Quote:
Originally Posted by bhlloy
One other thing that strikes me is that historically the USMNT has got an elevated sense of where it really is by getting good results ahead of big tournaments in friendlies, and while there's not a ton of value in travelling to Belize to win 7-0 there is something to be said about a grueling competitive qualification schedule to build team spirit and lead into the actual tournament. I do think there's a danger that by fast tracking the US and Mexico into the hex you are missing out on some competitive games and the chance to build a squad greater than the sum of it's parts over a full qualifying process.
It's worth noting that Europe and South America don't do any separating of the wheat from the chaff - admittedly there aren't any shitty teams in South America but you don't generally see European teams complaining about having to play in Azerbaijan on a Tuesday night.
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Beating Belize 7-0 in a friendly will only damage the FIFA Ranking, it has been that way in all the various rankings systems FIFA has used in the last 2 decades. Apparently it's better to not play any friendlies at all (like what Poland did prior to the 2018 World Cup to become a top seed).
That complaining is certainly going on in Europe as well, the top countries really aren't interested in playing against Gibraltar, Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein and Malta. At various times have 'experts' asked for preliminary rounds for the weaker half of federations, to make the schedule easier on all involved and make the competitiveness in the qualifiers increase in level.