Sepp Blatter on playoffs (Please read OP)

Sepp Blatter

First off, new thread as this should not be about whether Ireland should or shouldn't be the 33rd team.

This is about what he said later in the interview:

Sepp Blatter wrote:

"On one match it is decided if you are in or out and this is not the spirit behind this World Cup, We must have a look at this. There is so much at stake."

What would you do if you were in shoes? Get rid of the home/away rule ie; There must be a win at the home game and there must be a win at the away leg?

Would it be to get rid of playoffs entirely?

Would it work that in the event of a draw after the home and away legs, a third game would be played at a neutral venue? That would be my opinion, I can't see another way.


Your thoughts?


Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/nov/30/republic-of-ireland-world-cup-fifa

GavRedKing

I think home and away is perfect, gives both teams an equal chance. There is no need for an extra 3rd game at all, waste of time and if he wanted a winner take all type 3rd game why not just play a single game.

TBH the home and away is the best option, its not FIFA's most pressing issue, they should look at how they conduct tournaments and change the format of it whenever they feel like it.

everdead.ie

Unless they took the last 8 who where qualifying and they each played each other in a neutral venue once in a table style format where top 4 go through and if there's a couple of teams on Level points at the end it goes to a head to head

noodler

From a man who decided to seed the play-offs?

A bit rich tbh.

ctrl-alt-delete

Is there is an advantage in playing the home leg 2nd? or is this just in the mind, if i were playing i think i'd be thinking it's an advantage, but then again it means nothing if you play crap in leg 1.

I'd be a fan of a one off game at a neutral venue instead of the 2 leg process.

But having said that id like to see a way where there was no need for the playoff's at all. This would mean having a pre tournement with "lesser nations" to such an extent that the number of teams in the actual qualification stage is a number which allows the top 2 teams in all groups can proceed to the WC proper. Obviously based on the number of places allocated to the UEFA section.

Ush1

I don't think there's a particular problem with the system but as someone said, if it's gonna be over 3 legs you may aswell skip the first 2 in home grounds.

Muff_Daddy

Keep the playoffs as they are, except if both teams are level after 180 minutes (including away goals) go straight to penalties. Get rid of extra time. I think the extra 30 minutes gives an unfair advantage to the home team in the 2nd leg. Should really be the way for all two legged games.

ArmaniJeanss

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

Is there is an advantage in playing the home leg 2nd?

There is but its marginal. Its about 52% of 'home in the second leg' teams go through in 2 legged ties (CL, Uefa Cup etc). By the way this is excluding games like the last 16 of the CL where the better team is predetermined to be at home in the 2nd leg.

******
By the way the idea of aggregate /away goals etc is relatively new.
There was a time (1960s I think) if team A won at home 4-0, then Team B won 1-0 at home then it was considered an overall draw and it went to a neutral playoff. Ireland lost their first WC playoff to Spain under such circumstances.

tolosenc

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

But having said that id like to see a way where there was no need for the playoff's at all. This would mean having a pre tournement with "lesser nations" to such an extent that the number of teams in the actual qualification stage is a number which allows the top 2 teams in all groups can proceed to the WC proper. Obviously based on the number of places allocated to the UEFA section.

UEFA should be doing this anyway for the upcoming Euro Qualifiers.

51 teams competing for 14 places. 7 x 7 = 49 & 7 x 2 =14. Have the lowest ranked 4 play against each other in a round robin with the top 2 entering qualification proper. Would the process really be that worse off without 2 of Liechtenstein, Malta, San Marino and Andorra? It'd remove some of those painful to look at 12-0 scorelines...

ArmaniJeanss

Toulousain wrote: »

UEFA should be doing this anyway for the upcoming Euro Qualifiers.

51 teams competing for 14 places. 7 x 7 = 49 & 7 x 2 =14. Have the lowest ranked 4 play against each other in a round robin with the top 2 entering qualification proper. Would the process really be that worse off without 2 of Liechtenstein, Malta, San Marino and Andorra? It'd remove some of those painful to look at 12-0 scorelines...

Their two big home games in a qualifying group against say Germany and Croatia, or England and Greece etc are often the only reasons that these associations are financially viable at all.

So by putting them in a pre-qualifying group you effectively kill them and lose any chance of them improving at all.

In fairness they rarely ship 12-0s anymore, so there is some improvement happening.

Bubs101

Toulousain wrote: »

UEFA should be doing this anyway for the upcoming Euro Qualifiers.

51 teams competing for 14 places. 7 x 7 = 49 & 7 x 2 =14. Have the lowest ranked 4 play against each other in a round robin with the top 2 entering qualification proper. Would the process really be that worse off without 2 of Liechtenstein, Malta, San Marino and Andorra? It'd remove some of those painful to look at 12-0 scorelines...

Or those painful 2-1 wins with a last minute goal.

The system is perfect, it's what makes the Champions League so exciting

dannydiamond

Muff_Daddy wrote: »

I think the extra 30 minutes gives an unfair advantage to the home team in the 2nd leg. Should really be the way for all two legged games.

This seems to be the popular opinion but the one thing that rarely seems to get mentioned is that the home team are always fighting the away goal rule in the event of extra time.
I think it's bizarre that after 180mins both teams are level but if extra -time finishes 1-1 the away side go through. This is grossly unfair imo.

