Soundoff: Should FIFA Abandon World Cup Playoffs?

The playoffs are fine, I say keep them. Yes, Ireland were hard done by, but this isn’t the first or last time this will happen.
And even if you eliminate the playoffs you could still have the final group game which will decide who goes through or not. This isn’t american sports where you can play a best-of-7. Its simple win-you go on, lose-you go home, just like the final tournament itself.

Don’t forget the pressure from FIFA to ensure that the bigger countries (France, Portugal) advance over the smaller ones. I doubt that Blatter was telling the referee to favor those teams but I’m sure there was some indirect pressure.

There were just as many problems with Egypt and Algeria’s group games against one another as there were with the playoff.

From an Australian perspective, I think there’s something in our sporting psyche that believes in the rightness of final, epic, all or nothing encounters. Basically all of our domestic competitions in all sports have a finals or playoffs system and value winning the ‘grand final’ over winning the league.

You can also feel the difference in attitude between the last world cup, where we qualified over Uruguay in a dramatic penalty shoot out, to this one, where we qualified by finishing in the top two in a group of five with a couple of games to spare. The level of excitement is not as great, unfortunately.

???

These do or die situations will happen in plenty of the group stages anyway. Eliminating playoffs would mean completely restructuring the qualification systems for everyone except Africa…

You can ’see his point’? Sweet Baby Jesus and the Orphans, the man is an utter wanker and this has to be the most pitifiul garbage I have yet heard from him. Why not then do away with the WC semi finals too – are they not high pressure one off games? And what should we do about the final itself?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but will the group qualification stages not still have all-or-nothing matches sometimes, play offs or no play offs? If this monkey’s arsehole had sorted out a method of using the fourth official to quickly review incidents none of this would have happened. If he is so averse to this, perhaps he could explain the circumstances of Zidane’s sending off in the last WC final. He’s a clueless dickhead.

This idea retarded. Blatter is retarded. Please, Mr Blatter, disappear.

To be frankly honest, given Sepp’s nigh on hatred of Oceania, I suspect this has more to do with New Zealand’s qualification than anything to do with the big money maker France making it to the world cup unfairly.

Keep the qualifications. They only apply to people who fail to qualify (except for Oceania) the old fashioned way anyway and gives more hope to teams who aren’t the usual list of names that they could reach the World Cup. I mean, look at the happy faces on the Slovenians who given the big team bias among the FIFA types would probably have been Scotlanded in a different system.

Leave it alone, Sepp, if you really cared, you wouldn’t be resisting instant replay technology with your dying breath.

Playoffs are dramatic but I think they should all be one-legged neutral site matches.

Perhaps expand it to bring more countries in.

Have an 8 or 12 team tournament in a central location like Dubai with all the playoff teams like france, portugal, new zealand, uruguay, russia etc….

Ummm, scrap the playoffs, then who decides who goes? Bad idea…. seriously.

Many times the final group game is a one-off pressure match anyway, so its a BAD BAD BAD idea to remove the playoffs.

Somebody give Blatter a brain

It seems to me that are distinct contexts and approaches to the playoffs.

First: the Egypt x Algeria playoff was a clear abnormality which could not be solved other way (flip a coin?). Do you remember World Cup 1992, when they had to perform a draw between Ireland and Netherlands? Same context here, i believe.

Second: the European playoffs are somehow recent both to World Cup and Euro qualifiers. Still using the WC1992 example, there were no European playoffs those days: some groups would qualify 1 or 2 teams from the round-robin qualifying stage. That was it.

Third: the intercontinental playoffs. CONCACAF x CONMEBOL and AFC x OFC (or other variations, like for WC2006). This is the heart of the discussion, IMHO.
CONCACAF has 3 or 4 places. CONMEBOL has 4 or 5 places. AFC has 4 or 5 places. OFC has 0 or 1 place.

