Conference expansion, meet World Cup Football.
Conference expansion, for the win. Does anyone want to let FIFA know what this will actually do for the World Cup…or has Disney already sunk their claws into another sport already?
GTP Refugees
Let all the Bulldog faithful rally behind the men who now wear the red and black with two words, two simple words which express the sentiments of the entire Bulldog Nation: Auburn Sucks.
Well, I can see why they did it. As someone who is at best a casual soccer fan, it certainly got me watching Cape Verde almost beat the reigning WC champion Argentina. And of course, everyone thought the USMNT was all that when we beat up on some teams that probably wouldn’t have made it without expansion.
I’m sure the hard-core soccer (excuse me “football/futbol”) fans don’t like it, but for the rest of the viewers in countries that never had a chance to compete, it’s a win. And if it takes out a country that was a legit top 10 team because of a fluke penalty of something, then that’s just part of the “charm”.
I have to admit, seeing the WC in this light has made me more understand why CFB will absolutely expand as fast as they can. I don’t like it, but I understand it.
The biggest joy of this World Cup for me has been following the visiting fans. I was charmed by Cape Verde and a mused by the Norwegians. The Scots drinking all the beer dry in Boston reminded me of Dawg fans drinking all the beer in Tempe in 2008!
The international fellowship has been wonderful.
“Do it for the Toledo fans!” doesn’t really move the needle for me. I’m not opposed to having them around, but I’ve got no interest in designing the system to try to make them seem more important.
As a hard-core CFB fan, I agree. I think the point of the season is to find the best team overall. Now that it’s become an invitational tournament, it’s about finding a tournament champion. However, all those casual viewers that tune in because they heard something was going on WRT the CFB tournament are all $$$ that E$PN can exploit.
Well, if they expand the field to 64, maybe Italy will finally get back into the field (they’ve missed the last three W/C’s). This type of exponential expansion allows for a lot of extra pockets to pick. FIFA’s motto is basically ABG (Always be Grifting). But honestly if they’re going to go to that gargantuan field, the only country that has the big-stadium structure to host one of these tournaments alone would be the USA.
The international Olympic Committee is just as ABG. Hard to tell the difference.
FIFA has long competed to be more corrupt than the IOC. Both can only dream of being in the same league as the UN.
Back in ’96 when we had to deal with the IOC in ATL we would say “at least with the mafia, when they extorted you for money you got some kind of protection in the deal…”
I ain’t getting worked about this one! Got enough with all the crap in college ball. Leave all that to the “experts”!
…and just like in the new and improved college football playoffs, guess what… the top 4 seeds are in the finals:
#1 France
#2 Spain
#3 england
#4 Argentina
mo money, mo money, mo!
💰💰💰💰💷💷💶💶💎💴💴💰💰💰💰
Yes, but isn’t that the first time in a while that it has happened? Surprising given that each team has had to play an extra round.
I’m doubly surprised Argentina is still in it. They should’ve lost to Cape Verde and especially to Egypt. Hard to be Argentina AND the refs.
Argentina or Alabama? Preferential officiating feels so familiar in an unpleasant way, no?
last 4 world cup finals
2022 Argentina(won) v France (croatia and morocco)
2018 France(won) v Croatia (ranking 4th) (belgium and england)
2014 Germany(won) v Argentina (netherlands and brazil)
2010 Spain(won) v Netherlands (germany and uruguay)
so all “brand” names in those years final four…the only outlier of the four finalists was in 2022 which was Morocco; but as stated the other day, not shocking as 80% of their players are/were all rejects by Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands teams.
Morroco had a star player from Germany that stole a laptop and jumped out a window whose Dad was a grifting priest.
Cam Newton played for Morocco?
I read today that the top 4 ranked was sort of by design, in that each of the top four ranked teams prior to the tournament were placed into a separate quadrant so they couldn’t meet prior to the semi-finals.
As a very casual fan. I really don’t care it’s not CFB.
I am not even a casual fan. I’ve not watched one minute of all the soccer games played. I have zero interest in the sport.
Agreed! I only care about UGA sports! Watching soccer has never interested me at all.