Outdated International football.
Outdated International football.
As the weekends Premier league and Football league action
ends for another week, we head into a round of international football. This
time its qualifiers for the 2022 World cup in Qatar. England face the underwhelming task of overcoming an Andorran and Hungarian side…
During Euro 2020 the excitement of international football
swept the nation and England’s achievement of getting to the final was wildly
enjoyed by their supporters all around the country. Football fever once again
had taken over and England had huge support up and down the country. Three
months after that final defeat to Italy, England continue their qualifying
campaign for the world cup, and I for one, am finding it hard to get excited
about.
It’s time for FIFA to come up with a new format for
qualifying for these major tournaments and stop pointless games against teams
who have no chance of winning, then see a 5-nil loss against teams like England
as a positive?
England travel to Andorra for match day 10 in a game they will win convincingly, before they host Hungry where they will once again be expected to demolish the opposition. Joined in their group with Poland, Albania, San Marino, and Andorra they will be expected to easily qualify for the upcoming world cup, and so they should. So, is it time for FIFA to look at the qualifying campaign and make a change? Teams such as San Marino and Andorra face no possibility of qualifying when they have teams such as England or Poland in their group. San Marino, who sits bottom of the group with a record of playing 6, losing 6 while conceding 24 goals, can’t enjoy being beaten every time they play. There last three results against England have been 5 nil, 6 nil and 5 nil.
For major tournaments such as the World cup or European championships the world’s best ranked teams should automatically be granted qualification, this would not only let everybody see the pinnacle of global football at every tournament, but it would enhance the chances of the smaller, poorer nations qualifying, allowing them to experience football on the highest profile.
Italy, who won the 2020 European championships in July, should not have to qualify for the world cup along with Argentina, who won the Copa America. They have showed that they are the best ranked team in Europe and South America respectively with their triumphs, so why should they have to prove their worth in qualifying. I would go as far as saying that if a team ranked in FIFA’s top 10 should not have to participate in qualifying. Italy currently sits top of their qualifying group where they line up against Lithuania, Bulgaria and Northern Ireland, teams who they will be expected to beat. There is clear need for change to this qualifying format.
Italy overcame England to win Euro 2020 on penalties.
Back in 2017, FIFA announced plans to change the format of
the 2026 world cup. The tournament, held across Sixteen cities in America,
Mexico, and Canada, will consist of 48 teams playing in 16 groups of 3 teams
each. The format change of this competition has given FIFA the ideal time to
implement changes to the qualifying stages also. If they allow the worlds top
ten ranked teams automatic qualification, each taking a place in separate
groups and the lower ranked teams participated in a qualifying campaign, they will
face a much more positive chance of qualification. Without the likes of France,
Germany, England, or Spain having to qualifying you would give weaker teams the
hope that they could play football at the highest level, I am sure it would
increase the level of entertainment that is played in these games compared to a
game such as Portugal vs Luxembourg or Germany vs Romania. Both games that are
coming up this week. By implementing this type of format, you would eradicate
football fixtures like this which are pointless in a time where players are
playing increasing amounts of games.
In this International window, with two pointless games
coming up, I will not be surprised to see many of the selected players by
Southgate withdraw from this squad. I am very passionate about England playing
in tournaments as the players will be, but I cannot get excited about playing
against Andorra. I am sure these group of players would feel the same, if a
professional player, playing at the top of his game in the Premier league got
asked to make his debut against Andorra, I think he would be quietly
disappointed. International football is supposed to be the highest level and a
team like Andorra could be compared to any Sunday league team. The games
against teams like San Marino and Andorra are a waste of time, we already know
the result. Like this, Germany face North Macedonia this week and Holland play
at Gibraltar, two more games that are a waste of time.
These fixtures only have one outcome, they are demoralising
to the opponents, the levels between the teams are colossal in these qualifying
tournaments and FIFA need to address these issues for the good of football.
J.Penny
Image taken from: England beat Andorra by 4-0 in World Cup qualifier at Wembley | England Football
Image taken from: assets.o2.co.uk/18plusaccess/
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