Semi Finals - France v Spain (Wed), England v Argentina (Thu)

coochiee wrote:
A big negative of going 64 teams, would be removing alot of the drama and excitement of actual WC qualification.

Like you would probably have say 8-9 teams qualify from CONEMBOL's 10 teams. Many qualifiers would have little edge or meaning.

8-9 teams from CONCACAF would see the US, Mexico and Canada cakewalk it every time now. When in the past all have failed, or only just qualified. 

Some of the most memorable games for 3 Lions football fans have been failed qualification (Poland at Wembley 1973), or knife edge qualification, like Paul Ince and his head bandage in Rome 1997.

Other international team fans would get a touch of the feeling AWs fans have now. Limited/less meaningful games between WCs.

Mainland FC wrote:

 coochiee wrote:
A big negative of going 64 teams, would be removing alot of the drama and excitement of actual WC qualification.

Like you would probably have say 8-9 teams qualify from CONEMBOL's 10 teams. Many qualifiers would have little edge or meaning.

8-9 teams from CONCACAF would see the US, Mexico and Canada cakewalk it every time now. When in the past all have failed, or only just qualified. 

Some of the most memorable games for 3 Lions football fans have been failed qualification (Poland at Wembley 1973), or knife edge qualification, like Paul Ince and his head bandage in Rome 1997.

Other international team fans would get a touch of the feeling AWs fans have now. Limited/less meaningful games between WCs.

We have some memories in common.  I of course watched the October 1973 England vs Poland game on the telly, the final game of the WC 1974 qualifications.  
The game itself was not a failure for England - the real failure was their loss earlier (June?) in the away leg to Poland at Chorzow.  Poland won that game 2:0 and it should have been an alarm bell for Sir Alf Ramsay. 
You can argue that Poland was simply a very good team then (they won gold for football at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, and in the end they came third at the 1974 World Cup).  But I prefer to think that there was a deeper problem with English football at that time since they also missed out on the very next WC 1978.

coochiee wrote:

 Mainland FC wrote:

 coochiee wrote:
A big negative of going 64 teams, would be removing alot of the drama and excitement of actual WC qualification.

Like you would probably have say 8-9 teams qualify from CONEMBOL's 10 teams. Many qualifiers would have little edge or meaning.

8-9 teams from CONCACAF would see the US, Mexico and Canada cakewalk it every time now. When in the past all have failed, or only just qualified. 

Some of the most memorable games for 3 Lions football fans have been failed qualification (Poland at Wembley 1973), or knife edge qualification, like Paul Ince and his head bandage in Rome 1997.

Other international team fans would get a touch of the feeling AWs fans have now. Limited/less meaningful games between WCs.

We have some memories in common.  I of course watched the October 1973 England vs Poland game on the telly, the final game of the WC 1974 qualifications.  
The game itself was not a failure for England - the real failure was their loss earlier (June?) in the away leg to Poland at Chorzow.  Poland won that game 2:0 and it should have been an alarm bell for Sir Alf Ramsay. 
You can argue that Poland was simply a very good team then (they won gold for football at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, and in the end they came third at the 1974 World Cup).  But I prefer to think that there was a deeper problem with English football at that time since they also missed out on the very next WC 1978.

Not quite old enough to remember 1973, but lived in the UK for a few years, and read enough to know that the performance of the Polish keeper that October at Wembley belongs in football WC qualification folklore.

1997 was travelling around Europe, and I think in some pub saw England grab a 0-0 draw in Rome. Ince in his iconic bloodied head bandage. Rioting Ingerland fans fighting the Carabinieri on the Spanish Steps.  

Tartan Kiwi wrote:

 coochiee wrote:

 Mainland FC wrote:

 coochiee wrote:
A big negative of going 64 teams, would be removing alot of the drama and excitement of actual WC qualification.

Like you would probably have say 8-9 teams qualify from CONEMBOL's 10 teams. Many qualifiers would have little edge or meaning.

8-9 teams from CONCACAF would see the US, Mexico and Canada cakewalk it every time now. When in the past all have failed, or only just qualified. 

Some of the most memorable games for 3 Lions football fans have been failed qualification (Poland at Wembley 1973), or knife edge qualification, like Paul Ince and his head bandage in Rome 1997.

Other international team fans would get a touch of the feeling AWs fans have now. Limited/less meaningful games between WCs.

We have some memories in common.  I of course watched the October 1973 England vs Poland game on the telly, the final game of the WC 1974 qualifications.  
The game itself was not a failure for England - the real failure was their loss earlier (June?) in the away leg to Poland at Chorzow.  Poland won that game 2:0 and it should have been an alarm bell for Sir Alf Ramsay. 
You can argue that Poland was simply a very good team then (they won gold for football at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, and in the end they came third at the 1974 World Cup).  But I prefer to think that there was a deeper problem with English football at that time since they also missed out on the very next WC 1978.

Not quite old enough to remember 1973, but lived in the UK for a few years, and read enough to know that the performance of the Polish keeper that October at Wembley belongs in football WC qualification folklore.

1997 was travelling around Europe, and I think in some pub saw England grab a 0-0 draw in Rome. Ince in his iconic bloodied head bandage. Rioting Ingerland fans fighting the Carabinieri on the Spanish Steps.  

I agree that 64 teams will reduce the drama. A couple of dramatic qualifying matches that I remember involve Wales and Scotland.

Welsh fans never forget the 1977 qualifier for the 1978 Argentina finals played at Anfield which was 0-0 until the 78th minute when Scotland scored from the spot ... the only problem was that the raised hand that touched the ball came from Joe Jordan of Scotland not a Welsh defender. Scotland added a second through Kenny Dalglish but the Welsh always wonder what if as Scotland topped the three team pool (Czechoslovakia were the other team) to secure the only qualifying spot. There were only 16 teams in Argentina and for the only time in world cup history Scotland were there but England weren't.

The two sides met again in 1985 at Ninian Park where Scotland (GD +4), Wales (GD +1) and Spain (GD -1) were all level on 6 points with a match to go. Spain hosted Iceland in the other match. Only the winner went through with the runner up facing an intercontinental play off. Wales scored in the first half and still led 1-0 with 10 minutes to go when Scotland were awarded another penalty which did at least hit a Welsh player this time. The match finished 1-1 while Spain beat Iceland 2-1 to top the group leaving Scotland playoff bound and Wales out. Of course the match will always be remembered for the tragic death of manager Jock Stein who collapsed with a couple of minutes to go.

Alex Ferguson took charge for the playoff which Scotland won 2-0 on aggregate against Australia (2-0 at Hampden then 0-0 in Melbourne which I remember listening to at school in Edinburgh on a radio that the teacher had brought in for what was meant to be a maths class I think).