Several different media outlets are reporting that the US is considering organizing an "Alt" eight-team tournament to take place during the couple of weeks before the World Cup proper when teams play warm-up friendlies. Potential invitees could include: USA Italy Netherlands Chile Ecuador Cameroon Ivory Coast Ghana Algeria Ireland Scotland Turkey Greece Ukraine China loser of Australia/Honduras Could be interesting both competitively (could feature up to 11 teams which qualified for WC 2014), and as a media event (could get high ratings if USA & China are both included). Thoughts?
Personally not a fan of the idea and hope it doesn't happen. To me this is a cringeworthy combination of a bunch of promoters trying to make money and a silly dream from a few people butthurt that their country missed out on qualification (a completely normal thing to miss out, there are only 32 spots and you don't qualify every single time by playing poor football).
That's one way to look at it. The other way to look at it is that quite a few teams (Italy, Holland, Chile) are victims of FIFA's political machinations, which saw more places given to federations which perform miserably at World Cups (i.e. Asia and Africa) and thus taken away from federations which perform well (South America, Europe, CONCACAF), in exchange for political benefits (i.e. votes/$$$). And since many of these teams will not be at the World Cup, you have the chance to put together some very attractive matches between them. Given that Spain and England are both going to be in Pot Two for the WC draw, with Russia and Poland in Pot One, there's a chance the group stage of the WC is only going to have a couple of attractive matches. Done right, an "Alt" tournament could actually have more interesting matches than the group stage of the WC.
Of a 32 team World Cup the confederation representation reflects well on the proportion to the number of teams and the relative quality for UEFA but I would say a half place for CONMEBOL and a half place to OFC at the expense of CONCACAF. We are at the height of professionalism in this sport and if you don't win enough games there are always teams that will overtake you or come close (this happens every qualifying cycle anyway). Nothing new though as The Netherlands and Chile have been to as many World Cups as they have missed out on. They are only attractive matches on paper though and no more than a few awkward glorified friendly in a World Cup year. While in the World Cup I'd say there are only a handful of matches that won't be 'attractive' but even then they will have that special World Cup magic. But please change my view - I struggle to see how this proposition could have 'more interesting' matches than the group stage of the World Cup.
It would make money in the USA that is for sure. And the broadcasters who lost the rights to the World Cup (ESPN and Univision) would make money off of it too. I would invite other teams that could draw better crowds. Maybe Have El Salvador play games in D.C. and Carson California to fill in the seats. Honduras losing today also helps the attendance. They can draw well in Miami, California and New Jersey.
Qatar will probably want to be invited too so they get some extra matches against good opponents before they host.
Well, the idea of an alt-World Cup that also includes the less notable World Cup qualified teams would be interesting. For the latter, the alt-World Cup could make for excellent preparation. Some of them, like Iran, need good preparatory matches. For the teams that didn't qualify, it would be the chance to prove they are better than some of those who did.
Lol there's no way Italy, Chile or Holland would bring their main team to play for a meaningless cup. Can you imagine Buffon's face when asked if he'd like to play at the World Cup of losers. I read the original article and they wanted to do something similar to the NIT in College basketball.
Without FIFA sanction, no stars will show up, let alone nations. No one will watch it except Americans perhaps
Dude, Holland has been crap now for 6+ years. They wouldn't have qualified for this WC even if UEFA had 18 spots, and of course they failed (didn't even come close, really) to qualify for a recent 24-team Euro tournament.
Again, that close to the world cup, FIFA will never sanction it and without it, stars and countries won't show up. This isn't the MLB, NBA or NFL, this is FIFA and in this case, the USSF matters very little in the grand scheme of things
You continue to assume this would take place during the same time period as the World Cup. That is the only reason for FIFA not to want it.
why not! and if they can make better trophy than the one FIFA awards then it should become primary world cup
Maybe but they should have made the final in 2014 the way they were playing (and came 3rd). During qualifying for this world cup their loss to Bulgaria and Lloris' extra time blunder cost them a playoff spot which was pretty unlucky.
Are you for real? Where do I start, FIFA=Control freaks. They control everything they sanction, which is what you need to have your tournament somewhat matters. Hell, they get entire nations to change their laws for their tournaments. As soon as the Washington Post said that the USSF/SUM wanted to bring such tournament in the US, it was dead. FIFA decides where they go, and they always get the lion share of the money, which leaves very small room for negociation (if any). Sure it could happen, but FIFA is totally capable of organizing a "Europa League" type of tournament without the USSF and SUM. They would not only sanction it, but promote it much better than the USSF could ever hope to do and stars would actually show up for it. People thinking that a USSF/SUM can not only organize, promote and get FIFA seal on it truly have no clue how FIFA operates and how they've operated since their beginning. Seems that it needs to be emphasized again, in the FIFA bizzaro world, the USSF matters very little.
Because FIFA is not an explanation of why a series of exhibitions between teams not in the World Cup could not take place next year.
It would be a good way for teams to try out younger hungrier players. If you look at a team like Italy for instance they could bring players from the FIFA U20 World Cup team and UEFA U21 team. Sprinkle in a few old guys who may see this as a way back in like super Mario and Gio and I am sure the attendance and tv ratings would not suffer too much.
That's assuming that Sweden wouldn't have put up a better fight in the last qualifying match if it meant something. I also don't see how that Bulgaria loss was unlucky. The 4-nil loss to France was quite telling as well. 2014 was an aberration that kinda glossed over the reality of where the Netherlands were heading. And even in that tournament is was only the group-stage where they looked good. And I'm not hating - I love the Oranje. Just being real.
Italy and the Netherlands are both way above this and would bring total C squads if they came. The last 3 summers, Chile has won 2 Copa Americas and lost a Confederations Cup final. They aren't gonna be bothered bringing any good players either. So, what are you really left with? The US and China playing some friendlies. I mean, it could still happen but if it does, it's going to be about as prestigious of a tournament for international soccer as the ICC is for club soccer.