get the Algeria/Burkina Faso winner in the group stage