(NHC) 48 Team World Cup

**Onion** · 10-01-2017 07:38 AM

Good or bad thing ? Will Scotland manage to qualify ? Cynical move by greedy FIFA ?

**franck sauzee** · 10-01-2017 07:41 AM

Originally Posted by Onion

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Good or bad thing ? Will Scotland manage to qualify ? Cynical move by greedy FIFA ?

Bad thing for me. Dilutes the quality. Personally think some confederations already get too many qualifying spots as it is. CONCACAF is a total joke. Is impossible for USA and Mexico not to qualify playing against pub teams. South America also qualify 5 out of 9 teams. Granted they are all good quality but there is talk of combining the Americas and giving them more qualifying spots. Not for me. Keep it as it is for a few years longer until the rest of the world improves in quality

***Diclonius*** · 10-01-2017 07:43 AM

The world cup could be 150 teams and we'd still manage a "glorious failure", probably via drawing at Hampden against Moldova in a fight to see who finishes in the 3rd place playoff position.

**pacoluna** · 10-01-2017 08:00 AM

Cue the predictive boring "Scotland will never qualify anyway" comments

***Scouse Hibee*** · 10-01-2017 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by pacoluna

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Cue the predictive boring "Scotland will never qualify anyway" comments

I'll oblige.......Scotland still wouldn't manage to qualify anyway.

**Haymaker** · 10-01-2017 08:50 AM

It will dilute the competition sadly.

***surreyhibbie*** · 10-01-2017 08:52 AM

Originally Posted by Scouse Hibee

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I'll oblige.......Scotland still wouldn't manage to qualify anyway.

well, as we are currently ranked 50-something in the world I think, its quite possible we wouldn't...

***Carheenlea*** · 10-01-2017 08:57 AM

If it can help us qualify for a World Cup, then great, but other than that it doesn't bother me either way. Honestly couldn't tell you who won the last World Cup, or last years Euros.

***andrew70*** · 10-01-2017 09:04 AM

It's a good thing for me.

Would hopefully be the final nail in the coffin for the pointless exercise that is International football.

Out-dated, archaic and a waste of time.

As people have said it will dilute the tournament much like the previous Euros but the international scene has long been failing to hold any type of credibility.

***allezsauzee*** · 10-01-2017 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by andrew70

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It's a good thing for me.

Would hopefully be the final nail in the coffin for the pointless exercise that is International football.

Out-dated, archaic and a waste of time.

As people have said it will dilute the tournament much like the previous Euros but the international scene has long been failing to hold any type of credibility.

This

***BroxburnHibee*** · 10-01-2017 09:11 AM

It's all about money and politics. Nothing to do with quality of the tournament.

I fear Blatter's been replaced with another egomaniac.

**Glory Lurker** · 10-01-2017 09:57 AM

IMHO the Euros last summer was the worst international tournament I have ever watched, in no small part due to it having been expanded. As if Qatar won't be stupid enough, expansion of the World Cup will make it farcical.

Unlike some, I find all this sad, both in itself and as it being just another money-driven bloating of the sport on its way to inevitable death by greed.

***Mr White*** · 10-01-2017 10:33 AM

It's been voted through and will begin in 2026. I don't think it's a bad idea as there will be less group games and more knock out matches.

16 groups of 3, each team plays 2 matches and one team from each group is eliminated.

32 teams progress to the first knock out round. The eventual winners (and beaten finalists and semi finalists) still play 7 matches in the tournament as they do now.

***StevieC*** · 10-01-2017 10:51 AM

It's the groups of 3 that I'm worried about. There's even more chance of the two bottom teams finishing on same points, goal difference, goals scored and a draw when they'd played each other. How are they going to sort that out? Toss a coin??

***MKHIBEE*** · 10-01-2017 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by Glory Lurker

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IMHO the Euros last summer was the worst international tournament I have ever watched, in no small part due to it having been expanded. As if Qatar won't be stupid enough, expansion of the World Cup will make it farcical.

Unlike some, I find all this sad, both in itself and as it being just another money-driven bloating of the sport on its way to inevitable death by greed.

I tend to agree. it will become the international equivalent of the inter toto cup.

***easty*** · 10-01-2017 10:58 AM

I like watching football. If this means there will be more games to watch on TV over the summer, then that's fine by me.

**--------** · 10-01-2017 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by BroxburnHibee

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It's all about money and politics. Nothing to do with quality of the tournament.

I fear Blatter's been replaced with another egomaniac.

Money, money, money ... And looking after your buddies.

Qualifying is where the weaker teams should have a chance to make their mark.

The Finals should be the Finals, not three weeks of qualifying matches - riveting fixtures like Estonia v Venezuela and Kazakhstan v Mali - followed by much the same last 16 leading to much the same last 8 leading to the a very similar semi-final line-up as last time leading to two of what we all know are the top five or six teams in the world in the final.