In one hand, it seems to me that CONCACAF is (potentialy) over-represented.
On the other hand, qualifying directly 5 teams over 10 candidates would favour imensly CONMEBOL – as opposed to UEFA and CAF.
Having 1 direct spot to OFC is giving that spot to NZ for every world cup. It seems a bit unfair when strong European (just one: Ireland) , S.American (just one: Colombia), African(just one: Egypt) and even Asian (just one: S. Arabia) teams where left behind.

To be fair, the CONCACAF x CONMEBOL spot should be assigned to CAF and AFC and OFC should play one single qualification (technicaly, this is what Australia did by moving to AFC) with an extra spot:
CAF: 7 spots
AFC+OFC: 5 spots
CONCACAF: 3 spots
CONMEBOL: 4 spots
UEFA: 13 spots

Please remember that this has nothing to do with population (Asia would catch more spots) or number of nations (Europe, Asia and Africa would dominate).

This is my opinion, of course :)

regards

Egypt could have went through on away goals vs opponent as they scored in Algeria but yes you are right that this was really the only option.

The truth is Africa needs more spots. They have the most countries. Take a spot away from either CONCACAF or a few from UEFA. Slovenia/Slovakia/Greece/ Serbia/ Switzerland over Egypt? Over Tunisia? There is so many good teams in Africa…

There’s too much fuss about Thierry Henry’s hand ball, a swift “action” regarding Maradona Comments, but a total silence regarding the stoning of Algerian players.. yes they were stoned on their way to the hotel the day before the match against Egypt!! Now instead of stepping down and leave the job to more competent person, Mr Blatter choose to blame the whole issue on something that is part of the game itself! Playoffs! I say piss off

A lot of it though is due to the Sore-Fucking-Generation we live in, from Al Gore whining like a Baby when he didn’t win the 2000 election forcing the US into a riduculous recount that supported the original results, despite the whole moronic “Chad” theory the Democrats were adovocating.

Now when things don’t go right, the knee-jerk reaction is to whine. In football where you have an Authoritarian President in power, there shouldn’t even be a debate about this.

The minute Ireland wanted to be the 33rd Country, Costa Rica came out of the woodworks with allegations that Uruguay bribed the referee. Ridiculous on so many levels because the Uruguayan Football federation is one of the poorest in CONMEBOL.

The problem with this Henry Controversy stems from the incompetant presidency of Sepp Blatter. Why even say you’ll “look into the controversy” when you know first hand FIFA won’t do anything about it? Amazing. This guy doesn’t even think before he speaks especially on such a touchy matter. FIFA should simply ban Henry for all group matches and put the matter behind them, as for Ireland, Costa Rica and Egypt, tough shit, welcome to Football, somethings are fair some aren’t? You think the English loved that Maradona scored a goal with a hand in the 86 World Cup?

Doing away with the playoffs makes sense, but what would make even better sense is analyzing the allocations of World Cup Berths… for example why does Africa deserve 6 spots when no African Team has ever reached a semi-final? The same thing can be said about the CONCACAF, no CONCACAF team has ever reached the semi-finals and yet they get 3 spots??? CONMEBOL has given the World 9 World Cup winners and have to make do with a paltry 4 & 1/2 spots. FIFA also continues to reward UEFA more slots that really open the debate about the systematic racism FIFA supports, what about the percentage of South American players that get imported into UEFA’s best teams? Shouldn’t that count for something? Give CONMEBOL 5 spots, take a way a spot from CONCACAF, give AFRICA 3 spots and have UEFA give up a spot and everyone will be happy.

Fernando you should be a little more objective. CONMEBOL has 4 1/2 spots with an option to 5 because it consists of only 10 countries. CONCACAF has 3 spots because it consits of about 35 countries. CONMEBOL gets more spots than any other in proportion to its number of countries.

Daniel, are you saying that just because CONCACAF has 35 countries they deserve more spots? Such World Cup Powerhouses as Puerto Rico, Dominicana, Cuba count? Two should be enough. The three that usually get in, US, Mexico and Costa Rica never did anything worthwhile in the World Cup. The same holds true of the African Nations. FIFA plays foot loose and fancy free with dishing out World Cup Berths at the expense of the CONMEBOL.

