Howdy,
Every four years it is the same crap over and over again. Some country complains that they should have gone to the World Cup in place of some weaker oppenent. This year the cry baby award goes to Uraguay.
The boys from South America are upset that they should be in the World Cup by the simple fact that they beat eventual group winners Argentina, tied Brazil home and away and play in the toughest qualifying group in the World. They have a point, should they have played T&T for a play-off the story may have been different last Wednesday.
My counter to that argument is that football a global game. Where would the World game be if the purest were to just simply pick the top 32 teams? Worse still 16 teams, with the majority made up of European teams with South American and a couple of squads from around the globe to add flavor.
I ask the question of where would football be in the US with just one team qualifying from Concacaf. Should the US not qualified for the WC in 1990 there would be no MLS. The same would be for the J-league in Japan and Korean domestic football.
Where would football be in Africa without the more spots after 1994. Countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa and Senegal would not be able to capture the imagination of World. Worse still the level of the play would remain the same and countries like Ivory Coast, Angola, Togo and Ghana would still be sitting at home. They had to raise there game in order to reach Germany. Angola is in the World Cup and are still recovering from years of civil war. What better way to unify and help rebuild the country than seeing there team play on the World stage.
Sorry Uraguay, you deserve more but football is much bigger than one country. Dry your tears and this time finish in the top four.
Marc
