Board 8 > Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 - Topic 3

(+) Yeah! (+)

Morocco already ahead. What on earth was the Canadian defence thinking?

Sheep007 posted...

I don't think the gap in quality is all that big.

Qatar have been the only truly abject team in the tournament, and even that's been a massive underperformance from where they were a few years ago. We'll definitely get more worse teams on average, don't get me wrong, but I think the 3 team groups will make it more uncompetitive than 4 team groups would. 3 team groups will have very stark differences between the teams, compared to 4 team groups where almost every team faces another that's comparable in quality.

My biggest issue is that New Zealand will practically be guaranteed a spot in every World Cup for the foreseeable future.

3 team groups is def a bad idea

I think there will likely be 6 or 7 really poor sides in each tourny from here on out.

AFC and CONCACAF will have a pretty significant amount of teams now and there confederations aren't strong.

pezzicle posted...

Play 6 games a day or something then instead of 4. They have 16 sites for the 2026 tourny

That's just not practical at all. Even at 4 games a day the schedule is packed.

Belgium look more alive so far, that would've been a brilliant De Bruyne assist, but Mertens couldn't finish well.

paulg235 posted...

Morocco already ahead. What on earth was the Canadian defence thinking?

As a Canadian fan, there defense is crap. It's the worst aspect of their team, and is especially poor when Eustaquio isn't fit

Why, Mertens, why?
First good attack for us in three games, and you don't even shoot on goal.

And immediately penalty against us...
(rightly given)

Well offside first apparently, so uh, lucky escape again

It seemed very close and within that "how much of the arm counts" question that Argentina vs. Saudi Arabia started.

Luck has actually been on Belgium's side so far this tournament, impressively enough.

What a pass and what a goal.

They just showed it again and that was indeed within that. I thought leagues had begun not calling the offside in doubtful situations like that. I would be pissed as a Croatian lol.

ctesjbuvf posted...

It seemed very close and within that "how much of the arm counts" question that Argentina vs. Saudi Arabia started.

Luck has actually been on Belgium's side so far this tournament, impressively enough.

i hate that the arm counts. can't score with an arm

Yeah, I don't see the offside either.

Worst part is, even with all of that luck, we aren't doing great.

Yeah, that's an issue, and we've seen it several times now.

1 more Morocco goal and Croatia will need 2 to top the group.

I'm not paying much attention since I'm watching the other match so take this with a grain of salt, but Canada seems to have come into this match with a defeated attitude.

Yeah feels like Canada are sulking a bit.

Every time Morocco go forward you expect them to score. We could see a cricket score.

ctesjbuvf posted...

I'm not paying much attention since I'm watching the other match so take this with a grain of salt, but Canada seems to have come into this match with a defeated attitude.

to be fair, esutaquio really holds the midfield together and when he doesnt play it is very obvious that he isn't on the pitch

ctesjbuvf posted...

I'm not paying much attention since I'm watching the other match so take this with a grain of salt, but Canada seems to have come into this match with a defeated attitude.

Which is disappointing because they should have at least played for pride or a result here to give the fans something to look forward to in 4 years. As it stands, they're the second worst team in the tournament only ahead of Qatar and this does not bode well for 2026.

EDIT: And then Canada finally scores.

VAR is just creating more corruption in the games. Another good goal chalked off.

paulg235 posted...

they're the second worst team in the tournament only ahead of Qatar and this does not bode well for 2026.

I don't really think that it means anything really for 2026.

There best players are all under 25. Eustaquio, Miller, Johnston, Buchanan, David, Davies, Kone are all first team players who are young.

They need an elite CB imo to really elevate them. 35 yo Vitoria is not good enough to be their first string CB

I've noticed they don't care about syncing up the games at this tournament. Usually the final group games wait for each other when the second half kicks off.

pezzicle posted...

3 team groups is def a bad idea

I think there will likely be 6 or 7 really poor sides in each tourny from here on out.

AFC and CONCACAF will have a pretty significant amount of teams now and there confederations aren't strong.

Yeah, AFC and CONCACAF really got an undeserving boost in teams. I really thought Europe would have gotten 6-7 teams to keep pace with their current make-up. Something like...

Host - 1
Africa - 8
Asia - 6.5
CONCACAF - 5.5 (2 would be subtracted and given to the hosts)
Europe - 19.5
Oceania - 1
South America - 6.5

Would make it a lot more competitive. I'm a bit on the fence about giving Oceania a full spot, but if we are going to keep them around they might as well get a full chance to be represented in a 48-team tournament.

Not so lucky that time, really could have used that goal

The real numbers for 2026 as they stand right now for qualification slots are:

CONCACAF = 6, [3 Direct Slots + Canada, Mexico & USA]
AFC = 8
CAF = 9
CONMEBOL = 6
OFC = 1
UEFA = 16
Playoff = 2 [With Nations advancing to this round from all confederations except UEFA]

Dark_Silvergun posted...

