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	<title>Comments on: Cut the fat out of the World Cup</title>
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	<link>http://iran.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-blog/group-d-germany-2006/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html</link>
	<description>World Cup 2006 - Germany</description>
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		<title>By: For Honor and Glory - FIFA World Cup 2006 - Iran World Cup Team Blog</title>
		<link>http://iran.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-blog/group-d-germany-2006/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html/comment-page-1#comment-376</link>
		<dc:creator>For Honor and Glory - FIFA World Cup 2006 - Iran World Cup Team Blog</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 30 Apr 2006 19:56:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iran.worldcupblog.org/group-d/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html#comment-376</guid>
		<description>[...] If we are talking about global representation, and being one big happy family, well … I have my own thoughts on that! [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] If we are talking about global representation, and being one big happy family, well … I have my own thoughts on that! [...]</p>
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		<title>By: Dido</title>
		<link>http://iran.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-blog/group-d-germany-2006/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html/comment-page-1#comment-276</link>
		<dc:creator>Dido</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Apr 2006 22:10:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iran.worldcupblog.org/group-d/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html#comment-276</guid>
		<description>That idea sounds cool Pedro.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>That idea sounds cool Pedro.</p>
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		<title>By: Pedro P</title>
		<link>http://iran.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-blog/group-d-germany-2006/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html/comment-page-1#comment-256</link>
		<dc:creator>Pedro P</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Apr 2006 12:20:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iran.worldcupblog.org/group-d/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html#comment-256</guid>
		<description>I can only talk about Eurocups and Worldcups. I say if the nr of teams in a WC is reduced, what you&#039;ll see is an even bigger domination of european teams, Brazil + Argentina, and countries where most of the players play in european championships. 

Doesn&#039;t do much for variety... I actually think it goes against the spirit of the WC: To be GLOBAL!

BUT PLEASE, DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE USUALLY TERRIBLE LEVEL OF THE REFEREES AND THEIR TEAMS.

Europe has a lot of countries in the WC because it&#039;s a tiny continent with a huge nr of countries, older than everybody else&#039;s gandmother - apart from Asia. America, like Africa, is huge and with small nr of countries. 

To make it fair, we should build a &quot;championship / league model&quot;. But the heart of the even is in it&#039;s tournament model (knockout). 

Maybe it&#039;ll bring more confusion, but why not make a GLOBAL qualification system? And NOT divide it in continents/areas? 

As we&#039;ve seen here, FIFA doesn&#039;t lack the $. It could pay the extra travelling costs. Make some 10 huge qualification groups, with some 20 teams, world wide, and function with games (home/away) per team of each group. Than, the last 24 would move on - same rules for all groups. We&#039;d have more fairness in qualification, we&#039;d see our teams more often - more matches - the WHOLE EVENT would truelly be global. Teams like Brazil would probably be seen in the other side of the world much more frequently, and the rest of the world (US) would see the teams nobody knows exist.

Too unreal...? Club interests too big (And $ involved)...?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I can only talk about Eurocups and Worldcups. I say if the nr of teams in a WC is reduced, what you&#8217;ll see is an even bigger domination of european teams, Brazil + Argentina, and countries where most of the players play in european championships. </p>
<p>Doesn&#8217;t do much for variety&#8230; I actually think it goes against the spirit of the WC: To be GLOBAL!</p>
<p>BUT PLEASE, DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE USUALLY TERRIBLE LEVEL OF THE REFEREES AND THEIR TEAMS.</p>
<p>Europe has a lot of countries in the WC because it&#8217;s a tiny continent with a huge nr of countries, older than everybody else&#8217;s gandmother &#8211; apart from Asia. America, like Africa, is huge and with small nr of countries. </p>
<p>To make it fair, we should build a &#8220;championship / league model&#8221;. But the heart of the even is in it&#8217;s tournament model (knockout). </p>
<p>Maybe it&#8217;ll bring more confusion, but why not make a GLOBAL qualification system? And NOT divide it in continents/areas? </p>
<p>As we&#8217;ve seen here, FIFA doesn&#8217;t lack the $. It could pay the extra travelling costs. Make some 10 huge qualification groups, with some 20 teams, world wide, and function with games (home/away) per team of each group. Than, the last 24 would move on &#8211; same rules for all groups. We&#8217;d have more fairness in qualification, we&#8217;d see our teams more often &#8211; more matches &#8211; the WHOLE EVENT would truelly be global. Teams like Brazil would probably be seen in the other side of the world much more frequently, and the rest of the world (US) would see the teams nobody knows exist.</p>
<p>Too unreal&#8230;? Club interests too big (And $ involved)&#8230;?</p>
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		<title>By: Luis Paulo</title>
		<link>http://iran.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-blog/group-d-germany-2006/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html/comment-page-1#comment-254</link>
		<dc:creator>Luis Paulo</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Apr 2006 23:11:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iran.worldcupblog.org/group-d/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html#comment-254</guid>
		<description>There was a lot of surprises in the others WC. What about Cameroon v Argentina in 90? And Nigeria, Sweden and Bulgaria in 94? Morrocos in 86...

