Nearly every game this euro has been exciting. Can we say the same for the last world cup? Some group stage games felt like a chore that had to be done, while almost none this competition had. I believe this is because of the difference in amount of teams. If the WC were to trim the amount of teams allowed, something that will in all likelihood not happen, we would have a better quality competition.

Sadly alfred next time the Euro will have 24 teams and will lose the charm that it has now.

the exact opposite is going to happen, which is really stupid imo.

WC - 32 teams is enough.
Euros 24 teams? Hell no. Why stretch this competition.

No. For once I completely disagree with you man... The World Cup is about celebrating football and culture and bringing people together.

Watching Asian qualifiers makes you realise how much teams like Iraq etc want to be at the World Cup. It means hope for these small teams and their nation. You just can't cut them. It would be a travesty.

You can't cut the Sth American or Euro teams either because there are plenty of quality teams just missing out already.

World Cup didn't lack quality because of the number of teams, but because of things like the shitty ball and disappointing to dismal performances from the powerhouses like Italy, France, Brazil and even Argentina.

As for Euro expanding... Yeah. Don't think they should do that.

Think of the little guys man!

Well, in the World Cup you can't actually trim teams or you won't have the best competing. After all, there need to be several slots for Oceania, Africa, North America, Asia etc or you wouldn't have a *World* Cup, and they wouldn't like to get trimmed to fewer slots, while Europe already only starts 13 teams (possibly even less in the future).

To have the European Cup extended to 24 teams is a very bad idea IMO, and I'd hope they would cut that back after France, but it will not happen due to the money involved and some of the medium strength countries who want to participate, too, once in a while, would sulk too much.

BarcaKizz wrote:No. For once I completely disagree with you man... The World Cup is about celebrating football and culture and bringing people together.

Watching Asian qualifiers makes you realise how much teams like Iraq etc want to be at the World Cup. It means hope for these small teams and their nation. You just can't cut them. It would be a travesty.

You can't cut the Sth American or Euro teams either because there are plenty of quality teams just missing out already.

World Cup didn't lack quality because of the number of teams, but because of things like the shitty ball and disappointing to dismal performances from the powerhouses like Italy, France, Brazil and even Argentina.

As for Euro expanding... Yeah. Don't think they should do that.

Think of the little guys man!

Such an encouraging post. I know with teams like Iraq, the WC not only brings a sense of hope but also a meaning of welcoming, feel like you belong somewhere in this world even though the world doesn't seem to welcome you. There is definate talent in all parts of the world and nations like Japan, China and Korea have improved dramatically and the WC gives them an opportunity to present that fact

I don't think Euro being expanded is so bad thing as everybody says. Why? Because we can still keep the quality unlike the WC, where there are lot of these (no offence) crap NT's. NT's that have potential for surprises and missed Euro 2012 are Turkey, Belgium, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland, B&H, Romania, Norway and probably couple more. Most of these are better than 95% of Asian, African and Northern America NT's. So, it's not the lack of quality NT's why WC is poorer and less exciting than Euro (and maybe even Copa), but it's because FIFA wants the whole world in it despite the quality.

Error wrote:but it's because FIFA wants the whole world in it despite the quality.

Well, if it is a "World" Cup, you need to have teams of the whole world competing, hence the name ^^

rwo power wrote:

Error wrote:but it's because FIFA wants the whole world in it despite the quality.

Well, if it is a "World" Cup, you need to have teams of the whole world competing, hence the name ^^

I know but it doesn't mean that continents with so many poor teams needs to have that many countries in it. You could easily scrap half of Asia, Africa and North America teams and give those spots to South America & Europe and the quality would rise ten fold.

Are you kidding.. people are CRAZY about football here. If we didnt qualify for this i wouldnt be a happy man

Error wrote:

rwo power wrote:

Error wrote:but it's because FIFA wants the whole world in it despite the quality.

Well, if it is a "World" Cup, you need to have teams of the whole world competing, hence the name ^^

I know but it doesn't mean that continents with so many poor teams needs to have that many countries in it. You could easily scrap half of Asia, Africa and North America teams and give those spots to South America & Europe and the quality would rise ten fold.

Scrapping half is not easy and will be a very unpopular decision. I mean, come on, Africa only has 5 slots and every time big teams like Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria make it through, with a lot of other big teams missing out. Putting down the number of slots to 2 or 3 would be simply ridiculous.

It's not a World Cup if you have only European and South American teams in it.

Was going to say something, but just look at Kizz's post...

+1 man. Brilliantly said.

7amood11 wrote:

Error wrote:

rwo power wrote:

Error wrote:but it's because FIFA wants the whole world in it despite the quality.

