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2021 Qualifiers

Pommy

Coach
Messages
14,657
Whats puzzling is the ones who miss out (like Scotland) and the Americas (Jamaica or Canada) get a second chance by going into a World Cup repechage tournament. They have two bites of the pie whilst others only have one.

The alternative is you have a straight draw and risk having France put 100 points on someone like Latvia or Norway which isn’t good for anyone.
Having a seed system isn’t unique to league or a bad system.
 

Force

Juniors
Messages
343
It's not puzzling at all. They are higher ranked than the likes of Greece, Spain, Russia etc. Losing to France and Wales, is not the same as losing to Malta or Czech Republic. So there's nothing wrong with them still being alive after this phase of qualifying.
Rankings in league are generally taken with a grain of salt, I will use the Cook Islands as an example. Theres no doubt they can put together a formidable team, good enough to challenge the top teams, problem is, they hardly play but when they do, they play top teams like Samoa, PNG, Tonga and Fiji, all of whom they usually have to beat to qualify for the World Cup. Those teams are better than the ones the European and particularly the American teams have to play but when they lose, they dont get a 2nd bite at the pie like the others.
 

Force

Juniors
Messages
343
The alternative is you have a straight draw and risk having France put 100 points on someone like Latvia or Norway which isn’t good for anyone.
Having a seed system isn’t unique to league or a bad system.
I've got no problem with the seed system, only problem I have are some teams given more than one chance to qualify while others only given one chance. Stick with the seed system, have the winner and/or runner up of the lower tier comp move up to the higher tier qualifying comp and who ever finishes in the top ranking spots take the world cup births, the road ends for the others.
 

langpark

First Grade
Messages
5,867
Rankings in league are generally taken with a grain of salt, I will use the Cook Islands as an example. Theres no doubt they can put together a formidable team, good enough to challenge the top teams, problem is, they hardly play but when they do, they play top teams like Samoa, PNG, Tonga and Fiji, all of whom they usually have to beat to qualify for the World Cup. Those teams are better than the ones the European and particularly the American teams have to play but when they lose, they dont get a 2nd bite at the pie like the others.
I didn't mean the actual rankings, I meant the standard of each country.

And again, I will say, it shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that the likes of Ukraine, Czech etc. would need to win more games than the likes of France, Wales, Ireland etc. in order to qualify.
 

Force

Juniors
Messages
343
I didn't mean the actual rankings, I meant the standard of each country.

And again, I will say, it shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that the likes of Ukraine, Czech etc. would need to win more games than the likes of France, Wales, Ireland etc. in order to qualify.
Yes, but that doesnt explain why a Country like the Cook Islands is never given a 2nd chance when they have to play better teams than the European and American teams.
 

titoelcolombiano

First Grade
Messages
5,276
Yes, but that doesnt explain why a Country like the Cook Islands is never given a 2nd chance when they have to play better teams than the European and American teams.

Probably because Asia Pacific already have 6 countries in the world cup. There has to be a limit somewhere otherwise the world cup will be England, NZ, Australia and 13 Pacific countries that can muster up enough expats in Australia and New Zealand.
 

Pommy

Coach
Messages
14,657
Yes, but that doesnt explain why a Country like the Cook Islands is never given a 2nd chance when they have to play better teams than the European and American teams.

Because it’s a country of a few thousand people and has no monetary worth to the competition.
You might not like that answer but it’s a reality.
 

Force

Juniors
Messages
343
Because it’s a country of a few thousand people and has no monetary worth to the competition.
You might not like that answer but it’s a reality.
We are treading on dangerous ground when we make exceptions for some and not for others. Its a bit like our rules for the game, different rules for Internationals and club footy. Give every team equal opportunity to qualify regardless of population size or their financial situation as you're not always guaranteed success with bigger, more richer Countries when it comes to a minor sport like league.
 

Pommy

Coach
Messages
14,657
We are treading on dangerous ground when we make exceptions for some and not for others. Its a bit like our rules for the game, different rules for Internationals and club footy. Give every team equal opportunity to qualify regardless of population size or their financial situation as you're not always guaranteed success with bigger, more richer Countries when it comes to a minor sport like league.

