Comments on: A World Cup of Europe

By: tjlyerly

tjlyerly — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 00:06:19 +0000

Despite how poorly the US played in this world cup, I think everyone is forgetting that the US qualified above Mexico in WC qualifying in the region – and has consistently beaten Mexico over the past 10 years. The US holds a 7-1-2 record against Mexico since the year 2000. I feel comfortable saying the US is a better team than Mexico. Although that would be difficult to determine if your first experience in watching the US has been in competitions held in Europe – which has always been a mental block for US teams for some reason.

I personally would like to see the WC opened up to 40 teams instead of the current 32 teams. That would give some of the deserving Europen teams more slots to qualify and would allow for a more robust round 1 qualifying format – and make the likelihood of the goal differential tie breaker more remote.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 06:31:26 +0000

As poorly as the U.S. did this tournament, and Costa Rica didn’t get a point, let’s not forget that T&T did tie Sweden, and played as well as England for most of the game. Also, T&T won a playoff against Bahrain, I think, in order to qualify, so if you want to take away a spot from a zone look at Asia. Nobody advanced from the group stage. And although South Korea beat Togo and came close to advancing, everyone in that group beat Togo. Sorry, CONCACAF is no Africa, Europe, or South America, but we are better than Asia at this point, or so I believe.

By: Féfé

Féfé — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 05:29:07 +0000

Mas o que querem os bifes, não sabem marcar penaltys, venham para a academia. Cambada de cepos.

By: unseenop

unseenop — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 03:02:18 +0000

I agree with the person who said US and Mexico are the only real CONCACAF teams. I think the third team should play a playoff against Oceana. Australia was looking really good this World Cup and its a shame that they had to go out the way they did. I guess we’ll find out in 2010 whether they are for real. As for why one would say CONCACAF instead of North America? The answer is obvious, CONCACAF includes Suriname which is not part of N. America

By: Pedro P

Pedro P — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 22:22:58 +0000

Sorry to all the ENG fans, but it’s just too much… :-)

http://futebolez.blogs.sapo.pt/59641.html

By: ETucker

ETucker — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 22:04:38 +0000

CONCACAF and CONMEBOL should just switch the Oceania playoff spot, so the 5th place Conmebol team gets automatic entry, and the 3rd place CONCACAF team has a playoff against Oceania.

However, judging the allocations based on talent would lead to 2.5 CONMEBOL teams (Argentina, Brazil and a playoff for the winner of Paraguay-Uruguay-Ecuador), 1.5 CONCACAF teams (Mexico and a playoff for the US-Costa Rica winner), a few African teams, no Asia or Oceania teams, and all Europe.

Unfortunately, this tournament already exists. It’s called the European championship.

By: Australia 2010. Maybe - FIFA World Cup 2006 - World Cup 2006 Blog

Australia 2010. Maybe - FIFA World Cup 2006 - World Cup 2006 Blog — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 21:11:05 +0000

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By: Dave Hamilton

Dave Hamilton — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 17:54:02 +0000

Translated, this Euro Cupo with higher stakes is B-O-R-I-N-G!

By: Shay

Shay — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 17:39:29 +0000

Too right about CONCACAF – If Australia had such an easy qualifying path every time it would have been a cakewalk for us, too. #3 in CONCACAF is worth the same as #25 in Europe. And don’t try to justify their place with world rankings – The USA is number 5 in the world only because they regularly get the chance to beat up on other inferior nations.

Minhoca – I don’t agree. Regional qualifying is important because the game needs to be developed beyond just Europe and South America, as long as not so many places are given to any confederation that it becomes an embarrassment.

Dirk – Que? Mexico the best quarterfinalist since when? Since they actually got INTO a quarterfinal? How about the teams that have not only played in quarterfinals but won them?

By: dirk

dirk — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 17:22:53 +0000

Germany-Argentina should have been a semi-final match. Italy-Ukraine (no offense to the Ukraine), but that wasn’t a QF match. I would like to have seen the Aussies in a different matchup; I think they had potential. Germany and France should now be playing the final.