Quote:
Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf
just looking at the standings now
I really think the switch to 24 is going to make for a better tournament, the group stage might be a little less competative although not by much
but the KO stages now get double the games, and a lot of the fringe teams that dont make a 16 team tournament are going to be interesting to watch and could easily cause some upsets, moreso than a lot of teams that get to a world cup
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yeah i think it was a good decision. Of course the reasons behind it were money-driven, but I don't think the quality of the tournament is going to suffer ... Europe simply has a lot of quality. Also a huge opportunity for smaller teams like Austria
as of today, this also has the potential to be an interesting tournament at the top ... not a lot of clear-cut favourites. On paper Germany of course, but they have struggled since their WC title and they have no full backs or strikers. Spain, Italy and England are all having a bit of a rebuild going on; Belgium and Netherlands are struggling in their respective groups; France always has the potential to self-destruct and Portugal has no depth. We're obviously more than a year away still, but this could shape up to be a tight and thrilling tournament.