Comments on: World Cup Group Play Tie-Breaking Rules

By: Bogdan

Bogdan — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 00:13:07 +0000

We should not resort to drawing of lots to determine who gets through. If all base stats are the same for two or more teams, decision should be based on fair play performance (red&yellow cards and number of fauls called), then on ball possession time and then on current FIFA ranking, if necessary. Don’t go random! Human error introduced by the referees and the fact that in the 21st century FIFA still can not resort to video review of the most critical moments in game (goals, off sides, penalties) introduces enough random factor.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 03:41:39 +0000

By: gigi

gigi — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 02:22:33 +0000

How many subs are you allowed per game????

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 00:57:44 +0000

Group G
If:
SUI – KOR; 0 – 0
FRA – TOG; 2 – 1
Then:
SUI: 5 pts, +2 GD
KOR: 5 pts, +1 GD, 3 GF
FRA: 5 pts, +1 GD, 3 GF
Switzerland advances, South Korea and France draw lots to determine who advances! That’s just wrong!

By: mark

mark — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 02:23:17 +0000

I don’t like this system. Drawing lots should never be used as a tiebreaker. There must be some way to decide based upon performance on the field, even if you have to compare shots on goal, time of possession, or fewest cards/fouls.

None of these would be great ways to determine which team advances, but certainly better than random chance, in my opinion.

By: The Federalism Project | Supreme Court Update

The Federalism Project | Supreme Court Update — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 01:47:34 +0000

[...] We’ve been puzzling out the various tie-breakers all week and here is what we’ve got: if the USA beats Ghana, and the adjacent tribuatary over the berm loses to or ties the naviagable-in-fact water, then the Roberts concurrence faces the Corps of Engineers in a winner-take-all penalty kickoff. Otherwise, the Scalia plurality holds. Sometimes. Sometimes, we’ll use the Stevens or Breyer dissent just for kicks. Not always. The Court has decided that we aren’t sure yet and might not be sure for some time. [...]

By: David Caldarelli

David Caldarelli — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 21:16:27 +0000

Absolutely. Head to head should be right after (a).

In addition to avoiding the awful case where two teams are tied in points, and the loser of their head-to-head goes through (obviously not fair), by using goal difference first, you encourage injury-prone desperation at all times during the match, even if one team has a comfortable lead and would like to rest their good players, or players recovering from injury.

The Denmark-Sweden case mentioned above is an interesting point (if it’s true that the head-head rule allowed that to happen), but Italy (who didn’t make it because of that tie) is ultimately responsible for their own fate – if they were deserving that year, they should have won more of their games, and not lost/tied to two other teams who then could advance by tying eachother.

And I am an Italy supporter, who was furious at the obvious collusion there! But head-head is still superior for tiebreaking.

David

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 21:05:08 +0000

I think the tiebreakers in group play are all fine and good.

What I get upset about is the penalty kicks overtime. There is no way that the World Cup Final, or any knockout stage match for that matter, should be decided on a shootout. I say play Golden Goal until 7AM if you have to….

By: Mircea

Mircea — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 22:45:30 +0000

There is no “fair” way of deciding who goes through. I think it’s better not to have the direct games decide.
Remember what happened in Euro 2004 when Denmark and Sweden needed a 2-2 draw to make sure they both go through, and guess what..it happened.
The exact same situation is avoided now in group G.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 21:28:14 +0000

Coyote: if the US wins and the Czechs lose, the US will have 4 points, the Czechs merely 3.

If the US wins and the Czechs tie, however it would come down to goal differential. Right now the US is -3 and the Czechs are +1. I do not see the US defeating Ghana 4-0.