UEFA Can Just Hire Me To Be On Their Rules Committee
This is an uncomfortable position for anyone who supports the United States Men's National Team to be in, but I found myself today defending Costa Rica tooth and nail against a member of the UEFA first, UEFA only crowd.
The Ticos, ranked #21 in the world in the FIFA rankings for May have officially become the new pissing boys on the international boards of BBC's 606 Message Boards.
While it's a welcome change from the usual suspect - that being the United States MNT - it's in some ways worse because it's still a slight on the United States by way of defaming CONCACAF.
Casually scrolling through my favorite forum today (not, of course looking for another round of internet fisticuffs over the United States/England match because I would *never* do that), I came across the following:
"u cannot suggest that the world cup qualifying group in america is on par with the european ones. the USA has it so easssszzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyy. they only need the 3rd place to get to the world cup with such an easy group of teams in the first place. HOW CAN THE TOP 3 GET TO THE WORLD CUP whereas in europe ONLY 1! let me reiterate that ONLY 1 AUTOMATIC PLACE!!!!!
they shud strip the concafa or whatever its called(cos quite simply i dont care) 2 of their 3 places and given to european teams. that is what i call JUSTICE.
european teams such as wales and scotland have to battle so hard just to get into a play off 2nd spot whereas u get the usa strolling in the park into 3rd place or whatever suits them as it will be so easy for them."
The basic argument of the train wreck above is that Europe should get more spots in the World Cup and North America should get less.
It's odd that the most important scoreline in the ensuing discussion today wasn't England 2-United States 1, or even England 3-Colombia 2, it was Norway 1-Costa Rica 0 in Norway on May 24. The same idiot who claimed that CONCACAF should have all of its automatic qualifications taken away but one said: "hungary will probably thrash costa ric 8-0 in a game of FOOTBALL"
It's funny how Norway who only lost to Italy 2-1 in Italy and who beat Slovenia 3-0 barely squeaked by terrible (supposedly) Costa Rica.
CONCACAF is a scapegoat in the whole thing argument about deserving UEFA teams (Scotland is one, Wales is not). Europe's governing body chose to start qualifying late (due mostly to their regional tourney) and have one round instead of multiple ones.
Meanwhile CONCACAF, had knockout rounds to get all the minnows out leaving only the six of the eight best (poor Jamaica and Honduras - who are better than Panama or Trinidad & Tobago - got third in their respective second round group and are gone) to compete in a hexagonal qualifier.
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Europe could have easily said, "look, we're knocking 18 of the 50 of you out before the second group stage. You also-rans of Europe - the Albanias, the Kazakhstans, the Andorran, the Georgians, the Azeris, you're going to need to earn your spot in the last 24."
They could have taken the top 16 teams in Europe by the FIFA rankings, and given them byes. The 16 survivors of the 32 teams in the first knockout series would go on to meet up in a second round of 32. Two games a team in this round.
Instead of 8 brackets of 6 or 7 teams, it would be 8 brackets of four teams (kind of like the World Cup itself). Six matches a team in this round.
The best 24 records (the eight group winners and second places plus the 8 best third places) go on to the finals. Six groups of four. Round robin again. The top two teams from each qualify for the World Cup. Six matches in this round.
That's 12 so who makes up the 13th team to qualify from UEFA. A two-leg tie between the two best third place records. The luckiest lucky loser of all.
Voila! Currently the teams all play between 12 and 14 matches in the uneven eight qualifying groups. In this system they play somewhere between 12 and 18 (and that's only if the luckiest loser comes from that original play-in round).
---
And the Europeans can stop using the wind they're wasting on knocking Costa Rica who could most likely beat 30 of the 50 teams in Europe regularly to cheer on their sides in a more fair UEFA qualifying bracket.
Oh, by the way, when I say I found myself rooting for Costa Rica, I don't mean on Saturday when they play the USMNT. I would have to jump out a window. I'd actually rather see Guatemala qualify in third out of CONCACAF. :)
The Ticos, ranked #21 in the world in the FIFA rankings for May have officially become the new pissing boys on the international boards of BBC's 606 Message Boards.
While it's a welcome change from the usual suspect - that being the United States MNT - it's in some ways worse because it's still a slight on the United States by way of defaming CONCACAF.
Casually scrolling through my favorite forum today (not, of course looking for another round of internet fisticuffs over the United States/England match because I would *never* do that), I came across the following:
"u cannot suggest that the world cup qualifying group in america is on par with the european ones. the USA has it so easssszzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyy. they only need the 3rd place to get to the world cup with such an easy group of teams in the first place. HOW CAN THE TOP 3 GET TO THE WORLD CUP whereas in europe ONLY 1! let me reiterate that ONLY 1 AUTOMATIC PLACE!!!!!
they shud strip the concafa or whatever its called(cos quite simply i dont care) 2 of their 3 places and given to european teams. that is what i call JUSTICE.
european teams such as wales and scotland have to battle so hard just to get into a play off 2nd spot whereas u get the usa strolling in the park into 3rd place or whatever suits them as it will be so easy for them."
The basic argument of the train wreck above is that Europe should get more spots in the World Cup and North America should get less.
It's odd that the most important scoreline in the ensuing discussion today wasn't England 2-United States 1, or even England 3-Colombia 2, it was Norway 1-Costa Rica 0 in Norway on May 24. The same idiot who claimed that CONCACAF should have all of its automatic qualifications taken away but one said: "hungary will probably thrash costa ric 8-0 in a game of FOOTBALL"
It's funny how Norway who only lost to Italy 2-1 in Italy and who beat Slovenia 3-0 barely squeaked by terrible (supposedly) Costa Rica.
CONCACAF is a scapegoat in the whole thing argument about deserving UEFA teams (Scotland is one, Wales is not). Europe's governing body chose to start qualifying late (due mostly to their regional tourney) and have one round instead of multiple ones.
Meanwhile CONCACAF, had knockout rounds to get all the minnows out leaving only the six of the eight best (poor Jamaica and Honduras - who are better than Panama or Trinidad & Tobago - got third in their respective second round group and are gone) to compete in a hexagonal qualifier.
---
Europe could have easily said, "look, we're knocking 18 of the 50 of you out before the second group stage. You also-rans of Europe - the Albanias, the Kazakhstans, the Andorran, the Georgians, the Azeris, you're going to need to earn your spot in the last 24."
They could have taken the top 16 teams in Europe by the FIFA rankings, and given them byes. The 16 survivors of the 32 teams in the first knockout series would go on to meet up in a second round of 32. Two games a team in this round.
Instead of 8 brackets of 6 or 7 teams, it would be 8 brackets of four teams (kind of like the World Cup itself). Six matches a team in this round.
The best 24 records (the eight group winners and second places plus the 8 best third places) go on to the finals. Six groups of four. Round robin again. The top two teams from each qualify for the World Cup. Six matches in this round.
That's 12 so who makes up the 13th team to qualify from UEFA. A two-leg tie between the two best third place records. The luckiest lucky loser of all.
Voila! Currently the teams all play between 12 and 14 matches in the uneven eight qualifying groups. In this system they play somewhere between 12 and 18 (and that's only if the luckiest loser comes from that original play-in round).
---
And the Europeans can stop using the wind they're wasting on knocking Costa Rica who could most likely beat 30 of the 50 teams in Europe regularly to cheer on their sides in a more fair UEFA qualifying bracket.
Oh, by the way, when I say I found myself rooting for Costa Rica, I don't mean on Saturday when they play the USMNT. I would have to jump out a window. I'd actually rather see Guatemala qualify in third out of CONCACAF. :)
posted by incendiarymind at 3:18 PM
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