I find it embarrassing that CONMEBOL is run by a piece of slime like Nicolas Leoz, the worst CONMEBOL president of all time.

The World Cup is supposed to be the 32 best nations in the planet, not a charity event for countries that just discovered football 8 years ago. I know FIFA likes to sell those bullshit stories to emphasize the “growth” of the game, but the true football purist couldn’t care less about Japan, Algeria & Mexico’s classification to the World Cup.

I’ll say it now and I’ll say it again, SEPP BLATTER & NICOLAS LEOZ are flipsides of the same coins, they could care less about football, they view it as a business which continues to exploit the weaker associations.

i think that Ireland and Egypt should be in the WC 2010 As the 33ed and 34th teams in the WC this way it will make it even as it was 32 teams. It would be fair to both teams it is a loving sport that is loved and this would make the game of soccer much better if thses two teams were in WC 2010. Egypt is back to back champs of the African cup 06 and 08 so it is very important to the people of Egypt and the players that they play in the world stage in Africa showing ther african pride and Egyptian football skills. as for Ireland they are a hard working team and a hand ball to make a goal in WCQ stage is a really bad loss and any team would be in shock and want something done fair is fair and both teams were knocked out in an unfaair way. pleas Mr. Blatter make the right pick for the right draw and add these teams in they dont Deserve it they earned it

IMO, yes, playoffs should be abandoned. Cumulative points are as emotional as a single final playoff. Being Brazilian, our national championship is just thrilling this year, with 6 teams still battling for the Champion title in THE LAST MATCH, which will happen this next weekend. CBF, Brazil’s soccer authority, decided to abandon the playoff system 5 years ago, when unfair matches, like Ireland vs France, just started taking supporters out of stadia.
Cumulative points can be exciting and it’s fairer than playoffs.
And what about kiwis? They played beautifully, I rooted for them as if I were a kiwi myself! I just think that Oceania should merge with Asia Confederation and then the region would have the biggest confederation with qualyfication matches that would be a Would Cup itself.

Fernando, your argument is solid. However, the World Cup cannot be CONMEBOL party solely. It’s true that our 10 nations have more WC champions that any other confederation. But, FIFA now has more than 200 afiliated nations – and all of them do want to take part in the action, talented or not. If WC were to be fair, then FIFA should accept the 32 best ranked nations to the WC finals. That would be a true championship. But it’s unrealistic, it woul leave out of the action nations like Japan or Australia, which may not be the best talented, but they contribute enormously to the development of the game.
My bet is that FIFA will expand the current 32 berths to 36 or 40 soon.

Fernando’s argument is far from solid.

CONMEBOL should get more than 5 spots? there’s only 10 teams in the CONMEBOL.

CONMEBOL has ONE outstanding team, and one above-par team, everyone else is of USA-Costa Rica Caliber.

CONCACAF has Mexico, who has consistently getting out of the group-stage since ‘86. And they have reached the Semi-finals, twice. Albeit it’s been several WCs ago, but still shows that youre incorrect.

So besides Argetina/Brazil, who else from CONMEBOL makes it out of group stage on a regular basis? that’s right, NO ONE. so stop pretending that South America deserves more stops than what they have. if anything CONMEBOL should share their spots with central america, THEN it will be feasible to give CONMEBOL an extra spot.

So stop throwing your little bitch fit. South America is fairly represented in the world cup.

afterall, with the exception of Brazil/Argentina, South America has “never did anything worthwhile in the World Cup”

MoMONEY wrote: “The truth is Africa needs more spots. They have the most countries. Take a spot away from either CONCACAF or a few from UEFA. Slovenia/Slovakia/Greece/ Serbia/ Switzerland over Egypt? Over Tunisia? There is so many good teams in Africa…”

You’ve got to be kidding. CAF already has too many spots. Even though the number of CAF berths was increased from 3 to 5 in 1998, only one African team has ever made it to the 2nd round. UEFA, however, consistently sends 9-10 teams to the 2nd round. One spot should be taken from CAF, or, at the very least, turned into a playoff match between CAF and another confederation.

