I think that's the plan. Either do a separate thread for each knockout round, or just one thread encompassing all the knockout stages. Of course, this is jaykoz3's baby, and I'm not going to tell him how to raise his kid.
But the ones we lost are, according to FIFA, ranked #44 (Panama), #82 (Curaçao) and #88 (Haiti); Panama didn't do too poorly (1-0, 1-0, 2-0) and Curaçao picked up a point. Teams with those rankings are not normally expected to advance, even though a few do (see below). I'd say CONCACAF did at least what would be expected, while Africa overachieved. Teams in the final 32 include: #1 - 13 #15-18 #22-24 #26 #28-30 #32 (Canada) #36-37 (Sweden & Paraguay) #41 (Congo) #54 (South Africa) #61 (Bosnia) #64-65 (Cabo Verde & Ghana)
Worth noting that only one African team, Tunisia, finished in the bottom of their group, while 6 of 9 Asian teams did.
I'm back from my quick trip to Seattle for Egypt - Iran. First, I regret nothing about spending $180 on a ticket in the upper corner. I'm thrilled that I got to experience at least one World Cup game and everything around it. That said while I was experiencing it I asked myself "Do I regret not buying other tickets?" and the answer is no. The reality is that the prices were way more than I would pay for the games. Some of that is due to where teams ended up. In Seattle I had places to stay and no need for transportation beyond the cheap light rail so I could spend more on tickets, but the teams I could see (Iran, Egypt, Qatar, Bosnia, Belgium) weren't interesting enough to want to pay that much. I would have loved to see USA-Australia but (for obvious reasons) those prices were ever higher. My total cost for the World Cup was $256. Again I was lucky that I had a place to stay, Seattle was smart about their mass transit, and I had a credit card benefit that covered my flight. So it was $180 for the ticket, $18 for a three day rail pass, $50 for a souvenir, and $8 for a soda. Had Curacao or Cabo Verde or Japan or Colombia (etc.) ended up in Seattle I might have regretted not trying to get additional tickets. Or had the prices had been a bit lower I might have regretted not going to KC or SF or something where I'd have to get a hotel room. But the current level of ticket prices + additional costs sets these games at a level that just isn't worth it to me beyond seeing one game.
Preach !.. my tickets to see Colombia in Mexico where upwards of 400 usd each. Tickets for the Portugal game were upwards of 1500. I didn't go to that one. Unreasonably expensive.
Since the group stage is done, I'm going to present my "if I was a non-corrupt President of FIFA" scenario to reorganize federations. Oceania is a bit of an issue in many ways - including lack of nations and lack of competition. Previously I have said I would like to see an Island Football Confederations that included both Oceania and the Caribbean. They could have 2 guaranteed spots in the now expanded World Cup. This creates a couple of issues - one is travel, although they could always meet in the middle (eg California) for competitions. The other would be it reduces CONCACAF - I suppose that would that be CONCAF now - to just 10 teams. CONMEBOL has that number, and Oceania currently has 9 I think, so that is not a deal breaker. Instead, I've recently thought of an alternative solution: divide the AFC into two. The AFC currently consists of 5 subdivisions: West Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia. If I were the non-corrupt president, I would investigate putting the West, Central and South Asian subgroups into one confederation and East Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania into another confederation (an Asia-Pacific Island Confederation, if you will). This would make some sense given the expansive Asian geography and that the A-League, an AFC league, already has Oceania teams in it (Auckland, Wellington Phoenix), while the OFC Pro-League has an "Asian" team in it (South Melbourne). [edit: It is also worth noting there are already direct flights from several Oceania locations, Tahiti, Fiji, NZ, to important East and Southeast Asian hubs.]
Nah, they're much more connected to the Caribbean than the rest of South America. IIRC only one of them actually has a direct road link to Brazil?
I was at the Winter Olympics. You could only buy and sell through their website. If you resold, you lost 10% and they marked up it up 20% on the re-sale. So, if I bought a ticket for 100. I got 90 if it got resold. Someone bought it for 120. The negative is that the IOC gets the money. But honestly, rather them and families can go to a game than Ticketmaster/re-sellers taking advantage.
Personally never been but it is a common study abroad destination for my students, who all rave about the semester or year they spend there.
Since Hong Myung-bo just resigned, a crazy bit of trivia: in South Korea's entire history, only one national team coach has been in the job for an entire WC cycle. Paulo Bento coached the team for the full 2022 cycle, but no one else has lasted 3 years.
I am glad you had a good time. I did too. Like you I had somewhere to stay in Seattle (my daughter lives there) but unlike you I spent bucketloads more on tickets because I went premium. Like you I don’t regret not going to more games but immensely enjoyed the one I got to. Also like you I will look forward to be back at the Rapids games when this all ends!