BrysonsBoys Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Already posted this as a comment in another thread but felt it maybe deserved its own thread. I watched the game against San Marino last night and must say had the most interesting debate with my dad ever about the WC qualification process. In my eyes these sorts of games benefit no one and that to avoid these sorts of nothing games FIFA should revise the qualification group selections in a way in which this is achieved. My argument revolved around how its unfair on teams such as San Marino who are never ever going to have a chance of qualifying in a group which contains teams in the top 50 (granted, every team they play will be better than them). Instead I suggested to my dad that FIFA should introduce one or two qualifying groups that contained the lowest ranked nations. This would give them a chance of actually qualifying for the WC, meaning they would attempt to raise their game in order to achieve qualification and have the glory of representing their nation at the finals, rather than finishing their qualifying group last with zero points etc. My dad's counter argument to this would be that only 1 or 2 teams would progress at the expense of others, and that this would be unfair as for these nations, getting thrashed by teams such as Spain and Germany is in their eyes as good as they'll get, and for them is like a cup final. My suggestion would deny the majority of teams this opportunity to say they have played against and swapped shirts with some of the best players in the world and got nothing in return (a point I agree with). I have played football as a youngster for a side who regularly lost 10+ nil and can confirm it is incredibly demoralising, and that when a fixture against a side who we deemed 'beatable' or even just 'drawable' we gave that extra 10% in order to try and get a result. Invariably we still lost but it was less embarrassing and we came away feeling proud that we'd tried and nearly got something out of it - a similar mentality that i'm sure most of these minnow nations also hold. Anyway, I found this an interesting point of debate and was just wandering what other people's views on something like this are; agree with mine or my dad's argument? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambitious Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 San Marino will never get to the World Cup finals, your dad is right - there highlight will be playing at Wembley for the players, for the fans it will be seeing England players! For a country their size and population they're doing a solid job - the country has the population of around 10-15% of the city of Derby! So, relatively doing an incredible job representing their country IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maydrakin Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 The Africa, Concacaf, Oceania and Asia groups have a ranked qualifying system. Only Europe and South America have everyone join in at the same time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastKentRam Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 San Marino will never get to the World Cup finals, your dad is right - there highlight will be playing at Wembley for the players, for the fans it will be seeing England players! For a country their size and population they're doing a solid job - the country has the population of around 10-15% of the city of Derby! So, relatively doing an incredible job representing their country IMO I dont think he was saying San Marino will qualify for the World Cup, but under a different system they would have a better opportunity to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G STAR RAM Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 I have a really revolutionary idea....scrap seeding all together. Let's be honest it's just UEFA and FIFA fixing qualifying so they can have the biggest teams qualify and make more money. If you are good enough to win the World Cup you should be able to beat any team at any time. Know it won't happen but it would potentially make it a lot more interesting for the smaller nations and also make these tedious qualifying matches more watchable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambitious Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 I dont think he was saying San Marino will qualify for the World Cup, but under a different system they would have a better opportunity to. You could put them in a group against any side in europe, and give them a 10 point advantage... they still won't qualify, just my opinion of course. The big games during the qualifying stage is what makes it worth it for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bris Vegas Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 The problem with seeds is they're based on a FIFA ranking system that is totally flawed.. I mean how the hell did France and Spain get paired together yet in one group the best teams are Greece and Bosnia, in another group Belgium and Croatia, and in another Switzerland and Norway... It makes no sense.. People need to realise that football and FIFA in general is a business.. Their aim is to make as much money as possible.. Having all of the countries taking part will always bring in more money.. I also don't think it will be that Demorilising for Malta, San Marino, Faroe Islands, Andorra, Leichtenstein, Luxembourg and Scotland getting to play at these big stadiums and against the best players in the world.. It must feel like a once in a lifetime opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butthead Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Europe needs a 2 tiered qualifying system, should have been brought in when we had the influx of all those newly formed countries after the break up of the Eastern Bloc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maydrakin Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 and Scotland Good one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midtableforever Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 I mean how the hell did France and Spain get paired together What is wrong with that? France has an absolutely **** national team for the last 10 years or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dx7778 Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 You could have a format like the AFC Challenge cup. Its a Good Little Initiative where all the Bottom ranked nations in the continent play a Qualifiers round with 6 teams out of 16 countries qualify for the final round, The winners of the cup get a direct entry to the AFC Cup which is equal to the UEFA Cup in Europe. This would give any country an outside chance to be part of a Major competition. World Cup qualifier criteria is absolute crap with only the usual countries getting qualifications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bris Vegas Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 What is wrong with that? France has an absolutely **** national team for the last 10 years or so. So **** they made the final of the WC? They've had far more success than England.. Yet for some reason it's ranked so that France is a 2nd seed side and Switzerland who have enjoyed major success at the majors are a 1st seeded side.. Oh and England are ranked 4th in the world.. More than a side that's recently won the Copa America and finished 4th at the WC.. FIFA and it's rankings are complete and utter nonsense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midtableforever Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 So **** they made the final of the WC? Yes they are crap. 2008,2010,2012. Agreed about FIFA's rankings though. How such a piss poor sides as Portugal and Russia can be 7 and 10 respectively is above me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bris Vegas Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Yes they are crap. 2008,2010,2012. Agreed about FIFA's rankings though. How such a piss poor sides as Portugal and Russia can be 7 and 10 respectively is above me. Erm, they at least qualified for 2008.. 2012 they made the 1/4 finals.. England didn't even make 2008, and only the last 16 in 2010 after failing to beat Algeria and the US.. In 2012 we reached the 1/4s, just as they did.. And Portugal made the semi final in 2006, the 1/4s in 2008 and 2010 and the semi final in 2012.. I don't understand your judgement on these countries? I don't understand overall how France and Spain can be paired together yet Greece and Bosnia are the best 2 teams in one group, and Switzerland and Norway are the best 2 teams in another group.. Meaning Greece and Switzerland were in pot A, yet France and Russia were in pot B.. I don't understand how that happened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex W Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 I believe if these countries are to be involved, and I think they should be, that there should be a tournament on a lesser scale when the WC takes place for these countries to actually play for something. It could be done just before or after the World Cup, and would atleast promote these countries actually playing football rather than just getting hammered every game. midtableforever, have you even watched Russia or Portugal? They've been relatively successful in recent years in atleast battling through group stages and then to the knockouts, far more so than ourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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