Think about the past few World Cups. Qualified teams assemble the best teams they possibly can. Some players will have nagging injuries and will fight through those. Others may not make it at all due to injuries. And, there are some who are so burned out from club play that they are just showing up to keep the sponsors happy. Regrettably, it presents exhausted or uninterested players who go through the motions for almost half of their games in the World Cup, and then crank it up when it matters most. The World Cup showcases the most talented teams and determines who the best is for that period of time. My opinion is that players are played too much prior to the start of the World Cup and this has affected the quality of play. I suggest the qualification process be shortened for the best teams and taken to a global level for the fringe teams. The result would provide healthier teams for the World Cup and higher level of interest in the game by the world and the players.
For the best teams, FIFA should apply the regional tournament results for qualification. Teams that win or place in these tournaments should be granted World Cup qualification. From the regional tournaments and the host nation, the first 16 World Cup qualifiers would be filled as the following:
UEFA (6): 1st through 6th Place in the Euro Cup.
CONMEBOL (3): 1st through 3rd Place in Copa America.
AFC (2): 1st & 2nd Places in Asian Nations Cup.
CAF (2): 1st & 2nd Places in African Nations Cup.
CONCACAF (2): 1st & 2nd Places in Gold Cup.
Host Nation (1)
For the fringe teams, a second chance would be given. There would be 48 fringe teams battling for the remaining 16 slots. The suggested scenarios for the fringe teams to qualify are the following:
1. Two rounds of home and away series for teams that advanced in their regional tournaments, but lost before gaining qualification placement. FIFA would either rank teams to determine who plays who or arrange for an auto-playoff, such as the 7th place team from Euro 2008 will play the 8th place team from the Gold Cup. Round One would be comprised of lower ranking teams battling to advance against the higher ranked fringed team in Round Two. So, the higher ranked teams would have a Round One bye. I prefer the ranking situation since it leads to random match-ups. Imagine a Round One match up of Republic of Ireland vs. Bolivia and the winner taking on a team the likes of an England or a Nigeria. Has Bolivia ever played any of these teams?
2. Cross regional group qualification for the 48 fringe teams that advanced in their regional tournaments, but lost before gaining qualification placement. These teams would be arranged in 8 groups of 6 teams. Each team would play the other countries in home and away and the top two teams from each group would advance to the World Cup. This would resemble a UEFA qualification for World Cup. Imagine a qualifying group of Austria, Costa Rica, Iran, Paraguay, New Zealand and Senegal. How often does someone from Senegal travel to New Zealand?
Both scenarios provide more exposure for countries that do not get regularly a chance to compete with countries outside of its region. For scenario #1, it reduces the number of qualifiers and would not be as costly. For scenario #2, it would be more expensive and may be an equal number of qualifiers for some countries in today’s set-up. But, scenario #2 would bring qualification to a global scale and the revenues should surpass the costs.
The soonest FIFA could improve qualification would be in 2011 after the Euro 2012 qualifiers. These amendments could then be applied for the 2014 World Cup, but don’t hold your breath. Obviously for this to work, some changes would have to be made, such as increasing the number of countries in regional championships and the scheduling of regional tournaments. My suggestion is not to change the World Cup format of 32 teams, but to reroute the World Cup to a more enjoyable passage, which requires fewer repairs upon arrival.
My first thought on #1 is too much crazy stuff can happen in a single elimination tournament to make this viable. What happens if #48 Togo somehow upsets #17 Poland in the first round? UEFA would pitch a fit!
ReplyDeleteMy first thought on seeing #2 is the multiple very long flights required for playing in this qualification tournament. Imagine a group of New Zealand, Uzbekistan, Canada, Uruguay, Angola, and Scotland. Their combined travel would circle the equator ten times.
I also do not understand how revenues would surpass costs. Yes, it would do that mid-range teams in developed countries with huge stadiums. But what about the countries with 6000-seat stadiums?
I would do one of two things. One, for the teams that do not qualify through their confederations championship tournament, hold special confederation qualifying tournaments, similar to what is done to determine qualifying for the Olympics. Another idea is to turn your idea on its head, and do what CAF does: use the qualification for the confederation championship (African Nations Cup) as the vehicle to determine World Cup qualification.
The host nation's shouldn't qualify just because it's the host nation.
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