2014 FIFA World Cup

[BurlOak]

Iran scored, but lost.

Look at how many national squads are in Africa (more than UEFA), but currently, only five can qualify.

Asia can have more national squads qualifying.

CONCACAF has 41 countries and 3.5 world cup spots.
CAF (Africa) has 56 countries and 5 spots.

Does not seem too unfair.

The other way of looking at it is how well each confederation has done. In this world cup, it looks like 3/4 CONCACAF will advance and 1/5 Africa.

 

[Johnny Au]

CONCACAF has 41 countries and 3.5 world cup spots.
CAF (Africa) has 56 countries and 5 spots.

Does not seem too unfair.

The other way of looking at it is how well each confederation has done. In this world cup, it looks like 3/4 CONCACAF will advance and 1/5 Africa.

Yep. There is room to add in a few more CONCACAF and CAF members, as well as AFC members (and one OFC member that does not get knocked off by another confederation).

It would be interesting to expand the main FIFA World Cup tournament to 48 national squads and allow two neighbouring countries to host it (or have an entire continent host it like the UEFA Euro 2020).

 

[Johnny Au]

Luis Suárez of Uruguay was suspended for nine international matches, four months from any football-related activities (including entering football stadiums), and was fined $112,000 for biting an Italian player.

 

[TOareaFan]

Luis Suárez of Uruguay was suspended for nine international matches, four months from any football-related activities (including entering football stadiums), and was fined $112,000 for biting an Italian player.

He got let of lightly, again.

 

[Johnny Au]

He got let of lightly, again.

...and yet Uruguay said that his punishment is harsh.

Yes, we all know that Uruguay is being very defensive.

See here: http://www.thestar.com/sports/socce...for_nine_matches_for_biting_at_world_cup.html

There is a video that shows how much did Suárez lose, especially from sponsorship money.

 

[StatGeek]

CONCACAF has 41 countries and 3.5 world cup spots.
CAF (Africa) has 56 countries and 5 spots.

Does not seem too unfair.

The other way of looking at it is how well each confederation has done. In this world cup, it looks like 3/4 CONCACAF will advance and 1/5 Africa.

I would like to see more of a floating number of regions into the tournament. If a certain region is doing well maybe give that region an extra spot and if a region isn't doing too well, remove a spot. Of course there should be some minimum for each region but it would be cool if a region does well like Concacaf did they get an extra spot and if a region doesn't do as well like Asia they lose a spot.

It also gives rooting interest for fans of countries who missed out of the World cup, you can cheer for your region to help get your region more open spots.

 

[TOareaFan]

I would like to see more of a floating number of regions into the tournament. If a certain region is doing well maybe give that region an extra spot and if a region isn't doing too well, remove a spot. Of course there should be some minimum for each region but it would be cool if a region does well like Concacaf did they get an extra spot and if a region doesn't do as well like Asia they lose a spot.

It also gives rooting interest for fans of countries who missed out of the World cup, you can cheer for your region to help get your region more open spots.

The tournament started with:

Asia: 4/32 = 12.5%
CONCACAF 4/32 = 12.5%
Africa 5/32 = 15.6%
CONMEBAL 6/32 = 18.75%
Europe 13/32 = 40.625%

After the group stages we have

Asia: 0/16 = 0%
CONCACAF 3/16 = 18.75%
Africa 2/16 = 12.5%
CONMEBAL 5/16 = 31.25%
Europe 6/16 = 37.5%

Of course you (or FIFA) would be foolish to judge this on one tournament but I bet they track this sort of stuff over a few.

 

[BurlOak]

Going back 4 world cups, Hosted from each zone except CONCACAF (hopefully my math is right).

Shows number of countries advancing to round of 16 compared to those participating from each zone. For the World Cup, 16 of 32 advance, so any federation with less than 50% is doing poorly.

Maybe Africa and Asia are over-represented.

 

[Johnny Au]

Germany defeated hosts Brazil 7–1 before winning the World Cup against Argentina 1–0 in extra time.

 

[BurlOak]

Germany defeated hosts Brazil 7–1 before winning the World Cup against Argentina 1–0 in extra time.

Germany was deserving of the win.

 

[Johnny Au]

Last night, there was a huge celebration at Yonge-Dundas Square full of Germany fans, most of whom are bandwagoners and very few are ethnically German.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Unofficially, Pope Emeritus Benedict is thumbing his nose at Pope Francis.

 

[someMidTowner]

very few are ethnically German.

Not sure why that would matter

 

[BurlOak]

Last night, there was a huge celebration at Yonge-Dundas Square full of Germany fans, most of whom are bandwagoners and very few are ethnically German.

maybe there were celebrations in Kitchener too.

 

[Johnny Au]

maybe there were celebrations in Kitchener too.

No doubt that there are huge celebrations in Kitchener and the rest of Waterloo Region.