Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
A world cup round of 16 without Italy and Germany looks weird.
In the 13 World Cups since 1966 only one time have at least one of Germany or Italy not been in the Semi Finals (1998 - They both lost in the QFs).
To have a World Cup where one of those two teams is not even in the knockout stages is just crazy.
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It's a good way to grow the game into new markets. And the fact that Senegal or Japan have a shot at advancing is a fantastic result for having teams from outside Europe represented in the Group of 16.