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I think that's quite a good idea, shouldnt be that much harder to arrange, the only probloem is that odd number of teams in the group means one team has to sit out the last round of matches and you get Germany Austria situations. If seeding was done properly then you would guess the best way of doing this is for the last games to be seed1 v seed 4 and seed 2 v seed 3Quote:
Originally Posted by crc
Absolute joke. Not enough quality just like the inflated World Cup. That should have been left as 24 teams but greed got the better of them. Garbage like Saudi Arabia at the WC demeans the tournament. What can they learn by getting hammered?
Same in this proposal in having one third of European countries at the finals.:rolleyes:
KOH
At least there is merit in spreading the gospel to far-flung blackspots of the world, it gives the chance to small countries to make a name for themselves- i'm talking not about saudi but further down the food chain in asia like bahrain or such, if they think there is no chance of ever getting to a world cup its very unlikely our game will ever prosper there.Quote:
Garbage like Saudi Arabia at the WC demeans the tournament
europe is a much more competitive entity than the world though, the results in qualifiers are becoming much less predictable(italy lithuania, and remember LATVIA got to the last euros anyway with greece blooding winning the thing!) showing that the gap is narrowing, whether that is the good teams deteriorating or others catching up is debatable and you could argue that once tournament play comes round the better teams will get their act together but that certainly didnt happen last euros. also the geographic nature of europe means that there is incomparably more rivalry in say a germany austria match than a saudi germany match.
also the qualifying phase would be shaved down appeasing clubs- or maybe scrap the qualifying altogether, i think there are 51 teams in UEFA so you could have 2 championships, (decided a la the eircom league!), with maybe the 8 quarter-fianlists getting 'promoted' from the second tier. realistically it would be a waste of time england, france etc being forced to qualify for a 24 team tourny. obviously a lot of fleshing out needs to be done but i must get back to work for now
I wholeheartedly agree that for the sake of football in Europe and the watchability of the tournament its a fairly crap idea.Quote:
Originally Posted by NY Hoop
However as it means we are at least twice as likely to qualify, I give it my complete support.
I guess thats the illogical fan in me!
Actually i said i cant remember 1 match THAT STICKS OUT in last Summers World Cup. France vs Brazil was alrite. France vs Italy had a few moments. T&T vs England you gotta be kidding me. Sweden vs England was alrite. There wasnt a real Stand out game that defines that world cup. I dont think any of those matches would make it onto a best of CD and thats what your looking at with a 24 team Euros.Quote:
Originally Posted by crc
Although I like the sound of Heineken Cup Style format. Could work with teams having to win more or less all their matches and goal difference being important they would be going all out.
Fair point. And ya i would take it but thats 16 club teams. But internationals is different.Quote:
Originally Posted by cavan_fan
surely the serbia argentina match is worthy of some mention. the football the argies played that day will certainly live long in my memory. cambiasso's goal????
of course argentina isnt in europe, alas
i dont see the logic in saying the fact that an extended euros would mean there is less chance of great games. this is very simple, if there are more games there is better chance of good games. maybe the overall standard of all the games might be worse(i'm not convinced). if you want some stand out games then it inherently follows that the more games there are the greater the likelihood of these fabled great games. you might have to sit through more rubbish but at least a pot of gold may await.
if anyone watched the slovenia serbia(again?) match from euro 2000 i'm sure they'd agree that the passion, skill and excitement was a joy to behold and was probably one of the best of that tournament. the chances of that match-up reoccuring is extremely unlikely.
or ireland,NI,scotland, england, wales matches, i.e. matches where national pride is really at stake (not like many WC games) is realistically a once in a blue moon event(at least for us at the moment). they are the matches that make the blood boil and given the density of countries in europe and our histories(russia v ukraine would be juicy) i think a 24 team event could throw up some real 'stand out' games where national pride is magnified. the ensuing rivalry would make the tournament much better as a whole and also the pre and post match banter would be unreal, adding to the whole aura of the competition to make it much more compelling viewing for fans and neutrals alike...
Then which matches from any of the last four World Cups ACTUALLY DO stand out? I think you'll find that personal circumstances, nostalgia and TV re-runs have a habit of making ordinary world cup matches seem like epics.Quote:
Originally Posted by Da-Mini
Personally I think Germany this year was better than any of Italia 90, USA 94, France 98 or Japan/Korea 02.
Fair enough point:DQuote:
Originally Posted by crc
would re-runs not make one realise that, in hindsight, a game was not as good as first thought? its a pity we dont get them here, what interest have canadians in sawcar, grrrr.Quote:
Originally Posted by crc
Hate those debates to be honest, the standard of jerseys was best at USA 94, ya but england werent knocked out of that one, true but asian world cups are always the best, but only when a south american team beats a european one the final and on ad nauseum
The standard of jerseys WAS the best at 94 though... Each one was quite revolutionary and a departure... Germany's! Wow! USA's stars all over the place, Pink and yellow ref jerseys, Jorge Campos, Cameroon's Mitre Jersey, the list goes on... (Zips up anorak and skulks quietly away)
A joke, while their at it why not include every European country!!!
You may be on to something there by including all UEFA countries, maybe reduce the game time to 45 minutes, ah feck it 30 is enough. Oh lets make the pitch smaller, how about 5 players on each team? That's it, let's make the Euro finals a five-a-side speed tourney. We go at it 7x24, non-stop action. Add some cheerleaders and mascots a great day out. An amazing TV event. I'm excited.:cool:
News just in - FIFA have devised a new, all in one, all encompassing Group for the next World Cup Qualifers - its called "The Earth".
Ireland have roughly 133 teams in their group. The fixtures list may be tight -but I've always fancied a trip to Sierra Leonne.