World Cup Disappointments

Despite being entertained overall and enjoying some matches, there have been some huge disappointments with this year’s world cup. Firstly, some of the referees have been terrible. Take the Ukraine - Tunisia match. Not only did Tunisia carry the bulk of the play, but with 25m left to play a Ukranian handled the ball in the box. No call. Then about 2 minutes later Shevkenkov tripped over himself in the box and was awarded a penalty. Ukraine wins 1-0. Then there was the Dutch-Portuguese game…. Not much needs to be said about that one.

Secondly, there have been some terrible performances from teams that you would expect better from. England comes to mind. They haven’t played one good game yet, and they are in the quarter-finals. Other under-performing teams include the Netherlands, France, and Sweden.

The biggest problem in mind is that there are too many teams in this competition. Here are some revised numbers for qualifiers: Concacaf: let’s face it, all the teams suck except for Mexico. I guess concacaf needs to send two teams though. Asia: they pretty much suck. Saudi Arabia? Iran? Japan? Give them two places, not four. Concacaf and Asia can then play-off for one more spot. Africa: poor bastards. In a continent that just can’t get it right, it’s not surprising that great talent often leads nowhere. Give them 3 teams because they need something to brighten their day. And they usually play entertaining football South America: wow, check out that gap in talent between the top two teams and the bottom two. Maybe this year is an anomaly. Give them 3 places Europe: Europe needs a shakeup. No-one in the world wants to see Croatia, Serbia and Ukraine play. I would suggest that placings are decided on wins and goals, not goal difference. Give Europe 12 places, and make them fight a bit harder to get in. Host nation gets one team.

I guess that leaves just 24 teams. Perfect.