So the other day Andorra clashed with The Feroes Islands in a WC qualifier.
Ok lads you can stop laughing now ...
Fans of nations such as Andorra , the Feroes Islands , Gibraltar , San Marino , Malta , Luxembourg , Lichtenstein , etc... will never ever see their team in the world cup. So they hardly ever get excited about watching their country play essentially meaningless matches all the time.
So what if FIFA/UEFA decided to create a special qualifying group for the nations mentioned above and the winners of the group get to play against the last-placed qualifier from Africa , Asia , CONCACAF or any other region in a two-legged play-off.
Mind you they will still struggle to make it into the actual tournament but at least it gives them and their fans much more hope and actually will get them excited about foitball ffs!!
I mean if Australia can become an "asian country" because we all got tired of watching them score 32 goals against Samoa or 20+ goals against Vanuatu in a qualifier , then surely FIFA can do this.
Just imagine Andorra in a world cup match against England. England might actually win a match for a change
But then again ...
World Cup Qualifiers
posted on 28/3/17
comment by Igor the last word. (U1993)
posted 5 minutes ago
DC, I'm not getting personal with you per say.
But the reality is that the Faroe Islands whilst I like the them and let's face it the rest mentioned are similar are a danger to professionals because if you play for your country you want to give it all and that could be to the detriment of someone who actually makes a living out of the game.
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No worries. Don't take anything on here personally.
What makes football a better sport, IMO, than rugby is the fact that it isn't a closed shop like the rugby six nations for example. I get what you're saying, and Cornelius' pre qualification is an interesting and workable idea, but we should never close off any avenues. I remember England regularly spanking Turkey but that gap closed in a relatively short space of time so it can be done.
posted on 28/3/17
I did hear a commentator say yesterday about England thrashing Turkey 8-0 back in the day but that doesn't happen any more.
Yet Turkey has invested, us a football mad country and has a population to find a gems.
The countries we are talking about will never get to that level.
And yes they may compete and keep the score low but at what expense defence against attack for 90 mins with turgid football.
Yip good for the soul and and football as a whole..<erm
>
And Robb as for the Lincoln argument
posted on 28/3/17
http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/365288
If only people read my articles
posted on 28/3/17
Where does it end? Stop the likes of Lincoln being allowed into the FA Cup?
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the difference is the likes of Lincoln have to go through qualifiers and a couple of rounds before the PL teams join in round 3.
Part of what people are wanting is a similar system.
posted on 28/3/17
comment by Yohan's Kebab Van (U8691)
posted 3 hours, 11 minutes ago
No but they should be made to play in pre-qualifiers against each other with the best team going through to the next stage. That way these teams actually might win a match and also aspire to improving so they can play bigger nations. The system at the moment is a joke.
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This. International football is a bore anyway
posted on 28/3/17
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 42 minutes ago
http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/365288
If only people read my articles
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Hey, it got 3 views.
2 of which were probably me from two different sources
I'll support the article in the long term much like you did my coefficient thread
posted on 28/3/17
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 1 hour, 2 minutes ago
http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/365288
If only people read my articles
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Poor tags on that.
posted on 28/3/17
We can't get too snobby about the smaller nations.
They are what they are - countries and international football is about countries vs countries rather than a place for just the elite.
San Marino has just as much right to play Germany as Spain do etc
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They've already ruined the European cup in its champions league form by prioritising the big leagues massively, let's not do it with international football. It should be the one place corporate greed shouldn't call the shots.
posted on 28/3/17
comment by Igor the last word. (U1993)
posted 8 hours, 27 minutes ago
comment by Bianconero (U6687)
posted 6 minutes ago
comment by Robb Jimmy Hustle (U21234)
posted 49 minutes ago
We can't get too snobby about the smaller nations.
They are what they are - countries and international football is about countries vs countries rather than a place for just the elite.
San Marino has just as much right to play Germany as Spain do etc
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BS.
Whilst GD can make or break a teams qualification to have part timers in it makes it a sham.
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Is there not a rule that goal difference against the bottom teams doesn't count/gets excluded because of this
Every country is entitled to compete... Any suggestion otherwise is misplaced snobbery.
posted on 28/3/17
Here we go again. The old "lesser nations don't deserve to grace the same pitch as England, Germany, Spain etc"
The UEFA qualifying sections are probably the purest part of the modern game. Everyone gets a chance to play International football against top sides. For most nations it's not actually about winning tournaments it's about being given that opportunity to be on the same pitch as Ronaldo, Iniesta, Greizmann.
Only a handful of teams are deemed capable of winning tournaments, should we have a separate qualifying round for the next tier? Really boring argument