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Guest Howaythetoon

The atmosphere in the pubs could be awkward with a lot of fans wanting England to finish second :lol:

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Win group - potential quarter final against either Brazil or Mexico, semi against France, Argies, Uruguay or Portugal

Finish 2nd - potential quarter final against either Switzerland or Sweden, semi against Spain, Russia, Croatia or Denmark

 

Howay Belgium!

 

Imbalance of this is insane, no idea how you achieve it but it needs to be fixed somehow.

 

Was the same at the Euros, one side of the bracket was a complete joke and the other was utterly stacked.

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I don't see why you couldn't just have a draw after the group stage, the 8 group winners vs the 8 runners up.

 

The draw being 'unbalanced' isn't the problem, it's teams knowing their potential route and trying to manipulate it.

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I don't see why you couldn't just have a draw after the group stage, the 8 group winners vs the 8 runners up.

 

The draw being 'unbalanced' isn't the problem, it's teams knowing their potential route and trying to manipulate it.

 

All for that suggestion tbh :thup: Makes things even more exciting.

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Guest Howaythetoon

I don't see why you couldn't just have a draw after the group stage, the 8 group winners vs the 8 runners up.

 

The draw being 'unbalanced' isn't the problem, it's teams knowing their potential route and trying to manipulate it.

 

Agreed. I’m not well versed on the history of the WC so I don’t know if it’s always been this way or if teams were drawn from a pot like with the FA Cup after qualifying from a group.

 

For fairness and to help final games between those that have qualified not becoming a non event or a farce, however, perhaps drawing qualifiers from a hat is the best outcome?

 

England vs Belgium tomorrow is a game probably neither want to play because the deciding result will leave one team facing a tougher path towards the Final and the other an easier path. On paper anyway of course.

 

The biggest challenge in terms of fairness is that when a team has already qualified after two games, their final game can adversely or positively effect the rest of the group in ways that mean the other teams may have to rely on the team already qualified to put out a strong team and win or put out a weak team and lose or hope they play the game in the right spirit.

 

I can’t see a way around that, other than for each individual team to make sure their own fate rests in their own hands come the final game which means for all teams to go all out to win their first two games. That’d does not happen though, the conventional wisdom being that a team cannot afford to lose their first game when it should be they have to win their first game.

 

That would make for a better spectacle and a more competitive group stage of the WC.

 

When it expands to even more teams the quality will be diluted and we will see some more teams that will stink out the tournamnet, but if they get their on merit they deserve a shot at it I suppose.

 

What I’d like to see is a group of teams that are not high up in the rankings who are to all intents and purposes there to make up the numbers to use a cliche, be paired all in the same group to give such teams a chance. Teams like Panama for example.

 

One could argue why should such teams be given a leg up or a helping hand over better teams who will be paired against even better teams, but the WC should always also be about the development of the game and rewarding nations who have qualified on merit in the name of balance and fairness. like how top ranking or seeded teams are rewarded.

 

Otherwise all WC qualifying teams should be drawn into the actual WC groups by chance rather than seeding by way of drawing numbers like with the FA Cup 3rd round onwards. Just mix them all together and may the best teams qualify and win instead of may the best team win following favourable pre determined or fixed circumstances.

 

Or maybe not :lol:

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Guest Howaythetoon

A quick question to gauge opinion, should the winner get automatic passage into the next WC like it used to be? I’m happy that the winner has to qualify for the following tournament myself, but I don’t buy the original reason given that it’s unfair on them as they won’t have played a competitive match for 2 years or so. Getting to the WC should always be based on merit, although obviously the host nation or nations have to automatically qualify.

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A quick question to gauge opinion, should the winner get automatic passage into the next WC like it used to be? I’m happy that the winner has to qualify for the following tournament myself, but I don’t buy the original reason given that it’s unfair on them as they won’t have played a competitive match for 2 years or so. Getting to the WC should always be based on merit, although obviously the host nation or nations have to automatically qualify.

I

We always breeze through qualifying , bar some rare disasters so just let us qualify again

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