Instead of catching an early flight home, teams that failed to qualify for the (proper) second round could take part in a parallel competition to win the coveted 17th Place Cup. Potentially, enough top-notch footie action could be squeezed out of the non-qualifiers to fill a few stadiums and sell a few advertising boards for highly sugared fizzy drinks.
Czech Republic v Trinidad & Tobago? Yes please!-- 7ennyn, Jun 26 2006 I don't think anyone wants a losers event at the World Cup : the World Plate? Most teams that are out probably want to go home.-- Jinbish, Jun 26 2006 That's not such a bad idea - often, the more risky and eventually losing teams are more fun to watch.
Open-Source Team Variation: While the top 16 figure out who gets the top spot, the lower 16 compete in a series of soccer-related disciplines to staff a team with individual members from the various countries. The new team trains intensely together for two weeks, than faces off against the single-team challenger.
If the ad-hoc "international" team wins the final match, the prize ceremony involves a sawzall [an electric, hand-held reciprocating saw, cuts just about everything, including the trophy].-- jutta, Jun 27 2006 A sawsall?-- Texticle, Jun 27 2006 /The professional teams who loaned them back to their home countries certainly want them back, unharmed, asap./ - It would only mean one extra match for half of the participants. If Fabio Capello wants Nedved back, that's fine! It would provide an excellent opportunity for the younger members of the Czech squad to display their talents to the world.
Most teams would probably treat the matches as 'friendlies' or exhibition matches, which are often more entertaining than full-on competitive matches.
Erm, what is a 'sawsall'? Sounds dangerous to me! Would the players' clubs take issue with its use in the prize ceremony?-- 7ennyn, Jun 27 2006 This is not really an original idea, although I doubt that anyone has seriously thought about applying it to the World Cup. Quite often, in five-a-side tournaments, the teams that lost in the first round will go into a seperate competition and play for a seperate trophy - often referred to as 'the plate'(as opposed to 'the cup'). //Most teams would probably treat the matches as 'friendlies' or exhibition matches, which are often more entertaining than full-on competitive matches.// Not watched many England friendlies have we!-- DrBob, Jun 27 2006 //Not watched many England friendlies have we!// Correct!
**Another benefit** - the 'Plate' matches could fill up the boring football-free days between the quarters, the semis and the final.-- 7ennyn, Jul 02 2006 That's Top Gear postponed for another four weeks. [-]-- wagster, Jul 02 2006 how about if as teams are eliminated from the "proper" elimintion phase, they are added to the bracket of the parallel tournament?-- Goesta Berling, Jul 18 2006 That's Top Gear postponed for another four weeks. [+]-- imaginality, Jul 18 2006 random, halfbakery