The Official FIFA World Cup 2022 Megathread

[Alan]

So in 4 years time we’ll see more teams of equivalent quality turning up at the World Cup.

By this token the only teams involved should ever be the same group of 8 or so.

 

[Alan]

Sitter. That could have changed things.

 

[BillyDee]

By this token the only teams involved should ever be the same group of 8 or so.

Bingo

 

[Del Woppio]

By this token the only teams involved should ever be the same group of 8 or so.

There's no need to go above 32 teams. There's plenty of value and excitement added by lower ranked teams, but they're at least of a reasonable quality.

These have got no sporting merit being on this stage, they're fucking terrible, and being dominated by a pretty poor Ecuador side

 

[jd1981]

By this token the only teams involved should ever be the same group of 8 or so.

Talking about it being remotely competitive on the world stage. Not sides being shown up on the world stage because they’re miles off the grade.

 

[Sniffer]

The only way the expanded tournament would work is if they have qualifying at the event to join the group stages. Worked at the T20 cricket World Cup albeit with a smaller amount of teams involved.

 

[jd1981]

It’s the World Cup not a charity event, the whole point yes have a spread of sides from around the world but also ensuring that the best are on show in the process.

 

[Alan]

There's no need to go above 32 teams. There's plenty of value and excitement added by lower ranked teams, but they're at least of a reasonable quality.

These have got no sporting merit being on this stage, they're fucking terrible, and being dominated by a pretty poor Ecuador side

It's gatekeep-y and weird, though. Like, I'm not going to sit here and argue in favor of expanding beyond 32, but whenever I hear this "they don't deserve to be here" argument come up it absolutely ruffles my feathers.

As soon as we start making judgement calls on who does and doesn't have the "merit" to be at the World Cup (we could have a separate argument as to whether or not the hosts should automatically qualify), that sounds an awful lot like saying "well really it should just be European and South American teams because they're the only ones who can actually win it".

That would be fucking boring, and the World Cup already gets boring late on because it is almost always the same handful of nations getting into the late rounds.

 

[sycophantia]

32 is plenty, allows space for some of the lesser nations to get to the finals without it being ridiculously uncompetitive, unfortunately you just can't include everybody, it's madness to make it any bigger.
The whole point of any competitive event is for teams/individuals to get to the finals on merit.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Qatar are there purely because they are hosts, which the cunts bought. I can't think of a better example of "don't deserve to be there"

 

[WsWolf]

It's gatekeep-y and weird, though. Like, I'm not going to sit here and argue in favor of expanding beyond 32, but whenever I hear this "they don't deserve to be here" argument come up it absolutely ruffles my feathers.

As soon as we start making judgement calls on who does and doesn't have the "merit" to be at the World Cup (we could have a separate argument as to whether or not the hosts should automatically qualify), that sounds an awful lot like saying "well really it should just be European and South American teams because they're the only ones who can actually win it".

That would be fucking boring, and the World Cup already gets boring late on because it is almost always the same handful of nations getting into the late rounds.

Shouldn't be a judgement call, anyone other than Qatar have qualified and therefore deserve to be there. I personally think it should be the 32 best teams, it's not at the moment because every area gets a certain amount of spots.

 

[Alan]

Shouldn't be a judgement call, anyone other than Qatar have qualified and therefore deserve to be there. I personally think it should be the 32 best teams, it's not at the moment because every area gets a certain amount of spots.

Obviously this is fine in theory, but in practice I have to imagine that would take a lot of the "World" out of the "World Cup".

If I had my way things would more or less stay as-is, with the aforementioned questions about hosts AQing (I also don't love that Oceania only get 0.5 spots in the 32, but I suppose that's on them for not making the representation count when a nation from that region has qualified).

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Sounds like the world series

 

[WsWolf]

Obviously this is fine in theory, but in practice I have to imagine that would take a lot of the "World" out of the "World Cup".

Not really, every team enters qualifying. It would actually be the best teams in the world.

 

[jd1981]

Obviously this is fine in theory, but in practice I have to imagine that would take a lot of the "World" out of the "World Cup".

No one is saying having just Europe v South America. But you’ve got to draw a line before you rapidly diminish the quality. It’s like promoting 8 teams from the championship each season some would be way out there depth to a point it’s a none contest.

 

[Alan]

Maybe they should have drawn the line before Iceland qualified for the Euros.

 

[Del Woppio]

As soon as we start making judgement calls on who does and doesn't have the "merit" to be at the World Cup (we could have a separate argument as to whether or not the hosts should automatically qualify), that sounds an awful lot like saying "well really it should just be European and South American teams because they're the only ones who can actually win it".

But nobody's saying that? Since the move up to 32 teams, there's plenty of space for the best football sides from all around the world, and all of the amazing things they bring with them. But being reasonably good at football is a minimum requirement for being at the world cup. Plopping these schmucks in is akin to sticking Preston in the champions league. It adds nothing to the sport or the spectacle. I'm all for developing the game, and watching nations improve, and I'm not seeing anybody say anything akin to 'they're taking a place Italy could have had' - I like that different regions have qualifying spots now. But fuck me Qatar are terrible.

 

[Alan]

Sounds like the world series

I'm on record thinking that that is a stupid thing to call it, tbf.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

They're genuinely appalling. As in I don't think they'd win one game in League Two over a whole season.

 

[Johnny75]

Obviously this is fine in theory, but in practice I have to imagine that would take a lot of the "World" out of the "World Cup".

If I had my way things would more or less stay as-is, with the aforementioned questions about hosts AQing (I also don't love that Oceania only get 0.5 spots in the 32, but I suppose that's on them for not making the representation count when a nation from that region has qualified).

It would but there has to be balance.

Qatar do not deserve to be there. They have taken the spot of somebody more deserving.