And we all watch because it's the World Cup, and we all say how much we're enjoying it, even when Estonia only get past Venezuela 13-12 in a penalty shoot-out (with another dozen penalty-kicks disappearing into Row ZZ) after an abysmal 0-0 aet without a single direct shot on goal. And the whole crowd South Africans - with vuvuzelas.

Familiarity breeds contempt. We see enough of these second-rate prima donnas in the EPL every week. (The first-rate prima donnas are playing in Spain, Italy and Germany.)

***Mr White*** · 10-01-2017 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by StevieC

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It's the groups of 3 that I'm worried about. There's even more chance of the two bottom teams finishing on same points, goal difference, goals scored and a draw when they'd played each other. How are they going to sort that out? Toss a coin??

That's a fair point. If all 3 games in a group finish 1-1, or more likely 0-0 I wonder what the outcome would be. 3 way penalty shootout would be my preference

**Beefster** · 10-01-2017 11:32 AM

Having 48 teams in the final tournament is a nonsense. Money-making racket (more games = more TV money) and a sop to the FAs of countries who will keep Infantino in post next time around.

Same sort of horse**** that Blatter used to pull, just in a different guise.

***superfurryhibby*** · 10-01-2017 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by andrew70

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It's a good thing for me.

Would hopefully be the final nail in the coffin for the pointless exercise that is International football.

Out-dated, archaic and a waste of time.

As people have said it will dilute the tournament much like the previous Euros but the international scene has long been failing to hold any type of credibility.

If the players shared your view then international football would cease to exist. Big clubs would obviously prefer it if their employees lost their appetite to represent their countries.

As for archaic, out dated and a waste of time. Well, if we applied that analysis to Scottish football we would be as well as to ask 95% of our clubs to pack it in tomorrow?

Fortunately, football is much more than business to supporters and there is still a demand for international football from fans, even in wee diddy nations like Scotland.

As for an expanded world cup. Nonsense, it smacks of greed and money making on the part of FIFA.

**ruthven_raiders** · 10-01-2017 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by Mr White

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That's a fair point. If all 3 games in a group finish 1-1, or more likely 0-0 I wonder what the outcome would be. 3 way penalty shootout would be my preference

Think it's supposed to be a penalty shootout at the end of a game if it's a draw after 90mins

***Mr White*** · 10-01-2017 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by ruthven_raiders

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Think it's supposed to be a penalty shootout at the end of a game if it's a draw after 90mins

Ok. I quite like that idea actually. So more football, more countries and more penalty shootouts. Scotland might even qualify

***BroxburnHibee*** · 10-01-2017 12:23 PM

Originally Posted by Mr White

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Ok. I quite like that idea actually. So more football, more countries and more penalty shootouts. Scotland might even qualify

More often than not at the finals the group games were decent but the knockout were poor as teams got more defensive.

I fear this is what it will lead to.

I seem to remember one euro finals (sorry can't remember which) there was hardly a 0-0 until the knockout then 3 of the quarter finals went to penalties.

***Mr White*** · 10-01-2017 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by BroxburnHibee

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More often than not at the finals the group games were decent but the knockout were poor as teams got more defensive.

I fear this is what it will lead to.

I seem to remember one euro finals (sorry can't remember which) there was hardly a 0-0 until the knockout then 3 of the quarter finals went to penalties.

That's a fair point and it could go that way I suppose but the whole dynamic of the competition will be altered and some years tournaments will continue to be better than others. Overall I think this could work.

***KeithTheHibby*** · 10-01-2017 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by Mr White

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It's been voted through and will begin in 2026. I don't think it's a bad idea as there will be less group games and more knock out matches.

16 groups of 3, each team plays 2 matches and one team from each group is eliminated.

32 teams progress to the first knock out round. The eventual winners (and beaten finalists and semi finalists) still play 7 matches in the tournament as they do now.

See these groups of 3; Team 1 plays team 2. Team 2 plays team 3. Team 2 sits out last game as team 1 play team 3. Surely this game could be a carve up as both teams play for a result that puts them both through?

***Mr White*** · 10-01-2017 12:44 PM

Originally Posted by KeithTheHibby

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See these groups of 3; Team 1 plays team 2. Team 2 plays team 3. Team 2 sits out last game as team 1 play team 3. Surely this game could be a carve up as both teams play for a result that puts them both through?

Harder to manipulate if a draw leads to a penalty shootout perhaps?

***bod*** · 10-01-2017 01:29 PM

Europe only getting 3 more places

***SteveHFC*** · 10-01-2017 01:34 PM

Originally Posted by bod

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Europe only getting 3 more places

Hosts - 1
Europe - 16
Asia - 8
Africa - 8
Oceania - 2
North America - 6
South America - 7

Sorted

**--------** · 10-01-2017 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by Mr White

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That's a fair point. If all 3 games in a group finish 1-1, or more likely 0-0 I wonder what the outcome would be. 3 way penalty shootout would be my preference

Naw. Sudden death - with machetes.

This all sounds like something out of Dante's 'Inferno'. Can you imagine what it'll be like listening to guys like Tyldesley and Provan for all those games?