Well, if it is a "World" Cup, you need to have teams of the whole world competing, hence the name ^^

I know but it doesn't mean that continents with so many poor teams needs to have that many countries in it. You could easily scrap half of Asia, Africa and North America teams and give those spots to South America & Europe and the quality would rise ten fold.

Scrapping half is not easy and will be a very unpopular decision. I mean, come on, Africa only has 5 slots and every time big teams like Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria make it through, with a lot of other big teams missing out. Putting down the number of slots to 2 or 3 would be simply ridiculous.

It's not a World Cup if you have only European and South American teams in it.

Of course it's not a popular decision and FIFA will never do it because of financial point of view, but it's the only way to get higher quality competition at the moment. Rest of the world is just too far behind apart from several countries like Japan, South Korea, USA, Mexico & a few African countries. If teams like North Korea manages to get in the WC then it really tells you something about Asian WC qualification.

Africa actually have a good case for keeping it's five spots, but if one of the favorites fails then we usually get these poor teams that can't even manage to pull off a surprise because of the lack of talent and tactical awareness. In South America an Europe the situation is completely different and there is always a quality team ready to replace another if one happens to fail.

I think you're underestimating African football. Africa always has at least 6 or 7 very good countries... So if one country fails, there is one to fill in.

Off the top of my head:

Cote d'Ivoire
Ghana
Nigeria
Cameroon
Senegal
Algeria
Libya
Egypt
Zambia

i think you are underestimating those countries, too. Ghana had a hell of a tournament in 2010, they almost kicked out germany and almost reached the semis. Also Cote D'Ivoir had two killer groups in 2006 and 2010 and would have probably progressed in most other groups. Also Egypt, Nigeria and a few others have good teams,
Japan and South Korea have strong teams nowadays, also Australia, USA and even New Zealand are not too shabby either....
plenty of quality imo.

also Kizz post was 100% on point

BarcaKizz wrote:No. For once I completely disagree with you man... The World Cup is about celebrating football and culture and bringing people together.

Watching Asian qualifiers makes you realise how much teams like Iraq etc want to be at the World Cup. It means hope for these small teams and their nation. You just can't cut them. It would be a travesty.

You can't cut the Sth American or Euro teams either because there are plenty of quality teams just missing out already.

World Cup didn't lack quality because of the number of teams, but because of things like the shitty ball and disappointing to dismal performances from the powerhouses like Italy, France, Brazil and even Argentina.

As for Euro expanding... Yeah. Don't think they should do that.

Think of the little guys man!

I agree that the world cup means a lot to almost every country. Some smaller countries just dream of making it to the world cup, let alone winning it, so I completely understand where you're coming from.

But that being said there's no denying that quality of the World Cup would be higher if less teams were allowed in it, this would benefit the viewer.

Not that it's going to happen, anyway.

Also I'm not talking about kicking out specific countries. As always, each region would do their own qualifiers. If, say, in 2010 only 24 teams had been allowed Argentina would not have made it because it was 4th. The best performing teams in the qualifiers should be the ones to go through.

I think it should stay how it is. It gives the lower sides a chance to qualify imo and makes it more interesting. Also sides like Belgium, Turkey, Serbia etc aren't in the current Euros.

BarcaKizz wrote:No. For once I completely disagree with you man... The World Cup is about celebrating football and culture and bringing people together.

Watching Asian qualifiers makes you realise how much teams like Iraq etc want to be at the World Cup. It means hope for these small teams and their nation. You just can't cut them. It would be a travesty.

You can't cut the Sth American or Euro teams either because there are plenty of quality teams just missing out already.

World Cup didn't lack quality because of the number of teams, but because of things like the shitty ball and disappointing to dismal performances from the powerhouses like Italy, France, Brazil and even Argentina.

As for Euro expanding... Yeah. Don't think they should do that.

Think of the little guys man!

Excellent post kizz. I don't agree with Brazil having been dismal at WC 2010 but that's a very old topic which we have no need to reopen now.

Nishank wrote:WC - 32 teams is enough.
Euros 24 teams? Hell no. Why stretch this competition.

I think the Euroes has enough small teams as it is. Even though I love to watch more matches, there are some teams who have worthless players, like Ireland, who you know cant make chicken salad out of chicken sh1t.

Next Euroes perhaps even Norway can qualify, which would mean more Ireland/Scotland/Wales etc quality. (We actually got smothered by Wales in a friendly a little while before their trainer killed himself). At least I can say that watching my country play is as entertaining as watching Ireland play in slow-mo + repeat, and they will put the Euroes to shame!