uau

jeezus fucking christ, fifa

48 countries in the world cup final?

why have qualifiers. just put 200+ countries in already

and give everyone machetes to make the injury process go faster why don't you

fucking money grubbers...

It's an absolute joke. It's now going to be a load of boring ass matches with the odd great game, as opposed to the other way round like it should be.

It's one of them things were FIFA is so corrupt that nothing will ever change.

Dismal. Putrid. As if we didn't have enough shit games during the group stage already. FIFA's decision could have been even worse, however, if in addition they had determined to extend the number of games a team has to play in order to dispute the throne beyond seven. The beginning of the road to get there now is rather risible, though: 16 (!) groups of three (!) countries each...

If they'd made the groups bigger to accommodate the expansion, I'd hate it, but not this way. Admittedly, pre-qualification will be a bit more boring but by having 3 teams instead of 4 during the group stage it'll mean an end to those dreaded games in the final round, between two teams that can't possibly qualify to the knockout stage. It should also make teams play in a more attacking style from the beginning.

The knockout stage will look after itself, and by having more games only increase the likelihood of upsets. So the only downside for me is in pre-qualification.

Agreed. Yet I'm sure we will see groups like, say:

Germany
New Zealand
Canada

That could be an exaggeration, though, but not by much... :D

OK but given the likelihood that Germany qualify by beating New Zealand and Canada, the match between those two is gonna be absolutely epic. And Germany will be shitting bricks in their final game if they lose or even draw to either of them in the 1st match.

So this is all for good in the end?

Well apart from making the pre-qualification stage a bit more boring than usual, I can't honestly see a downside during the actual tournament itself.

yeah it looks a bit more rational upon further examination.

the group round will be shorter, which will make for a more dynamic start. no time to warm up or fuck up or test shit. 2 games & you're done.

then it's knockouts from then onwards, no holds barred. fine.

it's just the sheer number that fucks me up a little and yes, what kind of elimination will there be?

CONMEBOL has only 10 members. currently it has 4.5 spots (4 guaranteed, 1 last chance played vs. oceania or something)

with 48 spots it will end up having what-- 8?

so basically if you're a south american country you just have to put on your pants and show up.

fuck the qualifiers for 2 years then. who needs all those time wasters.

Qualification has always been a bit of a chore, this doesn't help (and I'm sure the main motivation is just to make sure that none of the big established teams fail to make it) but it has to improve the group stage at least.

it's gonna look kinda like the olympics

i hope also that there's a location for each group and none of that intercity travel bullshit with different time zones and climates and bollocky arrangements

today: vladivostok. tomorrow: petersburg

So, Payet has basically gone on strike at West Ham to force a move to ... Marseille? Arsenal? ... China? He was happy enough in the summer to sign a new mega bucks contract. Makes me sick.

lets go PATS!

Mutant Rugby fans have their own thread at http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/sho...=84409&page=29 .

Best bit was where Gosling nutmegged that Asian guy. Made him look so stupid.

wtf is dat

Oops wrong Thread ...

ha ha ha

i swear i thought it was a biopic about some manchester united player from the 90s or something

So now it's Diego Costa's turn to be tempted by a ludicrous offer from China (500k a week) and all the indications are that he might bite. If he does it'll send panic throughout the major European leagues. He'll be the 1st really world class player, at the peak of his career, to make the move.

china is the new england, tv deal be damned

I'd say it's more like the new USA, except China's rich enough to tempt great players at the peak of their career, rather than at the end of it.

Imagine if Man City didn't qualify for the Champions League this season...

the mls has a lot of competition though-- has to squeeze a weird season between the nfl, the nhl, the nba, and baseball. it might conquer 100 years from now maybe but it's tough to get a bigger slice.

china on the other hand is ripe for explosive growth in professional sports and wide open. football is their most popular one already, basketball their 2nd. so maybe the nba will be their next victim. but right now european football is on the crosshairs.

im getting my guangzhou evergrande shirts while they're still cheap

... meanwhile ... Everton .... EVERTON!

It's all ifs and maybes. The Prem built on an already very strong profile. Right now China's throwing lots of money at something but where's their structure for real growth? Right now, at best, they seem to be building a very expensive version of the Harlem Globetrotters.

I honestly don't think they will. Are they better than any team in the current top 4? And I can easily see Man U overtaking them. Imagine if they didn't qualify for the Europa league?!?!

Laughed at Everton fans singing "sacked in the morning"

haha true

but theyre big prem fans already

and the prem can make further inroads there--but this being a tribal sport and china being nationalistic, theyll want theirs

he looks like hes literally taking a shit

It's unknown territory. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Maybe they can grow and grow but what if their government have a change of heart and stop subsidising it (which they're already talking about). And will they ever be able to build an iconic team, to rank with Real, Man U, Barca, Bayern, Liverpool, etc? Right now, I think most fans still follow teams over players. I still think we're more likely to see big European teams being Chinese owned than a dominant Chinese league.

Back to Everton ... If Diego does go to China, then I wonder if Chelsea will go back in for Lukaku. On today's performance he's almost a like for like replacement and he's made no secret of his desire to go back there.

Yeah, that was my first thought when I heard about this supposed bust up. Why Chelsea would go for Llorente over Lukaku I've not a clue.

However, today was a perfect performance by Everton in every way. Now they'll get beat by Crystal Palace next week, I'm sure of it.

And hopefully a brace for Lukaku, given I've just put him straight into my fantasy football team!

No way. That'd rank up there with Nugent if he claimed that goal. It was Davies' all day long.

that man u-liverpool game was bananas

loved it

Didn't watch it cos I thought it'd be another crap-o-rama as usual. Got that one wrong!

Totally! The last 15 minutes were insane.

I meant next week, against Palace

i read (via wikipedia) that their government wants 50,000 football academies or something. for their (currently) 1,400,000,000 people. they teach football at school now. massive numbers.

china doesn't even have to be the most dominant economy in the world for this to happen. witness la liga, blooming harder the greater the unemployment rises.

it also doesn't have to have a great national team. england has the prem but also hasn't won a world cup in half a century. not sure about euro titles.

but true-- i'm not a fortune teller/seer/ whatever. and other things could happen like-- the prem or bundesliga or serie a or la liga start to have matches in shanghai. but the future is global in spite of recent hiccups, so other leagues (not just china) should grow as well.

There would be huge resistance from fans and the media about European league games being played in China or any other foreign country, but that won't necessarily stop it happening.

Meanwhile, Pep's postmatch after Everton was just weird.

Apparently they're dominating possession (obviously) but are weak in both boxes. Could this have anything to do with Pep making Aguero (still for me the best out and out finisher in the league) play deeper than he's ever played before, and for still believing that Kolarov is a CB?

No way would the board ever sack him but if things don't improve I can seriously see him walking. He really doesn't seem to be enjoying himself and I'm starting to wonder if he's having doubts about his own ability to turn things around.