Sweden Get The Other 'Best Runners' Up Place
Having been pipped to automatic qualification as group winners by Croatia, Sweden managed to nick a 'best runners up' place after their result last night.
Poland - having lost to an impressive looking England - get the other 'best runners up' place.
Congratulations to both teams are, of course, in order. Now, far be it from me to suggest that these 'best runners up' places are fixed, but the calculations are bizarre, considering that some European groups have six teams and some have seven. If you are unfortunate enough - like the Czech Republic - to be in a group with seven teams, then your results against the lowest placed team in the group don't count, making it less likely to get on of these qualification places.
Doesn't that sound strange to you. Surely, there must be a better way and fairer way of qualifying for the World's major soccer tournament ? Well, there probably is, but FIFA want as many different nations to play their own unique brands of football in Germany 2006 and so what if a few of the world's best teams don't qualify. We can always watch Trinidad or Saudi Arabia instead.
Poland - having lost to an impressive looking England - get the other 'best runners up' place.
Congratulations to both teams are, of course, in order. Now, far be it from me to suggest that these 'best runners up' places are fixed, but the calculations are bizarre, considering that some European groups have six teams and some have seven. If you are unfortunate enough - like the Czech Republic - to be in a group with seven teams, then your results against the lowest placed team in the group don't count, making it less likely to get on of these qualification places.
Doesn't that sound strange to you. Surely, there must be a better way and fairer way of qualifying for the World's major soccer tournament ? Well, there probably is, but FIFA want as many different nations to play their own unique brands of football in Germany 2006 and so what if a few of the world's best teams don't qualify. We can always watch Trinidad or Saudi Arabia instead.
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posted by mark_s at 11:00 AM
2 Comments:
Sorry for adding this as a comment but I didn't see other contact info:
I've been trying to buy conditional tickets for the world cup and discovered that unless I have a mastercard or live in germany I can't!
I've posted abotu this on my own blog and I'm hoping to see if this is a major issue for other people as well.
http://richchestmat.blogspot.com/2005/11/trying-to-pay-for-fifa-world-cup.html
Rich,
The Mastercard thing is a nightmare. Allowing a sponsor to dictate how fans can buy tickets is diabolical. As if it isn't tough enough to get tickets. For other people reading this, here's the direct link to Rich's blog :
http://richchestmat.blogspot.com/2005/11/trying-to-pay-for-fifa-world-cup.html
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