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footballcrazee
27 May 2008, 10:46 AM
Does anyone know why UEFA has bracketed the knockout stage so that the teams in group A and B are on one side and the teams in groups C and D are on the other? I have been trying to figure this out for a while, to no avail. It doesn't seem to make any sense, why set up rematches in the semifinals rather than the final and why keep the host teams on the same side of the draw? It actually prevents the Austrians from having a chance to play their semifinal in Vienna. Wouldn't it make more sense to have the semifinal matchups as A1/B2 vs. C1/D2 in Basel and B1/A2 vs D1/C2 in Vienna? To me, it makes more sense to do it that way to avoid rematches whenever possible and provide more balance to the knockout bracket, it'd also give the Austrians a shot to play the semis at home as an added benefit.

I remember there was a similar setup for the 2002 World Cup knockout stage, but there were travel concerns between Japan and South Korea at play so the bracketing made more sense for that tournament. I've been searching online but I can't seem to find any explanation for why UEFA set the Euro brackets up this way and I was wondering if anyone here could shed some light on this.
Lahmfan
28 May 2008, 12:29 PM
Does anyone know why UEFA has bracketed the knockout stage so that the teams in group A and B are on one side and the teams in groups C and D are on the other? I have been trying to figure this out for a while, to no avail.
I think that was a draw..
Lahmfan
28 May 2008, 12:33 PM
watch this..
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWNd7FsDheI
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWtIL58aMlc&feature=related
Phase4Nightmare
28 May 2008, 04:34 PM
Actually, the way the schedule has been put together Austria an Switzerland ARE guaranteed of a semi fnal in their own country (if they make it that far).
Lusankya
29 May 2008, 03:27 AM
If both teams advance to the semis they would play each other so how can both have a game in their home stadium?

Semis are:

SF1: Winner QF1 - Winner QF2
SF2: Winner QF3 - Winner QF4

but it should be

SF1: Winner QF1 - Winner QF3
SF2: Winner QF2 - Winner QF4
footballcrazee
29 May 2008, 10:40 AM
I saw the draw, but that was just to set up the particular groups. I'm talking about the format of the knockout stage:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_2008#Knockout_stage


Phase4Nightmare, look at the brackets. Austria has no chance of playing at home in the semifinal even if they win the first round grouping. The way the bracket is set up means that they would have to play in Switzerland. The bracket format confines the teams from Group A and B that advance to one side of the bracket and the teams that advance from C and D to the other. This is what I don't understand and what I think does not make any sense.
Lusankya
29 May 2008, 10:52 AM
I think it's the regeneration time. 2004 in the SFs one team had 3 days and the other team 5 days for regeneration. Now it will be 4 and 5 days for SF1 and 3 and 4 days for SF2.
It's still a very stupid schedule.

Btw: Maybe neither Austria nor Switzerland can play at home in the QF, that's another silly mistake. They should have put Austria into group C or D. Then they should held QF1/QF2 in Switzerland and QF3/QF4 in Austria.
MNAFETSC
29 May 2008, 11:07 AM
Actually, the way the schedule has been put together Austria an Switzerland ARE guaranteed of a semi fnal in their own country (if they make it that far).

I believe thats how FIFA did it in 2002 so SKorea would play in SKorea and Japan in Japan.
Oscar
29 May 2008, 04:04 PM
I hate this set up as well. :mad:
BocaFan
29 May 2008, 04:18 PM
So nobody has an answer? It does seem dumb! The only reason I can think of for UEFA to do this is that it increases the likelihood of Austria reaching the semifinal and for Switzerland to reach the final (since we knew Groups A and B would probably be the weakest and, hence, that half of the brackets will be "easier" to get through should either or both hosts make it out of the group-stage).
MNAFETSC
29 May 2008, 04:50 PM
So nobody has an answer? It does seem dumb! The only reason I can think of for UEFA to do this is that it increases the likelihood of Austria reaching the semifinal and for Switzerland to reach the final (since we knew Groups A and B would probably be the weakest and, hence, that half of the brackets will be "easier" to get through should either or both hosts make it out of the group-stage).

The answer is it keeps the host countries in their respective country. The same type of pairing happened in the 2002 WC so regardless of where they finished in their group Japan and Korea would be able to play in front of their home crowd. Euro 2000 didn't have this and though it didnt happen it was possible that had they both advanced Belgium could have plyae din Holland and Holland could have played in Belgium.
BocaFan
29 May 2008, 05:55 PM
The answer is it keeps the host countries in their respective country. The same type of pairing happened in the 2002 WC so regardless of where they finished in their group Japan and Korea would be able to play in front of their home crowd.

Except Euro 2008 isn't the same format as WC 2002. Look more closely (or read the first page of this thread). If Austria reach the semifinal, their match will definitely be played in Switzerland!

Personally I don't like either the Euro 2008 or WC 2002 format (but Euro 2008 is worse).

What it should be like is:

in Switzerland
A1 v B2
C1 v D2

in Austria
B1 v A2
D1 v C2

That way, we have no rematches in the semifinals and both AUS and SWI to play at home if they win their respective groups (and if they don't, they can't complain). The current format is 0 for 2 in those criteria.
Lusankya
29 May 2008, 05:59 PM
The reason of this format is the regeneration time I already mentioned above. Many teams complained about this during EURO 04.
MNAFETSC
29 May 2008, 06:44 PM
Except Euro 2008 isn't the same format as WC 2002. Look more closely (or read the first page of this thread). If Austria reach the semifinal, their match will definitely be played in Switzerland!

Personally I don't like either the Euro 2008 or WC 2002 format (but Euro 2008 is worse).

What it should be like is:

in Switzerland
A1 v B2
C1 v D2

in Austria
B1 v A2
D1 v C2

That way, we have no rematches in the semifinals and both AUS and SWI to play at home if they win their respective groups (and if they don't, they can't complain). The current format is 0 for 2 in those criteria.

I don't like the SFs rematches either but I understood why FIFA did it. In this case I don't know now. I guess a closer amount rest time as mentioned is probably the main reason then, and does make sense I guess.
BocaFan
29 May 2008, 07:04 PM
The reason of this format is the regeneration time I already mentioned above. Many teams complained about this during EURO 04.

Ah yes, missed your previous comment.

Whoa! That is a dumb reason for having such a stupid format!
Edgar
05 Jun 2008, 06:07 AM
Lusankya is right.

See here (http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-eurodraw&prov=reuters&type=lgns).

"The reason for the format change this year is to equalise the rest periods during the knockout stage. Complaints were made in previous competitions that some teams gained an unfair advantage of up to a day and a half’s more rest between games as the tournament progressed."