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nighthawk252 t1_jc78g54 wrote

Thankfully they’re scrapping the 3 team group format.

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poklane t1_jc88jbr wrote

Regardless the format still sucks. A good format with 48 teams simply doesn't exist.

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sebystee t1_jc8aftn wrote

It does have the benefit that every team will go into the last match day of having at least a mathematical chance of qualifying as teams a number of teams will qualify from 3rd place. It does have the disadvantage of having teams in later groups knowing results of earlier games and potentially being able 'fix' their games accordingly. Every as system has its flaws, but I feel they should've just left it at 32 as it has the least and ensures only quality teams will qualify for the final tournament.

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cornybloodfarts t1_jc8dhxi wrote

Like Qatar?

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OGCJayT t1_jc8ds0z wrote

Host always qualifies for free

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SonOfAhuraMazda t1_jc8gho3 wrote

Thats a dumb rule though

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postmawho t1_jc8ozx8 wrote

Lol. Nice take. Care to elaborate?

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vulcan_one t1_jc8rfvz wrote

What would be the incentive for hosting if your country doesn't qualify?

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postmawho t1_jc8soaw wrote

Are you asking me to elaborate/defend /u/sonofahuramazda stupid comment for him?

I literally just asked him to explain his point. Learn to read. Comprehension is important. English class matters.

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EMU4 t1_jc9qk3g wrote

He just agreed with you and added onto your comment

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JohnCocktoastener t1_jc8b5d6 wrote

March Madness style World Cup would be insane, not good necessarily, but definitely fun.

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Bashful_Tuba t1_jc8o7f9 wrote

I would have been fine with 3 team (2 games each) group stage if that meant that the mini-group stage was used as a qualifier for a double-elimination playoff format. I.e., 1st place goes to winners bracket, 2nd-3rd starts in the losers bracket so everyone was guaranteed the 3 game minimum but the bonus of a couple juicy matchups early in the winners bracket a la France vs Brazil with the loser dropping down to the losers bracket the following round but still surviving at least another game.

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sebystee t1_jc9gx2i wrote

I think it's a good format, but it would just take too long.

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mgmfa t1_jc8racx wrote

3 team groups, each group is paired with another group. Everyone in group A plays everyone in group B and no one in group A. Then the top team from each group advances to a top 16. Same number of games per team as the previous iterations, same single elim size, and each team plays exactly the same opponents.

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fatamSC2 t1_jc8jdhv wrote

I agree. The best world cup in my eyes is the same # of teams (or so) but a loser's bracket for the bracket stage. The lower scoring the sport is, the more flukey results you get when it comes to a single game. One lucky bounce, one guy slipping on some bad turf at the wrong time, etc. etc. can mean the worse team wins a best of 1. If we're truly interested in having the best team in the world win, we need to reduce the effects of flukiness like that.

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yumyumgivemesome t1_jc8xr8n wrote

I’m confused, hasn’t it always been 4 teams in each group during the group stage?

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nighthawk252 t1_jc8z23r wrote

They were planning on changing that to accommodate the larger tournament field in 2026. According to the article, that has been scrapped.

The reason I dislike 3 team groups is that it creates un-competitive incentives. Teams pretty regularly would be forced into scenarios where both teams are perfectly content with a draw in order to make sure both teams advance, and it would be to your competitive disadvantage to play in the first two games.

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