Weaker teams have always parked the bus, so nothing is gonna change in that respect. We will have players better rested and less fatigued as the tournament goes on with this new format.
That's a silly excuse. By that logic all FIFA did was add a bunch of bus parkers and bloated the damn tournament. This only exacerbates the bus parking and makes sure no such weaker teams get out of their comfort zones to try and snag a second position. If for example we get 16 European teams + Argentina and Brazil, that's potentially 10-12 groups (depending on if a unfamiliar face comes out strong that year) that's already settled since like you said they'll already play defensively. This makes the group stages moot that you might as well have a 48 team bracket.
Speaking of which, a 32 team bracket is disgusting. You are already getting weaker teams reaching Quarter finals by getting lucky paths and this will only shoot up their chances. And in this scenario, by weaker teams I mean weaker teams that play defensively and bank on PKs. This is a nightmare of a format.
You'd want the game to grow and have weaker teams get out of their comfort zones(like Algeria did), not celebrate their uninspiring approach. And who's to say stronger teams wont try this as well to rest their players? It'll be an ugly tournament.
That's not counting the Qualification rounds losing mad money and viewership for being even duller or the fact that the tournament being longer equals to longer and more expensive preparations that will effect federations, clubs, hosting countries, and even the players themselves.
The current format has its problem but it is in the sweet spot range.
And the worst thing about this new format is that it's not innovative at all, it's just adding more vanilla on top of a vanilla-based foundation. they're just adding more teams and bloating the damn thing. It's truly uninspiring. I bet a bunch of amateur teams can create a better format than that.
But this all sounds too familiar to be honest. This just screams sucking up more funds for a "bigger" event and using "more opportunities" as an excuse. Heard that a billion times before.
FIFA keeps doing this shady shit man. Like what the fuck has hosting the world cup done to South Africa? Or what will it do for Russia and has done to Brazil that's not already done footballing-wise? Or fuck me, the fuck is it gonna do to Qatar of all places, a nation that's never even played in the World Cup before. Blatter left but FIFA keeps stuffing their pockets, I swear these assholes are gonna kill the game one day.
BTW this isn't totally directed at you, I just needed to vent.