I believe Africa should get 4 teams. Central America does not have 3 teams good enough to be playing a World Cup</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There was a lot of surprises in the others WC. What about Cameroon v Argentina in 90? And Nigeria, Sweden and Bulgaria in 94? Morrocos in 86&#8230;</p>
<p>I believe Africa should get 4 teams. Central America does not have 3 teams good enough to be playing a World Cup</p>
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		<title>By: Dido</title>
		<link>http://iran.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-blog/group-d-germany-2006/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html/comment-page-1#comment-253</link>
		<dc:creator>Dido</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Apr 2006 22:11:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iran.worldcupblog.org/group-d/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html#comment-253</guid>
		<description>Reducing the number of teams in the WC is not a good ideia. It will mean that good players might miss the WC if their team have a few bad games. It will also be boring to know that there wont be any more surprises like the Senegal v France in 2002.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Reducing the number of teams in the WC is not a good ideia. It will mean that good players might miss the WC if their team have a few bad games. It will also be boring to know that there wont be any more surprises like the Senegal v France in 2002.</p>
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		<title>By: Gus</title>
		<link>http://iran.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-blog/group-d-germany-2006/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html/comment-page-1#comment-252</link>
		<dc:creator>Gus</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Apr 2006 22:01:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iran.worldcupblog.org/group-d/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html#comment-252</guid>
		<description>Is it just me or is everybody here overrating South American teams? At the moment they have 4.5 spots in a 32 team tournament, and most people are giving them more than that in a 24 team tournament. Maybe you&#039;re trying to say that there isn&#039;t enough at the moment? There are 10  countries in CONMEBOL, somehow I feel giving them 6 spots in a 24 team tournament is a bit too much. 

Yeah, Colombia and Uruguay are good teams, but if they can&#039;t beat Paraguay or Ecuador&#039;s record, they certainly don&#039;t deserve to be among the best in the region. 

Another idea would be to give a combined number of spots for both CONCACAF &amp; CONMEBOL, and they should qualify together. Maybe have something like in Europe with groups, but combining the two confederations. That way CONMEBOL teams would stop complaining about how easy the strong CONCACAF teams have it in qualifying.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Is it just me or is everybody here overrating South American teams? At the moment they have 4.5 spots in a 32 team tournament, and most people are giving them more than that in a 24 team tournament. Maybe you&#8217;re trying to say that there isn&#8217;t enough at the moment? There are 10  countries in CONMEBOL, somehow I feel giving them 6 spots in a 24 team tournament is a bit too much. </p>
<p>Yeah, Colombia and Uruguay are good teams, but if they can&#8217;t beat Paraguay or Ecuador&#8217;s record, they certainly don&#8217;t deserve to be among the best in the region. </p>
<p>Another idea would be to give a combined number of spots for both CONCACAF &amp; CONMEBOL, and they should qualify together. Maybe have something like in Europe with groups, but combining the two confederations. That way CONMEBOL teams would stop complaining about how easy the strong CONCACAF teams have it in qualifying.</p>
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		<title>By: Bob</title>
		<link>http://iran.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-blog/group-d-germany-2006/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html/comment-page-1#comment-251</link>
		<dc:creator>Bob</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Apr 2006 21:04:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iran.worldcupblog.org/group-d/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html#comment-251</guid>
		<description>Forget contraction.  We need expansion!  I say we go for 64 teams this way:

8 Africa
8 CONCACAF
16 Europe
8 South America
8 Oceana
8 Asia
8 Planets other than Earth</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Forget contraction.  We need expansion!  I say we go for 64 teams this way:</p>
<p>8 Africa<br />
8 CONCACAF<br />
16 Europe<br />
8 South America<br />
8 Oceana<br />
8 Asia<br />
8 Planets other than Earth</p>
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		<title>By: Warrior Music - FIFA World Cup 2006 - Trinidad and Tobago World Cup Team Blog</title>
		<link>http://iran.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-blog/group-d-germany-2006/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html/comment-page-1#comment-250</link>
		<dc:creator>Warrior Music - FIFA World Cup 2006 - Trinidad and Tobago World Cup Team Blog</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:53:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iran.worldcupblog.org/group-d/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html#comment-250</guid>
		<description>[...] As I pondered how best to riposte to a couple of my fellow bloggers over whether the World Cup should have 32, 16 or 24 teams, I found myself humming that Warrior Nation anthem - Maximus Dan&#8217;s Fighter. [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] As I pondered how best to riposte to a couple of my fellow bloggers over whether the World Cup should have 32, 16 or 24 teams, I found myself humming that Warrior Nation anthem &#8211; Maximus Dan&#8217;s Fighter. [...]</p>
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		<title>By: Afshin Afshar</title>
		<link>http://iran.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-blog/group-d-germany-2006/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html/comment-page-1#comment-249</link>
		<dc:creator>Afshin Afshar</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:51:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iran.worldcupblog.org/group-d/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html#comment-249</guid>
		<description>Too many for Africa. Make it 

2 and 1/2 Asia
1/2 Oceania
3 Africa
5 South America
3 Nort &amp; Central America
10 Europe 

and we have a deal :)</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Too many for Africa. Make it </p>
<p>2 and 1/2 Asia<br />
1/2 Oceania<br />
3 Africa<br />
5 South America<br />
3 Nort &amp; Central America<br />
10 Europe </p>
<p>and we have a deal <img src='http://iran.worldcupblog.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>By: Luis Paulo</title>
		<link>http://iran.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-blog/group-d-germany-2006/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html/comment-page-1#comment-248</link>
		<dc:creator>Luis Paulo</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:48:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iran.worldcupblog.org/group-d/cut-the-fat-out-of-the-world-cup.html#comment-248</guid>
		<description>3 to North &amp; Central America is too much. 6 to South too. My suggestion would be

2 and 1/2 Asia
1/2 Oceania
4 Africa
5 South America
2 Nort &amp; Central America
10 Europe</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>3 to North &amp; Central America is too much. 6 to South too. My suggestion would be</p>
<p>2 and 1/2 Asia<br />
1/2 Oceania<br />
4 Africa<br />
5 South America<br />
2 Nort &amp; Central America<br />
10 Europe</p>
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