2018 World Cup running thread

FIFA goes in exactly the opposite direction. They want countries from every region in the Cup, because all nations have their own currency. Most of all, FIFA wishes China didn't suck at soccer. All that money gone to waste.

 

Gird your loins, then, because from 2022 on the World Cup is going to be 48 teams instead of 32. Big-name teams will really have to shit the bed to miss out with 16 extra bids (and, apparently, Oceania still not getting a full berth).

 

I imagine FIFA will be just fine with where China is so long as Chinese sponsors continue lining their pockets. Xi Jinping, on the other hand, will be far less sanguine and, unlike FIFA, is in position to do something about it.

 

Cool map. I don't feel like an unwashed Yank anymore. (Well, at least until we talk about the metric system.)

 

Lot of great teams shut out without Oceania not getting a full berth. Hope they change that.

 

New Zealand playing Italy to a scoreless draw in 2010 is maybe my favourite scoreless draw of all time.

 

Really? Where was the game played? The one at the World Cup was 1-1.

 

So it's Soccer in Ireland and futbol in N. Ireland. Awesome.

 

They also have Gaelic Football in Ireland.

 

Instead of a bidding process, can't they play some of those expanded bracket games in Dayton?

 

Columbia...

Ugh.

 

COLOMBIA. The capital of South Carolina is not playing in the World Cup.