Dream draw for England so far. Get scotland in that group pls driver
Dream draw for England so far. Get scotland in that group pls driver
France vs France B looks like a must-miss as well.
Have France and Denmark ever not been drawn together?
Where is the GROUP OF DEATH? Germany or Portugal going out (unlikely, the silly little Asians will be dazzled and let Ronaldo walk a hat-trick in) in the groups is as exciting as it gets. The rest look routine.
What an opening game. So fitting.
I was really hoping for Cameroon in B, Aboubakar against Maguire would be tasty.
The fucking state of our group.![]()
England
Ayatollahs
Subordinate Celts
Yanks
Is this the weakest WC ever?
Say what you will about Southgate as a manager, I'd give him a Carteret Analysis 'high score' for luck of the draw, although I do recall the last time we drew the yanks . . .
Bring it.![]()
This has Gareth Bale scoring a worldie or two to knock scotland out all over it and then Wales doing a Euros 2016 and getting to the semis with an easy route
Could they not have waited for the qualifying ties to be played before doing this?
Apparently not, which is a bit odd as you'd imagine there aren't really even any logistics to worry about.
A nice 10am start for some of the group matches and a 3pm final.
The boycotting has went well. Wasn’t there a European team making big claims some time last year (Denmark? Sweden?). How did that all pan out?
I don't see a proper group of death here but the I can see Brazil possibly getting dumped out of theirs. Actually, I think I'm expecting too much. Maybe Portugal wobble if Captain Giraffe has to do all the work.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia to battle it out for the worst goal difference.
Norway who boycotted it by not qualifying.
It’s definitely a ‘wait for the knockouts’ draw.
Is it just me, or are all this groups dogshit?
I guess the Spain group isn't horrible.
Yeah. It makes you realize how absolutely rancid the World Cups are going to be from 2026 onwards when they start inviting 48 fucking teams.
They should make it 16 only, if anything.
I think the current format is perfect. Just the right mix of odd / random / shit countries to make it fun, but still a high enough ratio of good teams to make for a lot of interesting games.
I don't mind the 32 format. Gives one or two nations the chance to have a run. 16 makes it too much of a top table.
Yeah I think for the World Cup 32 is about right. Unless you're going to be brutal and say only three European teams can get there or something.![]()
10 European out of 16. Though you’d properly have it so the Denmarks are playing the Uruguays for a place in it once the continental qualifying is done. Say like a group of Europe 7, Europe 8, African winners, and South American 4 in a group to get one qualifier. It’d be like a tournament before the tournament.
Last edited by Giggles; 01-04-2022 at 06:59 PM.
The worst formats are the ones with situations where three teams can qualify from a group of four.
I think 32 was the sweet spot.
As ever, the problem with giggles line of argument is that the "good" teams are often dogshit, and the best moments of the tournament are usually when they get lolled out by someone he doesn't think deserves to be there.
It's not a meritocratic format. 7 games against opposition of varying strength is an awful way of deciding who the best team is.
Get rid of the qualifiers. The World Cup should feature every country in the world. Every game is a knockout game and there should be no seeding.
When did the 'best team' last not win it?
A soulless money making machine?
The BANTER when the dozens of travelling fans boo their anthem and we win 4-0.