***Official*** Road to World Cup 2014

[Magrat Garlick]

I think this shows FIFA is a little more decentralized than it's portrayed at times though. Fairly obvious Blatter doesn't know what the hell he's supposed to do with this tournament.

 

[marc71178]

What kind of "disruption" do you mean, though? They'll all need to take a one-off mid season break for the World Cup but it's the same for every team. What bad things are actually going to happen as a result? It's a genuine question. I'd like to come up with an excuse to keep the WC in the summer but I can't think of any.

To fit in a big enough break (say 2 months minimum) you need to extend the season - this will then have knock on effects on the season's either side of it.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah I gathered that, but why is it a problem? It's the same for every team in Europe, it's not handing anyone any advantage. There shouldn't be any more burn-out because players will still have the same amount of football to play. I literally can't think of a single adverse effect.

 

[Pothas]

I think this shows FIFA is a little more decentralized than it's portrayed at times though. Fairly obvious Blatter doesn't know what the hell he's supposed to do with this tournament.

Yeah, apparently Blatter was never keen on Qatar.

 

[sledger]

Yeah I gathered that, but why is it a problem? It's the same for every team in Europe, it's not handing anyone any advantage. There shouldn't be any more burn-out because players will still have the same amount of football to play. I literally can't think of a single adverse effect.

Dunno, I can see several reasons why teams wouldn't be especially keen to just break halfway through the season. Could potentially be a massive momentum killer for one. I also imagine, not actually got any evidence for this, that the domestic games played throughout the Christmas period are probably some of the most profitable for domestic clubs as well, in the UK at least. I'd certainly miss those games from a fan's pov anyway.

Above all else though, whilst one might argue there's no real reason for not holding the WC in winter, there aren't really a lot of incentives for domestic football bodies to bend over backwards to pander to the wishes of FIFA, and in particular, for a tournament, the handling of which to date has been a bit of a farce.

 

[Pothas]

Qatar will probably own half of European football anyway by 2022.

 

[sledger]

The whole thing is a huge balls up really. If the bid made by Qatar had originally suggested they would look to hold the tournament in the winter, then I would be less aggrieved with the whole thing. The fact that Blatter and his cronies are objecting to this time slot now, despite the fact that it was an explicit part of the Qatari proposal, just shows how badly this whole thing has been handled. Something has to give, because things staying as they are currently is totally unfeasible. But whatever FIFA choose to do, it will draw the ire of someone. What a mess.

 

[Uppercut]

Dunno, I can see several reasons why teams wouldn't be especially keen to just break halfway through the season. Could potentially be a massive momentum killer for one. I also imagine, not actually got any evidence for this, that the domestic games played throughout the Christmas period are probably some of the most profitable for domestic clubs as well, in the UK at least. I'd certainly miss those games from a fan's pov anyway.

It being a momentum killer isn't a bad thing, it's a neutral thing. If it's bad for one club that means it's good for another. It's a zero-sum game. I'd miss the Christmas games too but having a World Cup on instead would more than soften the blow. I'm not sure the losses would be significant, you'd expect there to be quite a lot of interest in decisive league games in early July.

It's one of those things I instinctively reacted against but when I thought about it, all of my objections were pretty lame. They might as well just move it to winter, it'll surely make for a better standard of football.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Relating to UC's point about it being a global event; if you always have it in European summer you remove a significant portion of the globe from ever hosting it. Is that fair?

 

[Rajwinder]

Tennis Akademie


thanks for imformation

 

[Burgey]

Relating to UC's point about it being a global event; if you always have it in European summer you remove a significant portion of the globe from ever hosting it. Is that fair?

Not really imo, because in most, if not all of the Southern Hemisphere countries which could realistically host it the summers are way too hot..

 

[GIMH]

Relating to UC's point about it being a global event; if you always have it in European summer you remove a significant portion of the globe from ever hosting it. Is that fair?

Should all be in Europe anyway aside from the odd token South American effort

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Should all be in Europe anyway aside from the odd token South American effort

 

[grecian]

I disagree with you, but I'm swayed by J-Law.

 

[GIMH]

It's usually when I post my full draft XI that I get that avatar

 

[Burgey]

When are the next round of qualifiers for the European sides?

 

[Magrat Garlick]

When are the next round of qualifiers for the European sides?

Beginning of September. (Except for Northern Ireland who play on 14 August for some reason)

 

[Burgey]

Cheers.

 

[BoyBrumby]

My, Moldova are average, eh?

Can't believe they've taken points from Poland and the Ukraine.

 

[Scaly piscine]

They're rank. Even if they made Townsend's favourites list he'd have trouble fellating them based on this performance.