World Cup, NCAA Style Part II
We're off to a good start in the Spain-led South Region. (If you missed the tournament introduction and first four voting matchups, click here right away.)
Let's continue with the final pairings in the South:
By
Steve Goff
|
March 16, 2009; 2:06 PM ET
Categories:
FIFA
,
Poll
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Posted by: sitruc | March 16, 2009 2:40 PM | Report abuse
I would have thought Finland was higher ranked than that. Not sure why I thought that....
Posted by: JkR- | March 16, 2009 2:47 PM | Report abuse
This is an awesome idea for a thread Mr. Goff!
Keep up the good work.
My question for you though, is did you have a draw to select any of these match ups or were they all based on the world ranking seedings?
Posted by: douglasquaid | March 16, 2009 2:54 PM | Report abuse
How did two African countries end up playing each other in the first round? I think the Committee should've done a better job at selecting ;)
Posted by: Reignking | March 16, 2009 3:02 PM | Report abuse
something tells me most voters on this site are Euro- and US-centric. We might see the US and England in the final. haha.
Upsets seem unlikely in this polling scheme, but I do like the idea :)
Posted by: nico78 | March 16, 2009 3:30 PM | Report abuse
Awesome idea Goff, especially since I just started spring break - plenty of time on my hands.
But here's why it would never work in the real world:
[1] it's every 4 years; too heartbreaking to wait and fight that long only to be sent home after a single loss;
[2] the big guns would never let it happen; too much risk in suffering an upset.
And who voted for Hungary?!
Posted by: Washago | March 16, 2009 3:49 PM | Report abuse
The 6-11 and 7-10 matchups are always prime for upsets.
Posted by: SonicDeathMonkey | March 16, 2009 4:30 PM | Report abuse
To make this a little more interesting, it would be fun to use the results of the polls to set the odds, then use some random system to pick the winner based on those odds (the electronic version of having a hundred balls, coloring them based on the poll results, and picking one out of a hat)
Posted by: agaro43 | March 16, 2009 5:21 PM | Report abuse
I refuse to participate in this cheap and transparent attempt to increase web hits.
Posted by: I-270Exit1 | March 16, 2009 8:58 PM | Report abuse
How do I delete that previous comment?
Dammit I did it again.
Posted by: I-270Exit1 | March 16, 2009 8:59 PM | Report abuse
Hungary is a halfway decent side, in fact they are second in their world cup qualifying group right now. Ahead of the likes of Sweden and Portugal.
Posted by: douglasquaid | March 16, 2009 9:54 PM | Report abuse
Great idea goffer. This tournament, however, does bring up one of my biggest gripes about World Cup 2010: how does Asia have the same number of bids (4 + 1 playoff as South America)? Given that Asia's playoff is against Oceania and South America against Concacaf, the Asia scenario is even worse.
To illustrate this point, let me utilize FIFA's world rankings. I know they don't mean anything, but using these FIFA rankings lets FIFA argue against itself.
Top 5 South American countries:
5 - Brazil
6 - Argentina
15 - Paraguay
21 - Uruguay
30 - Chile
Top 5 Asian countries:
32 - Australia
35 - Japan
42 - Iran
44 - Korea Republic
55 - Saudi Arabia
That's right, the top team in Asia is ranked lower than the fifth team in South America. I'm all for regional diversity in the World Cup but Asia deserves at most 3 teams plus 1 playoff, and even that's generous.
Posted by: diego_r | March 16, 2009 10:16 PM | Report abuse
Fun idea!
Posted by: croftonpost | March 16, 2009 11:55 PM | Report abuse
I want to see the entire field of 64. We could still vote each day, but it would be better to see them all...
Posted by: cool_PJ | March 17, 2009 9:18 AM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.
I hate these polls where the percentages don't add up to 100%.