Did I miss Alaska breaking away from the USA to become a country in its own right ? I don't recall SEXIT happening.
only a complete and utter idiot would consider having 48 teams in the wc finals has any merit. fifa, of course, has never had any shortage of complete and utter idiots. after the eventual and long overdue flushing of the turd septic blatter, i had hoped for better, but it looks like infantissimo is living down to his name. the 48 team plan is purely for money. if a quarter of all countries qualify, it's hardly elite. on top of that, fifa plans to have three-team groups. we've only to look back to the last time they used this ******ed braindead notion. it doesn't work, as will be obvious in 2026. those of us old enough to recall 1982 when fifa in its total lack of wisdom learnt that obvious lesson that the final games in a group have to be played at the same time. again, bloody obvious to all but those in the sport's giverning body. the filthy ****ty cheating bastard krauts and their filthy ****ty cheating bastard austrian neighbours arranging a result that meant both went into the next round after playing out the last 80 minutes of the match without any of them venturing into the other team's half. this meant both went through instead of the more deserving algeria. the fecal germs and their rancid neighbours should have been banned for decades after this (see also spain v holland final). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disgrace_of_Gijón of course, the disgusting lavatory flushings that go by the name of sepp blatter had managed to award the 2022 world cup to the savages that live in the snot hole that is qatar. the rulers of that putrid cowpat operate under the rules of that well-known religion of peace which allows - nay, instructs - its adherents to treat the rest of humanity like ****, which they did with their usual vigour, resulting in the wholesale importing of unfortunates who died by the dozen, with those lucky enough to survive unable to take an early trip home due to confiscations of their passports. many that did eventually get out were never paid the pittance the lying festering pusbrained qataris had promised them. if there's a god, blatter, you are screwed for eternity, and you deserve it, you utter **nt. of course, a bit of ceremony and some intermittent low grade motson-glorified football later and all memories of the crap will be washed away. the days of oil dependency will arrive one day, and the middle eastern states full of dirty savages will once more be worth sweet fa, and they can return to their natural lifestyle of bestiality.
They were a founder member until they switched to the Asian Federation back in 2006. Has been far easier for them to qualify in this group than the Oceania route as per the New Zealand example above. If the teams had increased to 48, Oceania would have had 1 team guaranteed to qualify and New Zealand would have been favourites for that spot
