idea: "6 groups with 6 teams" - World cup format. Can it work?

[The-FIFA-kid]

Argentina vs Mexico 2-1


it would of then finished 1-1

[harkes6]

64 teams, straight elimination. teams are seeded based on qualifying...

MUWAHAHAHAHA ;)

[gold.field]

Have you ever heard of Italy vs Brazil in 1982 in the secong group stage? Italy vs North Korea in the first group stage in 1966? Spain vs Nigeria in 1998 in the group state. With this format, we can guarantee that most teams will not just score and then counterattack afterwards. there will be no meaningless matches. not to mention, it is more money, 1 extra match and more tv revenue. we will not have to worry about extra time and penalties because by the time a team gets to the semifinal , they will be firing on all cylinders as it is too far in the tournament to change your offensive strategy since it has been working. As for tactical loses, every seeded team with this format will want to perform to their best as they dont want to end up second and possibly meet 2 seeded teams in the next round.

KO games, unlike group matches, are by definition never meaningless.
North Korea vs Italy was only memorable because it was a lowly regarded team versus a top team.

Let's make a comparison: Italy-Germany 1970 or Italy-Brasil in 1982. Guess which match is more popular?

The point that group matches generate more offensive play has been disproven by the CL for the last 15 years. The reason you see more goals is because the discrepany between quality of teams is greater in group stages.

A Italy-France game will be tactical no matter when it's played. Even then, the urgency to equalize an early goal by one team is still stronger in a KO game.

[midknight]

But I admit fully, that having the host nation playing the opening game is boring, at least when it is a 10-1 favorite like in 2006.


You found Germany - Costa Rica boring ?

My gosh,you guys are a tough lot to please...

[Gibraldo]

You found Germany - Costa Rica boring ?

My gosh,you guys are a tough lot to please...

I never said, I was bored, but when you look at previous opening matches, you always had the "neutral" visitors in the stadium cheering to the outsiders.

But with a host nation in the opening match PLUS as a clear favorite, the outsiders chances are reduced to almost nill, with having an away match.

[MrEleganza]

I never said, I was bored,

Hi,

i am in big opposition to the current world cup format. Many matches are boring,


Yeah, I know, you didn't specifically say the opening match...

[Mel Brennan]

...If you want to argue parity, I say keep it at 32 and have eight spots per confed (in your 4 confed setup) (even though we both agree that 8 is too much for either Africa and (especially) Asia...

I'd have no problem with that, really. Again, to me, a Cup of Nations rests on two pillars...the above reflects both of those. 24, 32, either...but, again, I'm as uninterested in the 9th best team out of UEFA as I am the 9th best team out of the Americas...

[Sagy]

I'd have no problem with that, really. Again, to me, a Cup of Nations rests on two pillars...the above reflects both of those. 24, 32, either...but, again, I'm as uninterested in the 9th best team out of UEFA as I am the 9th best team out of the Americas...

You do realize that in 2002 two semi-finalist (Germany and Turkey) were UEFA 11th-15th. A similar occurrence occurred in 1998, when Croatia (also a semi-finalist) was UEFA 12th-15th.

If you look at the last 3 WCs there are at least ten teams that didn't finish in UEFA's top 8 and made it to the round of 16 in the WC.
1998, UEFA 11: 0 of 1 best 2nd in R16.
UEFA 12-15: 3 of 4 playoff teams in R16, 2 in 1/4 final.
2002, UEFA 11-15: 4 of 5 playoff teams in R16, 2 in 1/4 final.
2006, UEFA 10-11: 1 of 2 best 2nd in R16.
UEFA 12-14: 2 of 3 playoff teams in R16.For 2006, it is not unreasonable to claim that France (a finalist) with 5 wins and 5 draws in qualifiers, was UEFA's 9th best team in qualifiers (Germany plus the other 7 group winners ahead of them). The same can be said about Netherlands (1/2 finalist) and Denmark(1/4 finalist) in 1998 as well as England (1/4 finalist) and Poland in 2002.

Overall, these are not bad results for teams that finished out of the top 8 in UEFA qualifiers.