Ever since I was little I’ve always supported all the Latin American teams at the World Cup. You know, solidarity and all. But, Fernando, if there’s one thing that’s always bothered me is how some Colombians, Uruguayans, Ecuadorians, etc. like to piggyback on the success of Argentina/Brazil. As if by association with greatness they’re automatically a cut above all CONCACAF teams.

If anything, it can quite clearly be argued, on World Cup and Copa America performances, that Mexico is easily the third best team in América, after Brazil/Argentina. And that the top Central American countries (Honduras and Costa Rica) can evenly contend with the rest of CONMEBOL… Costa Rica was a single goal away from eliminating Uruguay… In 2001 CONCACAF was 2nd (Mexico) and 3rd (Honduras) at the CONMEBOL tournament.

“Mexico is easily the third best team in America after Brazil/Argentina?” Really??? Wow I must’ve missed all the World Cups that they won? If Mexico is comparable to Brazil/Argentina, why don’t they take a page from Australia and change Confederations? CONMEBOL is dying to have Mexico in its Confederation, Mexico likes to play in the Libertadores/Copa America but prefers easy qualification via CONCACAF.

I think your arguement is completely flat, seriously. That you support Mexico and wish that they achieve the same success that Brazil & Argentina have achieved is one thing but trust me on this one, nobody in Brazil & Argentina would espouse that ridiculous viewpoint that somehow Mexico is on the same wavelength as Brazil/Argentina.

Now just to show you that I’m not some pro-Uruguayan asshole, I will say this about Mexico, are they better than half the countries in the CONMEBOL? I would say yes… they got their act together years ago and began treating the tournament (World Cup) with a little more respect. If Mexico were in the CONMEBOL they’d be the 4th best team in the CONMEBOL right behind Brazil, Argentina & Uruguay (sorry there, still gotta show some blind alligiance to the greatest country in the World!).

Well that’s exactly what I’m saying! Not that Mexico is on the same level as Brazil and Argentina (Mexico isn’t winning the World Cup in the foreseeable future), but that they’re overall better than every other country in CONMEBOL (quality drops dramatically after Brazil and Argentina).

And Uruguay is unfortunately barely in the top half of CONMEBOL these days. Winning two World Cups back when there were barely any European teams playing in it doesn’t say anything about your quality now… Uruguay is the only former champion that is never considered as a candidate for winning another World Cup. To be fair, it’s unreasonable to expect a country of 3 million or so to consistently produce talent at the highest level. On talent production per capita, Uruguay is admirable.. they’re usually among the 3 smallest countries at the World Cup.

Fernando, if we follow your argument, CONMEBOL should have only two pots because the only two powers CONMEBOL has are Brazil and Argentina. The rest of CONMEBOL never gets far from eigth finals. They are lightweights. It is rigt that Uruguay is a former champion but it is about 60 years ago. Today Uruguay is not a serious candidate. If we follow your argument only Brazil and Argentina should represent CONMEBOL. But it is a world championship and all world continents have to be represented.

Julius has a good argument. Fifa represents more than 200 nations and the pots have to be given i proportion to the strength of the organizations. On the other hand if CONMEBOL would get more than 4 1/5 or 5 it would not be a championship because Venuezela and other weak teams of CONMEBOL are not real contenders. When you talk about the power of CONMEBOL you are talking about Brazil and Argentina. The rest of CONMEBOL are lightweighs and do not deserve to boast of power because they have powerful neighbours.

Fernando, one cannot take you seriously when you put false words on the mouth of somebody because no one has said that Mexico is “at the same level of Brazil/Argentina.” There are your own words pretending be the words of Jose. That is unfair. If you want respect you have to respect and not change what other say and accommodate it to your own wish.

so sad that someone as immature as Luke felt the need to use the offensive word retarded. ugh.