World Cup organisers are increasingly open to discarding the new three-team group format for the 2026 tournament in the US, Mexico and Canada. It comes after concerns that too many dead rubbers in the last round of matches could dilute the expanded, 48-team event.
Although Fifa’s official position remains unaltered, multiple sources say there have been “informal talks” and “corridor chats” in Doha about the benefits of going with 12 groups of four teams rather than 16 groups of three.
That could lead to a 104-game World Cup if the top two in each group, plus the best eight third-placed sides, go through to a 32-team knockout stage – which is 40 more than will be played at Qatar 2022.
The proposal for expanding the World Cup was opposed by the European Club Association,[13] Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (La Liga) president Javier Tebas,[14] and German national team coach Joachim Löw.[15]
They argued that the number of games played was already at an unacceptable level,[13] and that expanding it would dilute the quality of the games played.[15][14] They also argued that the expansion decision was taken for political reasons, as Infantino had used the promise of more countries playing in the World Cup to win his election.[16] In addition, an article in the Journal of Sports Analytics argued that the use of a three-team group stage with two teams progressing increased the risk of collusion between teams, as seen in previous World Cup group matches, including the 1982 Disgrace of Gijón.[17]
In response, FIFA's chief technical officer Marco van Basten suggested that draws may be prevented during the group stage by the use of penalty shootouts:[18] while this would partially (though not entirely) mitigate the increased risk of collusion, it would introduce the possibility of a team deciding to eliminate a rival by deliberately losing a penalty shootout.[17]
Addressing the concerns related to collusion, CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani commented in April 2022 that FIFA was still considering 12 groups of four, which would eliminate collusion entirely.[19]
And to add another element to irritate traditionalists - this week it was revealed that FIFA are weighing up a sickly-sweet proposal to suit the American audience for whom ties are anathema by introducing penalty shootouts that will offer a bonus point.
Durhamfootman wrote:Korea have kind of redeemed themselves a little in the second half. Of course, all the tempo has gone out of Brazil's play with the game as dead as a dodo, but at least they can go out with their heads held high. They've given Brazil a game in this half
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest