Too Many Teams in the World Cup

World Cup 2010 is now eight matches old. The first weekend has passed and what can we conclude thus far? There are too many teams in the World Cup.

Normally we wouldn’t expect to get any sleep this month, but the fact that we’ve nodded off during several group matches really goes to show that the move from a 24-team tournament to the current format that includes 32 sides was a bad one.

The current World Cup involves 32 teams competing for the title over a period of about a month. But it wasn’t always that way. The World Cup has traditionally been contested between 16 of the best national teams on the planet. FIFA‘s decision to expand the tournament by 8 places to include 24 sides occurred in Spain ’82 and the tournament was again given a facelift at France ’98 when the team count reached its current total of 32.

So how do we know 32 teams in the World Cup is too many? For starters, did anyone see the Algeria v Slovenia clash? No, why would you? How about Serbia v Ghana? Boring. What about mighty France against the former superpower Uruguay? Even worse. And remember we’ve still got New Zealand v Paraguay and Japan v Denmark to come. Nearly half of the eight matches played have comprised of national teams that have absolutely no chance of winning the World Cup. Out of the 32 teams in this summer’s World Cup, maybe 10 stand a realistic chance of lifting the trophy in Johannesburg on July 11th.

And let’s not get started on the Groups. There is the ‘Group of Death’ which does live up to its billing with Ivory Coast, Brazil and Portugal facing off for two qualifying spots. But what of the rest? Group C is an absolute joke. England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia. That’s the best English group since The Beatles. Group F also looks like garbage with reigning Champions Italy up against New Zealand, Slovakia and Paraguay. Even Zinedine Zidane found the funny side in that draw.

This year’s tournament doesn’t really look like it will get going until the knockout phase – and that’s a shame. Even though it’s called the World Cup, we should raise the standards of qualification so that the level of play is worthy of the competition.

Even South Korea's Lee Young-Pyo can't believe how cr*p Greece were.