leekoo Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/athens/soccer/2004-08-15-olympic-format_x.htm Women's soccer format under review By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY THESSALONIKI, Greece — Before the Olympics began, U.S. coach April Heinrichs called the format of the women's soccer tournament "one of the biggest disadvantages I've ever seen at a world event." The president of the sport's governing body, Sepp Blatter, when stopped in a hotel lobby by American reporters on Sunday, said FIFA was reviewing the competitive imbalance of the 10-team tournament. "If you have only two matches, you have less chances of a yellow or red card," Blatter said. In the unusual 10-team format, there are two groups of three teams and one group of four. The USA, Greece, Australia and Brazil are in the group of four and play three games in the opening round; the other six teams in the tournament play only two. Besides the concern of injury and fatigue because of the additional game — the USA plays its third game vs. Australia on Tuesday in Thessaloniki — the teams in the group of four have an extra game to earn a yellow card. Two yellow cards mean an automatic suspension. The USA is concerned because starting defender Christie Rampone received a yellow card against Brazil on Saturday in the 88th minute. If Rampone is issued another against Australia, she would miss the USA's quarterfinal game on Friday. Blatter said the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, will include 12 teams, with three groups of four teams apiece. "We will not play again with 10," he said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 Oh, I am heartbroken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattbin Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 Ridiculous. Three groups of four teams apiece? Recipe for disaster. Four groups of three teams each is obviously the way to go. Or am I being dense? [/Warner] Allez les Rouges, M@ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 The trouble with four groups of three is that you have a very irregular schedule. The team which gets the first and third matchday gets a huge adantage over the first two, and the team that gets through without having to play the third matchday gets an advantage in the quarterfinals. This is one of the things that makes the Gold Cup such a joke. Also, you only have 2 group games for each team, hardly worth the trip for any team. The only advantage to the 4 Groups of 3 is that you don't have to go to intergroup tiebreakers to decide the 4 playoff advancers, but 8 out of 12 is still ridiculous. If you have 16 teams in the Women's World Cup, why not have it in the Olympics as well? Then, with 4 Groups of 4, you have exactly the same number of match days without the strained playoff determinqtion formula. and, the Olympixcs should be all about participation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Man Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 i'd like it to be as follows: If a player has played a game at the World Cup- they cannot participate in the Olympics. This would end the crying of the plus 36 set that the USA is using at these games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoyleG Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 Thanks for knocking out our lineup G-Man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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