The real numbers for 2026 as they stand right now for qualification slots are:

CONCACAF = 6, [3 Direct Slots + Canada, Mexico & USA]
AFC = 8
CAF = 9
CONMEBOL = 6
OFC = 1
UEFA = 16
Playoff = 2 [With Nations advancing to this round from all confederations except UEFA]

ya it def should be 5 CONCACAF, 7 AFC, 18 UEFA

at minimum. Neither of those two confederations need to have that many teams.

charmander6000 posted...

Would make it a lot more competitive. I'm a bit on the fence about giving Oceania a full spot, but if we are going to keep them around they might as well get a full chance to be represented in a 48-team tournament.

I considered that as well, but to be fair, if CONCACAF retain that many qualifying spots into the 2030 World Cup (and to a lesser extent the fact that over half of South America qualifies with 6 guaranteed slots), think just how hard it is for some of the bigger teams there to fail to qualify. That's almost as much of a sewn up qualification as New Zealand's is.

Yeah, I understand. I wonder if FIFA's reasoning is to have an equal representation of UEFA teams in the tournament, so there's exactly 1 in each of the 16 Groups of 3 Nations.

I guess they wanted to make sure every group comprises of 3 confederations in every group???

That's all I can think of.

Belgium deserved it.

You play to win the game

So close!
At least we showed up for this one.

masterplum posted...

Belgium deserved it.

You play to win the game

Well, we needed to after our other two games

can't believe they didn't get a draw there, man

Canada most certainly deserved at least a point at this tournament

The play off spots are basically just giving Africa and South America 1 extra slot each. By the time you get that far down the rankings North America, Asia and Oceania are Sunday league teams.

I understand the choice for Lukaku, but he also showed why maybe you don't start a striker who hasn't had a game in months. Should've started Openda rather than Mertens and then see what happened with Lukaku.

I also think he's crap but Vanaken should've had gametime over Tielemans.

Lukaku was a hail Mary, I don't think he would have played if we were already through.
And yeah, Mertens shouldn't have started.

I think it's fitting to laugh at Japan one more time for blowing second in the group. You would've had Morocco in the last 16!

I know it makes sense from a competitive standpoint but 60% of the CONMEBOL qualifying makes a bit of a mockery of the qualifying process. I'm sure there's other that are worse given the quality of teams.

Like are they at least going to have to play a playoff against someone for those bottom 2 slots?

LuisSera posted...

I considered that as well, but to be fair, if CONCACAF retain that many qualifying spots into the 2030 World Cup (and to a lesser extent the fact that over half of South America qualifies with 6 guaranteed slots), think just how hard it is for some of the bigger teams there to fail to qualify. That's almost as much of a sewn up qualification as New Zealand's is.

That happens in those big fish in a small pond continents. Even if Mexico/United States have a bad qualification period they still have a huge opportunity to qualify (which made USA's flop in 2018 all the more impressive). There isn't really a way to solve it other than combining all the continents into one big qualification format.

shane15 posted...

I think it's fitting to laugh at Japan one more time for blowing second in the group. You would've had Morocco in the last 16!

You'll be eating that laugh soon enough my friend

The only continent that loses out is Europe and maybe to a lesser extent Africa. All the big countries from the rest of the world effectively have a bye into the finals now.

MZero posted...

You'll be eating that laugh soon enough my friend

I hope they prove me wrong.

Updated Group Standings as of Group F!
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/5/AAE6mcAAD8Np.jpg

Fucking Costa Rica, the absolute fucking selfishness is unbelievable

Knock Stage Bracket Updated!
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/6/AAE6mcAAD8Nq.png

shane15 posted...

Denmark going out is the first big exit of the tournament.

Nah, I think it's Belgium. I know some people were hyped about Denmark possibly going on a deep run (which was possible, but less because they were a big team so much as other big teams dropping the ball) and Mexico having that "always advancing" streak, but Belgium really feels like that first big drop of the tournament even if very few were expecting them to actually win it this time.

XIII_Rocks posted...

Fucking Costa Rica, the absolute fucking selfishness is unbelievable

If they hold off Germany, then I'm fine with them going through to face Morocco.

Would be really hilarious if Costa Rica turn around that 7-0 loss into a Quarter Final slot.

Nah, we were almost seeded, Euro semifinalists, fastest to qualify (along with Germany) and did so without dropping any points. We absolutely should have destroyed Tunisia and Australia any day. We were a big exit.

Also Spain can lose this match and advance second (barring the extremely unlikely Costa Rica upset), eliminate Germany and get a much more favorable bracket placement than if they win.

Spain finishing second is like booking a semi final place. They win the group and they get Croatia followed by Brazil.

XIII_Rocks posted...

Fucking Costa Rica, the absolute fucking selfishness is unbelievable

what did they do?