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Sure, but those matches, especially in the group stage, are going to be very underwhelming. Right now, each group consists of, more or less, two of the top 16 teams in the tournament so we're guaranteed some of these interesting matchups like Belgium-England, Portugal-Spain, Brazil-Switzerland, Mexico-Germany, and many others that don't feature big names but are just as intriguing. In the new format, the top 16 teams will all be in separate groups and so you'll see less of that.
Making matters worse, I also expect that there will be a number of early knockout round upsets because inferior teams will "park the bus" and play for penalty kicks. I would like to see more matches between the best teams in the world, particularly in the later rounds, and I suspect that this is statistically less likely to happen with the new format.
But more money.
Once the knock round starts (round of 32) those teams will be playing each other in knock out games instead of group play.
Yeah there might be some parking the bus games and I also do have a fear of some collusion for the 3rd game when the last two teams will know what score will be needed for both those teams to advance, but it's going to change if we like it or not...
Once the knock round starts (round of 32) those teams will be playing each other in knock out games instead of group play.
True. With 32 teams however those matches theoretically won't happen until the round of 16, which means they have to get by a potential round of 32 upset (where parking the bus will come into play) for us to even get to that point. Whereas in the current format we're guaranteed matches between top 16 teams.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sjinnj
Yeah there might be some parking the bus games and I also do have a fear of some collusion for the 3rd game when the last two teams will know what score will be needed for both those teams to advance, but it's going to change if we like it or not...
In some ways the new format will allow for more meaningful matchups because more of the best teams in the world will be participating. Right now although the World Cup has 32 teams, these aren't really the best 32 teams in the world. So you'll see more teams (like Chile, Italy, Netherlands, etc.) actually in the field, which will help the quality of the matches to some degree.
I should admit that I've more recently come to prefer the Copa America and European Championship over the World Cup at least in terms of the quality of matchups.
Edmonton, Nashville, Cincinnati and Baltimore but not Vancouver, Portland, Columbus and Chicago
Both Chicago and Vancouver voluntarily dropped out during application process and both Portland and Columbus didn't even submit a bid to want to host matches in 2026 during the application process.
Edmonton, Nashville, Cincinnati and Baltimore but not Vancouver, Portland, Columbus and Chicago
Portland was not part of the bid because the city and metro area lack an appropriate stadium. Since Portland does not have an NFL team (or even a college football team), they lack a stadium that can seat over 50,000. I believe the Timbers' stadium seats around 22,000 - that's far too small. Vancouver and Chicago are both very surprising, but as mentioned they bowed out on their own. Columbus has a massive stadium at Ohio State, but I am not sure if it can be configured for a soccer field. The stadium also seats over 100,000 - which would make it the largest of the bid, maybe the committee felt they could not sell 100,000 tickets in Columbus or that they did not want such a large stadium in a very secondary city overshadowing the other stadiums.
Host cities are finally decided or their is a scope of further cuts in the number of cities ??
There will be further cuts for the US hosts. Canada and Mexico are finalized, US will be cutting from 17 down to 10. 16 total host cities - 3 in Canada, 3 in Mexico and 10 in the US. Currently there are 17 finalists to host in the US. We already know New York will be one of the hosts as it's slated to host the final.
Columbus has a massive stadium at Ohio State, but I am not sure if it can be configured for a soccer field. The stadium also seats over 100,000 - which would make it the largest of the bid, maybe the committee felt they could not sell 100,000 tickets in Columbus or that they did not want such a large stadium in a very secondary city overshadowing the other stadiums.
The Crew actually played at Ohio Stadium in its early years in the mid-1990s, so the stadium at least one point could be configured for soccer. However it was renovated in 2001 (after the Crew moved to its soccer-specific stadium), and as part of the renovation the field was lowered so more seats could be added so it's possible that now the field wouldn't be big enough for FIFA's expected field dimensions for the World Cup. The other issue is that Ohio Stadium is essentially all bleacher seating and FIFA expects venues that have regular seating.
Bucket seating is a must for any FIFA event. That will rule out Ohio Stadium unless they make renovations.
Not necessarily, the Rose Bowl is the only venue left for LA in the 2026 World Cup application bid and it's almost guaranteed they will be chosen as one of the 10 US cities to host matches and I don't see them replacing all those bleachers with individual seats before 2026. Maybe the Rose Bowl gets a pass from FIFA due to its history?
It's a moot point about Ohio Stadium, since Columbus didn't even apply to try and be a potential host in the 2026 World Cup application bid.
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