World Cup GDT: June 14th

[M*A*S*H 4077]

That was a well deserved red

[devo22]

clear red IMO.

[Itse]

Really stupid foul.

[Muta]

What a stupid idiot. I hope it was worth it to him on behalf of his country to pull a disgusting kick like that.

[SebC]

28th ranked team beats the 7th. I'd say that's a pretty strong upset.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Matty81

3-1. Upset but not the crazy shock the british announcers who don't know anything about soccer outside uefa consider it. But but but they have guys we know from english soccer, how can they lose to guys we never heard of.

CAF is for sure in the crosshairs but I think UEFA is going to lose a whole spot first... they will have 14 teams at the next world cup, every other fed in the world gets 18. They and conmebol get the best results and they deserve more but that is almost half the field, way too many.

not enough

UEFA should have closer to 20

[d_phaneuf]

I don't think they will 'take any spots' away from anyone, but I could see them adding in more playoff rounds to get in between federations

right now it's just 2 between Concacaf/Asian/Oceanic/South America

I could see them adding a few more and including UEFA + multiple teams from a federation

[GirlySports]

I agree make about 5 african teams playoff. They suck.

[Stay Golden]

Massive upset. Uruguay could have just blown their chance to survive the group. Big win for Concacaf though.

[Matty81]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

not enough

UEFA should have closer to 20

Well if you are a big proponent of euro soccer the unfortunate thing is how many fifa members are outside of europe when it comes to voting and how hard fifa and their sponsors have been pressing to make inroads, especially in AFC and CAF. Concacaf has as many people as europe but mostly concentrated in Mexico and the US so we do not have a lot of weight, best hope is to just start winning.

The percentage of teams from europe in the finals has been slowing declining and will probably continue.

Good point on the expansion though... going to 40 teams has been discussed a lot, dunno if it will happen but it wouldn't shock me either.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I agree make about 5 african teams playoff. They suck.

Thing is, making the World Cup is probably more important to those countries and their players than it is for most other countries.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Itse

Thing is, making the World Cup is probably more important to those countries and their players than it is for most other countries.

Ever been to Central or South America? They live and breathe it as well.
Go Ticos!!

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Africa needs a spot taken away.

Take it from Asia. Apart from Japan they're useless.

African teams at least have flair.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Bagor

Take it from Asia. Apart from Japan they're useless.

African teams at least have flair.

Australia weren't bad last night.
We'll see how Iran and Korea do. Korea made the last 16 last world cup. Australia made the last 16 in 2006.

Two Asian teams made the last 16 last time compared to 1 African team in an African World Cup!


I think Africans should at least have to playoff

how about

Oceania 0.5
Concacaf 3.5
Commebol 4.5
Asia 4.5
Africa 4.5
Europe 13.5

Have those 6 half teams play a mini tournament in Siberia.

[dino7c]

Clear red by the rules of the game no argument


but really you got kicked in the shin pads...no need to crawl around the field get the #### up

[Itse]

Originally Posted by habernac

Ever been to Central or South America? They live and breathe it as well.
Go Ticos!!

I don't mean it in that sense. (In fact you'd be hard be hard pressed to find more soccer crazy countries than places like Netherlands, Germany and England.)

I mean it in the sense that in many African countries the local conditions such as local leagues are pretty bad, and they really need the exposure.

It's also one of the few team sports they can afford to play in many of those countries, and actually one of the few sports in general. They don't get a lot of sports exposure outside of soccer, and that's often pretty much the only good press they get.

Soccer puts countries like Cameroon and Ghana on the map. This is is of course also true for Costa Rica, but less so for Canada or Finland.

[habernac]

I'll never forget that about Costa Rica. Any flat ground or empty lot was full of kids playing soccer. Same in Rio when we were down there. Loved it.

[GirlySports]

Africa would have better infrastucture if the FAs werent so corrupt. Cameroon in 90 should have been a launching pad..not continue to argue over bonuses.

[Itse]

Opened a Peroni (Italian beer) in support of Azzurri.

Should've gone for wine or something.

[jofillips]

haha gone for a fowl mouth by big rock