Back to 4-team groups, and that's for the best.



Still a bit of bloat but at least the tournament won't drag for a long period of time.

Edited to add: I initially posted there'd be fewer dead rubbers, but the change to having certain third-placed teams progress to the knockout stage means there may be a couple more than previous.

Oh Oh, so Guyana can't qualify

It shojld be about quality not quantity

In reply to velo

Perhaps but it's also a festival of sport and the cream usually rises to the top in the end.

Look at March Madness, the 15th seed teams never win it all but there's romance and joy when one or two of them go on a run.

48 in football is indeed a freaking lot, but I don't think the tournament is devalued in any way. The winner will still have deserved the title. And hey, if one or two reps from this region qualify, the opportunities for exposure for our athletes on the world stage would be life-changing.

In reply to bdaTryangle

Maybe it's because three teams get automatic qualification ....

In reply to Kay

Is that in reference to the Group stage where some groups will have 3 out of 4 teams make the knockouts?

Or Concacaf qualifying where 3 teams will join the Mexico/US/Canada qualifiers automatically?

In reply to velo

More money for FIFA, more teams, more games it just takes longer.