world cup thread

[Jester]

Is it just me, or is this showing that the method of grouping and counting points for advancement is wrong? I would think the finals should have the best teams, right?

That's the intent of the system. Groups are a mix of the strongest and weakest teams, precisely so that the first round is not a meat grinder that kills half the best teams.

But there is no system that can save the "best" teams, when the "best" teams fail to beat New Zealand, or Switzerland. At that point, what needs re-evaluation is not the system, but our ideas about the teams.

The best thing to come of this World Cup, from my perspective, is that it ought to shut up snotty Euro fans, who insist that South American teams have inflated ratings because they play each other, whereas Europe faces strong internal competition. Didn't seem to turn out that way this time, now did it?

-Jester