In June 2011, the first match in the qualification process
for this year’s tournament took place. 203 teams were vying for the 31 places
left up for grabs, after Brazil
as hosts had secured an automatic place. Let us play a little game, I will list
3 nations that have attempted to qualify and you must guess where they are
without using Google or Wikipedia at least to start with.
Tuvalu, Burundi, the Cook Islands.
I imagine that most of us would have had some difficulty
finding some of the participating nations on a map if required to do so, but
such is the lure of being in the finals tournament and the reason why it takes
so long.
Another interesting nugget is that size doesn't matter at
least in qualifying, India has never qualified and China has only ever
qualified once and then lost all 3 of its games, between them they have over
2.5 billion citizens whereas say Slovenia who qualified in 2010 has only 2
million.
The process finished in November 2013 after 620 matches had
been played and the draw to determine the 8 groups was held in December 2013.
There are 5 teams from Africa, 5 from S America, 4 from
Central and North America, 5 from Asia and Australasia with 13 countries from Europe rounding out the 32. I already hear the inevitable
question being asked, why the inequality, why so many for Europe ?
The most likely answer is money and although FIFA, the
governing body of world football is a non-profit organization, it does
reportedly have one billion dollars in a Swiss bank account which is a reserve according
to them. Reserve for what? Answers on a postcard can be sent to FIFA HQ in Zurich or posted in the
comments section below.
Unfortunately FIFA lurches from one bribery scandal to
another, but let us not get sidetracked.
Back to the format, in the first round, each team will play
3 games, one each against the other teams in their group, with there being 3
points for a win and 1 for a draw. If 2 teams finish level on points, the places will be determined by what is known as goal difference, i.e. how many goals scored for against goals conceded.
The top 2 sides from each group will proceed into
the last 16 which is a straight knockout, the equivalent for our American
readers of your sweet 16 in college basketball. We then have 8 teams left in
the quarter-finals (elite 8) which will be whittled down to 4 who will play in
the semi finals (final 4) and then 2 who will contest the final.
There is also a rather arcane game between the 2 losers of
the semi-finals to see who will finish 3rd, who cares, and even I
can not remember who finished 3rd 4 years ago
Now we know how it works the next post will preview groups A
and B.
One quick question: Will you be cutting the froggies a little more slack this time around ?
ReplyDeleteHi Saneguy, I don't know how to answer that, it is built in not to, but if they do better than 4 years ago, then I will at least be fair.
DeleteThere are 50 countries in Europe and only 15 countries in South America. That's why there are more countries from Europe in the World cup than there are form South America. As for other continents, as you pointed out they are not so into football, so more teams from there would just mean a lousier tournament.
ReplyDeleteFair comment, but they could just have a tournament for 24 teams, and reduce the numbers 8 from Europe 3 from Central/North America keep S America at 5 and then 4 each from Asia and Africa and maybe we would have an even better tournament.
DeleteThe implication is that fewer teams makes a better tournament, but I'm not sure that's true. I think that the idea of the tournament is to find the "best " football team in the world, and just like all the other world championships, it makes sense that it is dominated by the most qualified. Someone might think that "Europe" has an advantage since there are more teams from there, but you could easily say that each country in Europe is at a disadvantage since they have to scrape up as much talent as possible from a limited population. Countries like Wales have to work pretty hard to find a squad of professional players and the Faroe Islands have to make do with complete amateurs. The fact that European teams have won 10 times compared with the rest of the world (South America) 9 times implies that the quality of European football is the highest in the world, but a bigger competition allows more challengers (and new talent) to shine. Otherwise we could just say, let's have a tournament with only teams who have a realistic chance of winning and then we could cut out Asia, Australasia and North America.
DeleteI would just like to point out that despite the 10 European victories only 5 nations from Europe have won it Italy (4) Germany (3) with England (as hosts) France (as hosts) and Spain winning it once. Not a very wide distribution
Delete...and only 3 other teams from the rest of the world, all from South America - Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina. That's the point. It's not worthwhile complaining that there are too many European countries represented, unless you can suggest that this is leaving out someone else who was likely to give them a run for their money. If the European teams were reduced to 8, you would always have Italy, Spain, Germany, France and the Netherlands (who, although they have never won have put on some great showings) and then 45 countries would be fighting over 3 spots - does that sound fair?
DeleteIf you really did such a thing, you would effectively be making the European playoffs for the World Cup into almost as big a competition as the World Cup itself,
although, I have enjoyed the discussion, in the end FIFA will do whatever they want.
DeleteOne more question to display my ignorance: In the elimination rounds of the World Cup, if a match ends in a draw, do they keep playing until someone scores a goal - even if it takes six hours - like the real men do in the NHL?
ReplyDeleteOr is it just some brief extra period followed by wussy penalty kicks ?
30 Minutes extra time divided into 15 minute halves. If it is still tied then we go to penalties, 5 each,if it is still tied after 5 kicks each, The penalties become sudden death. It is one of the hardest things in the world to watch, grown men turning to jelly and the fans tearing their hearts out. Unbelievable tension, Not wussy. think of Scott Norwod for Buffalo against the Giants,the tension was unbearable and he buckled.
DeleteIf it ain't broke don't fix it.... but yeah I don't think anyone would miss the 3rd / 4th play-off if it went
ReplyDeleteAnd for anyone wanting to know more about that bastion of fair play known as FIFA, why not have a look at this Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlJEt2KU33I
ReplyDeleteFor your North American-born readers, this article may give a basic understanding of the teams participating in the World Cup in terms that they can understand:
ReplyDeletehttp://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/finding-the-nfl-doppelganger-for-all-32-world-cup-soccer-teams-155150065.html
Will anybody really be watching this tournament whilst the England vs Sri Lanka test matches are on? You could be missing the chance to see Liam Plunkett running in at full tilt!
ReplyDelete