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On the positive front qualification for the World Cup should be a breeze in Asia.
On the negative front losing the Euro's....big yikes for me! I think the Asian nations do a tournament somewhat similar, but it's nowhere in the realm close to as popular as the Euro's are....certainly not available on TV here in the states, and if it is, it's on some PPV/app package. That would be a no for me, the no Euro outweighs the WC qualification.
On the positive front qualification for the World Cup should be a breeze in Asia.
South Korea, Japan, Australia, Iran and Saudi Arabia are all capable of giving Russia a game IMO. Remember that Asia only gets 4.5 (4 + a playoff against a team from South America) guaranteed spots at the world cup compared to 13 for UEFA.
I think Russia will, if anything, find it more difficult.
South Korea, Japan, Australia, Iran and Saudi Arabia are all capable of giving Russia a game IMO. Remember that Asia only gets 4.5 (4 + a playoff against a team from South America) guaranteed spots at the world cup compared to 13 for UEFA.
I think Russia will, if anything, find it more difficult.
Not with the expansion to 48 teams, which I believe is already in place for WC'2026.
Not with the expansion to 48 teams, which I believe is already in place for WC'2026.
Ah yeah. A horrible idea. Diluting the competition further, never mind the choice of three geographically huge hosts. Thanks FIFA.
AFC will have 8 places.
UEFA will have 16
CONCACAF will have 6
CAF will have 9
CONMEBOL will have 6 (a frankly ridiculous amount considering there's only 10 members.)
OFC will have 1.
+ 2 playoff places
Looking at Russia for that, yeah, they should be able to qualify, but they're poor at the moment, it won't be as easy as people think.
Ah yeah. A horrible idea. Diluting the competition further, never mind the choice of three geographically huge hosts. Thanks FIFA.
AFC will have 8 places.
UEFA will have 16
CONCACAF will have 6
CAF will have 9
CONMEBOL will have 6 (a frankly ridiculous amount considering there's only 10 members.)
OFC will have 1.
+ 2 playoff places
Looking at Russia for that, yeah, they should be able to qualify, but they're poor at the moment, it won't be as easy as people think.
Yeah, I freakin hate it. As an avid USMNT supporter, it will essentially yield their qualification games (post-2026 auto qualification) as pseudo-friendlies. No more big matchups against Mexico and now, Canada, because qualification will essentially be a formality. This will be the case in a number of different confederations, which I suspect will bring the quality of international soccer down as a whole.
On top of that, the actual World Cup is going to suffer from the diluted pool. I think the plan is 16 three team groups? Something like that. Regardless, we are going to see way more 7-0 games in the group stage and no one wants to watch that crap.
Ah yeah. A horrible idea. Diluting the competition further, never mind the choice of three geographically huge hosts. Thanks FIFA.
AFC will have 8 places.
UEFA will have 16
CONCACAF will have 6
CAF will have 9 CONMEBOL will have 6 (a frankly ridiculous amount considering there's only 10 members.)
OFC will have 1.
+ 2 playoff places
Looking at Russia for that, yeah, they should be able to qualify, but they're poor at the moment, it won't be as easy as people think.
In the truth COMENBOL has only 2 places because Brazil and Argentina always go and often Uruguay and countries like Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru are in the same level than USA and Mexico that has guaranteed vacancies in the weak CONCACAF of many small island countries.
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