Dont be at yourself

Scrap the play-offs, and add more groups.

orourkeda

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

Is there is an advantage in playing the home leg 2nd? or is this just in the mind, if i were playing i think i'd be thinking it's an advantage, but then again it means nothing if you play crap in leg 1.

I'd be a fan of a one off game at a neutral venue instead of the 2 leg process.

But having said that id like to see a way where there was no need for the playoff's at all. This would mean having a pre tournement with "lesser nations" to such an extent that the number of teams in the actual qualification stage is a number which allows the top 2 teams in all groups can proceed to the WC proper. Obviously based on the number of places allocated to the UEFA section.

Extra Time gives the away team to score another away goal. This would probably neutralise the effect of the extra time at home

dannydiamond

orourkeda wrote: »

Extra Time gives the away team to score another away goal. This would probably neutralise the effect of the extra time at home

Way more than neutralise imo, it gives the away side a huge advantage.

noodler

noodler wrote: »

From a man who decided to seed the play-offs?

A bit rich tbh.

I'm no fan of Blatter but aren't the play offs for the world cup always seeded?

ArmaniJeanss

dannydiamond wrote: »

Way more than neutralise imo, it gives the away side a huge advantage.

Not really, because by far the most likely outcome in extra time is that either zero goals or 1 goal will be scored, so the away goal tends not to come into it in practise (though the possiblity of it is an unquantifiable unfluence obviously).

rarnes1 wrote: »

I'm no fan of Blatter but aren't the play offs for the world cup always seeded?

Yes 2006. Yes 2010. No 2002.

shamblertine

Why not just scrap the away goal rule. I can't for the life of me think why it was ever introduced in the first place. When a team is playing away thats a disadvantage, when a teams playing in their own stadium in front of their own fans thats an advantage, why unnecessarily complicate matters by giving extra weighting to away goals over home goals. How is it then fair that 2 teams can score the same amount of goals yet one team is being judged to have won the game because of where the goals were scored??!! Ridiculous if you ask me.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Honestly, the man is FIFA's answer to Bobby "The Brain" Heenan! Who gives a **** what happens as long as his team wins. Then have a vain attempt at making it look like a fair contest, when everyone KNOWS you're talking through your arse.

ArmaniJeanss

shamblertine wrote: »

Why not just scrap the away goal rule. I can't for the life of me think why it was ever introduced in the first place. When a team is playing away thats a disadvantage, when a teams playing in their own stadium in front of their own fans thats an advantage, why unnecessarily complicate matters by giving extra weighting to away goals over home goals. How is it then fair that 2 teams can score the same amount of goals yet one team is being judged to have won the game because of where the goals were scored??!! Ridiculous if you ask me.

It was to encourage the away team in the first leg to attack. I think in the seasons before it was introduced there was loads of 0-0s in the first leg of European ties as this is a fantastic score away from home when there is no away goal rule, so away teams were sticking 10 behind the ball.
Whereas its a dodgy enough score under the current system.

I tend to agree with you though, I'd like to see away goals scrapped in say the UEFA cup for a season or two, see what effect it has average goals per game.

citytillidie

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Not really, because by far the most likely outcome in extra time is that either zero goals or 1 goal will be scored, so the away goal tends not to come into it in practise (though the possiblity of it is an unquantifiable unfluence obviously).



Yes 2006. Yes 2010. No 2002.

Only reason 2002 was not seeded was because you also had a Europe V Asia play off other two times its been all European play offs

orourkeda

rarnes1 wrote: »

I'm no fan of Blatter but aren't the play offs for the world cup always seeded?

It's not so much that the draws were seeded and probably more to do with the fact that it was decided after the qualifiers had started.

The rules were changed during the competition.

sprinkles

The home/away games aren't flawed its the fact that in the event of a draw, one team has a distinct advantage of getting the additional 30 minutes played in front of their home crowd. Penalties are the same. Unfortunately there is no obvious solution to that, however I would scrap extra time and head straight for peno's. It's not fair, but it's fairer than the current system.

I think Trap made that same point in the press conference after the defeat to France.

starbelgrade

sprinkles wrote: »

The home/away games aren't flawed its the fact that in the event of a draw, one team has a distinct advantage of getting the additional 30 minutes played in front of their home crowd. Penalties are the same. Unfortunately there is no obvious solution to that, however I would scrap extra time and head straight for peno's. It's not fair, but it's fairer than the current system.

+ 1. Go straight to penos. A third leg is like having.. well a third leg - you only need two to walk on.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

sprinkles wrote: »

The home/away games aren't flawed its the fact that in the event of a draw, one team has a distinct advantage of getting the additional 30 minutes played in front of their home crowd. Penalties are the same. Unfortunately there is no obvious solution to that, however I would scrap extra time and head straight for peno's. It's not fair, but it's fairer than the current system.

I think Trap made that same point in the press conference after the defeat to France.

... but the other team has the advantage of having longer to score an(other) away goal.

Ush1

Why are they trying to think of anything else convoluted and benile instead of accepting video technology??

Drumpot

Scrap playoffs and friendlies in europe . . .

Have less groups, more games in a group and 2 teams qualifying from each . .