If you do that it won’t be much of a World Cup. Also good luck to the Cook Islands affording to send a team to France for a qualifier.
 

langpark

First Grade
Messages
5,867
Yes, but that doesnt explain why a Country like the Cook Islands is never given a 2nd chance when they have to play better teams than the European and American teams.
Some would say the Cooks have it easy, as they only have to win 1 match in order to qualify, whereas there are some European teams that have to play as many as 7-8 games (and win) in order to get in.
 

Force

Juniors
Messages
343
If you do that it won’t be much of a World Cup. Also good luck to the Cook Islands affording to send a team to France for a qualifier.
I beg to differ, theres nothing wrong with giving everyone equal opportunity. Also, if smaller island Nation Niue can organise a tour to South Africa, Im sure the Cooks can pull something out of the bag.
 

Force

Juniors
Messages
343
Some would say the Cooks have it easy, as they only have to win 1 match in order to qualify, whereas there are some European teams that have to play as many as 7-8 games (and win) in order to get in.
Hmmmm...as opposed to facing a sudden death against the might of Fiji, PNG, Tonga and Samoa....Im sure those European and American teams are glad they dont have to play against their opposition as theres no easy games.
 

langpark

First Grade
Messages
5,867
Hmmmm...as opposed to facing a sudden death against the might of Fiji, PNG, Tonga and Samoa....Im sure those European and American teams are glad they dont have to play against their opposition as theres no easy games.
You will never get a perfect system. And as mentioned above, their tiny populations aren't helping their cause either.
 

Force

Juniors
Messages
343
You will never get a perfect system. And as mentioned above, their tiny populations aren't helping their cause either.
Correct about the perfect system but I still think everyone should be given equal opportunity regardless of population size or financial restraints. Thats fair to me.
 

Pommy

Coach
Messages
14,657
Correct about the perfect system but I still think everyone should be given equal opportunity regardless of population size or financial restraints. Thats fair to me.

So you don’t want any geographical restraints to make sure it is a World Cup?
 

Force

Juniors
Messages
343
So you don’t want any geographical restraints to make sure it is a World Cup?
Like I've said before. Everyone should get an equal opportunity to qualify for the World Cup. If you lose your qualifier games then you shouldn't be given a second chance to re-qualify when others arent afforded the same opportunity. The teams who miss out on the America's and European qualifications get a 2nd chance, the Asia/Pacific dont, yet the Pacific have the toughest teams to overcome.
 

Pommy

Coach
Messages
14,657
Like I've said before. Everyone should get an equal opportunity to qualify for the World Cup. If you lose your qualifier games then you shouldn't be given a second chance to re-qualify when others arent afforded the same opportunity. The teams who miss out on the America's and European qualifications get a 2nd chance, the Asia/Pacific dont, yet the Pacific have the toughest teams to overcome.

But that’s not even true. The highest ranked pacific, African and American teams not already qualified go in to a play off.
6 of the 8 quarter finals qualifiers are pacific teams, so I don’t actually think there are any pacific qualifiers as such. Who are the tough teams they have to overcome? Because Tonga, Samoa, Aus, NZ, PNG and Fiji all qualified last November.
 

Force

Juniors
Messages
343
But that’s not even true. The highest ranked pacific, African and American teams not already qualified go in to a play off.
6 of the 8 quarter finals qualifiers are pacific teams, so I don’t actually think there are any pacific qualifiers as such. Who are the tough teams they have to overcome? Because Tonga, Samoa, Aus, NZ, PNG and Fiji all qualified last November.
Yes, the only reason why theres no Pacific qualifiers this time is because all the P.Is teams made it to the quarters at the last World Cup. Usually they have a sudden death like the last one with Tonga v Cooks and no repechage for the loser.
 

siv

First Grade
Messages
6,546
Too many auto qualifiers

We shoild reduce it back to semi-finalists rather than quarter finalists

Any way next best Pacific nation is in a repocharge with #2 Americas Africa and another

But the process to determine the next best Pacific nation has a issue.

Eg Cooks and Niue need to play each other at a minimum
 

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