Well, following Dyke's mooting of the Premiership re-vamp, FIFA appear to be contemplating expanding the World Cup to 40 countries! Another masterstroke, raising many questions such as where do the additional 8 come from. Surely not South America as almost every country qualifies already, Europe could possibly take another couple but Afirca? Another what 3 or 4? Australasia another 1? But the fundamental problem surely comes back to the maths. 32 works. 8 groups of 4, top 2 go through etc. With 40, you end with what exactly? Probably 8 groups of 5 presumably. Even more sh*te group games and an even longer tournament which would bore the ar*e of most people as it is long enough already. Please leave alone. Do we agree?
I think you're spot on Thurnby and it's just a means to make those who want to watch it have to endure pretty meaningless first round games!!!!
Sorry, bit it's a load of bollox - as alluded to in the OP. I thought Ranieri was supposed to be the 'tinkerman' - but recently everybody else, including Greg Dyke and now FIFA want to claim the title as their own The format works perfectly well as it is. By all means have more zonal pre-qualifiers thatt the global audience doesn't have to be subjected to watching - but leave the tournament format just as it is
I believe it was the Schalke manager who was asked about this, and replied "I didn't realise there was anyone left at FIFA to discuss this!" Surprised that they can change the format without consulting the countries actually. Wait no this is FIFA...
