With the dust settling from the group stage, the current format of the tournament, in which third place also has a chance to advance, was, unsurprisingly, trolled, and even came close to setting a new lower limit.
At the end of the day, both FIFA and UEFA want more events to make more money, so changes to the event will only widen this one-way street, especially as UEFA is trying to absorb the tickets for the UEFA Nations Cup expansion but also incentivize the smaller nations, but for the bigger nations like chicken feed for the UEFA Nations League.
It's not impossible to take 16 out of 24, it's just that it's very subtle to go down the points with 6 groups X 4 teams, as you can see through simple arithmetic.
If I were to make a suggestion, it would be to have the fourth-place finisher in the group qualify for the knockout rounds as well.
Of course, this doesn't mean that everyone enters the tournament with extended training in the award-winning group stage, but it refers to the restructuring of next season's Champions League so that the 24 nations are split into 3 brackets of 4 groups X 6 teams, with the same bracket inevitably drawn across brackets outside of the war.
This way, again playing three rounds of group play, each group can take four teams to advance without having to look at the other groups.
So why can't we have 24 teams together like in Europe? What about "mixed draw"? Because the tournament system is not the same as the home-and-away system, and there is too much logistical pressure to finalize the ranking pairings after the group stage. Divided into four groups, you can prepare for the next match after playing this set of tournaments. Thus, there is no way to solve the problem of catching and picking opponents, but at least the intricacies of landing the third in the group in the signature table can be solved.
Similar reform proposals apply to expanding the 48-team World Cup. But these reform proposals are like reviewing the next six sets of war situations; look, listen, Mother Golden Chicken is out of your and my control.
After eating dirt in three consecutive games, it was their turn to make something. Germany not only balanced their material, but also played simply and efficiently and quite beautifully at the first hurdle. Even after shaking hands with Switzerland and finishing first in the group, it was difficult to get to the target quarterfinals.
Switzerland missed out on top spot in Group A after being beaten by Germany, but this team has been showing a level of resilience that hasn't been bad for them, but the other teams can't afford to underestimate the small country in the mountains in order to avoid capsizing in the ditch.
Even with Hungary's proud results in the play-offs, it's hard to tear off the label that they're relegated to a second- and third-rate country in soccer. One piece of evidence of this is that even with their domestic league being supported and subsidized through the state, blood production is still low, and those who do make it to the top either grew up overseas or were forged overseas earlier. The key reason for Scotland's win in the final round was that the Scottish players lost confidence with promotion out of reach, but Hungary didn't make any big mistakes.
Scotland collapsed again, and England's neighbors provided the Premier League with a lot of good players, but the result of their consolidation is that the tournament will at best make it to the group stage.
On the Death Group B side, there weren't many deaths.
Spain has a young lineup and a clear pass control play style, but not fluffy. The offense has a good sense of rhythm and can force the ball upfield quickly after losing it. Won all three matches, the only ones this year. Overall, clean and easy to watch, and by the way, showed how well the Second Fleet can fight. Although he was once overwhelmed by the skill of the Italians, he was dragged into the quagmire of squid warfare by the old squid tactics.
Italy scored four points on insurance to finish second in the group. This is disappointing, but they still relied on a brave attack to recover points. However, it's not disappointing, but it's entirely indicative of a very mediocre team. The players are also very mediocre. They want to go technical, but they lack talent. They can only survive on the sense of tactics they have practiced since childhood.
In the last two World Cups, Croesia finished second and third respectively. Croesia finished third in their group with 2 points after being beaten by the Invincibles and called it quits after the fourth team scored 3+ points. While we've known for a while that this generation was handing over, the sunset is infinite, and there are real concerns about how the Griquas, hovering in the midst of the old and the new, will be able to fend off the darker twilight that comes closer to night two years from now.
As the water ghosts of Group B, Albania were not surprised to be at the bottom of the table, but their performance far exceeded expectations. After all, as well as forcing Croesusia to despair, they also scored quickly in Italy.
Is this Europa League Death Group living up to its name? If so, it's because the third-place finisher in Group B was killed by a water ghost. However, the level of Group B sets off the fact that the so-called Group of Death is only based on pre-tournament rankings, which is a far cry from the last edition of France-Germany-Portugal-Hungary. Only Spain was unique, with Italy and Croatsia bitten by Albania.
A group that played 6 goals, England's group played 5 games, except for England's game against Serbia. In addition, the group totaled 7 goals, which is also dead last.
However, it would be acceptable for England, whose star power and stature are absolutely sky-high, to be even uglier if they avoided crashing out early against a tough opponent while firmly in the promotion initiative. After all, everyone's knockout game is real.
