[SoccerScout]

Being that Australia of all nations has practically been handed a WC spot from now on isnt it time FIFA make a few worthy countries WC fixtures with no qualification needed?

I mean cmon. At least 3 nations come to mind that should be automatic. Any Nation that wins 3 championships should be guarenteed a spot. Brazil, German and Italy. Brazil has won 30% of all WC's, to have them not make it by some freak of nature like almost happened in 02 is wrong. They have shown they belong year after year. So has Germany and for the most part Italy (3 titles).

Besides them nobody should be guarenteed, like i said 3 titles should be the rule of thumb.

Maybe they can add a rule that if 5 WC's pass and you dont win again, then you must start qualifying again just to keep them honest.

[olafgb]

They definitely shouldn't. Besides that Australia is a special problem, which is not comparable to other nations, it also is no advantage to avoid qualifiers. The past often proved that those team, who just friendlies over the last two years before a tournament, had big trouble to switch the key to competition level. Also, soccer is no historical but a current business, and without exception: anyone, who does not survive the qualifiers, also does not deserve to play the tournament - regardless whether it's Brazil, Fiji, Germany or Andorra

[Crazy_Yank]

Originally posted by olafgb
They definitely shouldn't. Besides that Australia is a special problem, which is not comparable to other nations, it also is no advantage to avoid qualifiers. The past often proved that those team, who just friendlies over the last two years before a tournament, had big trouble to switch the key to competition level. Also, soccer is no historical but a current business, and without exception: anyone, who does not survive the qualifiers, also does not deserve to play the tournament - regardless whether it's Brazil, Fiji, Germany or Andorra

Amen. Can I get a witness?

[greatscott]

So technically there are only 31 teams in the World Cup, i mean, if your handed a spot your not really in the cup...

[pething101]

Originally posted by SoccerScout
Being that Australia of all nations has practically been handed a WC spot from now on isnt it time FIFA make a few worthy countries WC fixtures with no qualification needed?

I mean cmon. At least 3 nations come to mind that should be automatic. Any Nation that wins 3 championships should be guarenteed a spot. Brazil, German and Italy. Brazil has won 30% of all WC's, to have them not make it by some freak of nature like almost happened in 02 is wrong. They have shown they belong year after year. So has Germany and for the most part Italy (3 titles).

Besides them nobody should be guarenteed, like i said 3 titles should be the rule of thumb.

Maybe they can add a rule that if 5 WC's pass and you dont win again, then you must start qualifying again just to keep them honest.

No.

[Crazy_Yank]

Originally posted by greatscott
So technically there are only 31 teams in the World Cup, i mean, if your handed a spot your not really in the cup...

No, but only 31 teams qualify. FIFA may do some stupid things, but I can't see them awarding a cup to a nation who couldn't compete.

[Auriaprottu]

Originally posted by Crazy_Yank
No, but only 31 teams qualify. FIFA may do some stupid things, but I can't see them awarding a cup to a nation who couldn't compete.

They just did. Australia.

I do think nations ought to qualify. Only the host (and possibly the defending champion, but that's a thing of the past) should get automatic berths to the finals.

[The Double]

Didn't they remove that, the host with the auto-bid rule?

[Auriaprottu]

Originally posted by The Double
Didn't they remove that, the host with the auto-bid rule?

Naw, it was the defending champ with the auto-bid. Having a Cup without the host nation's participation would be a bad move.

[Luther_Gabriel]

I think the nations that were originally mentioned, and England, because they invented football, should automatically qualify. Why, because the World Cup would suck without these countries.