deadbq03 said:

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It's for that reason that I think a merger with CONCACAF would be mutually beneficial… giving the 3-4 quality teams in CONCACAF opportunities to play quality opponents, and giving CONMEBOL more teams so they can build a proper tournament.

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100% on board with this. Beneficial all around.

ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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deadbq03 said:

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It's for that reason that I think a merger with CONCACAF would be mutually beneficial… giving the 3-4 quality teams in CONCACAF opportunities to play quality opponents, and giving CONMEBOL more teams so they can build a proper tournament.

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100% on board with this. Beneficial all around.

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Problem is FIFA gives all teams equal voting power. Why would the Caribbean countries want to give up their power and open path to qualification (especially with Concacaf moving to 6 slots with expanded WC)

deadbq03 said:

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I think the big difference is that the format and quality of competition in the EURO is very similar to the WC. It provides excellent experience and preparation for the biggest tournament… because it is also a massive, major tournament.

CONMEBOL has quality, but it lacks numbers to have a huge tournament that helps prepare for a WC-like experience. A group stage where you only have to finish 4th out of 5 and moves to an 8 team knockout will have a very different mentality than one that mirrors the WC in group and knockout structure.

It's for that reason that I think a merger with CONCACAF would be mutually beneficial… giving the 3-4 quality teams in CONCACAF opportunities to play quality opponents, and giving CONMEBOL more teams so they can build a proper tournament.

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conmebol and conacrap definitely need to tie up in some way to keep. hell, they may need to tie up with Asia or Africa as well. one of the big problems for the US is that they will then want to play most of the matches in the US for money and the fact that the soccer infrastructure is deteriorating badly in lot of countries south of us. that doesn't bode well for us learning to go on the road for a WC.

Question:

Does a gold star (rather than black) mean "defending champions"?

aTmAg said:

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Question:

Does a gold star (rather than black) mean "defending champions"?

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No it means champion. Get one for every WC.

Furlock Bones said:

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aTmAg said:

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Question:

Does a gold star (rather than black) mean "defending champions"?

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No it means champion. Get one for every WC.

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Yep. Color is just preference/kit design.

2008and1 said:

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ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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deadbq03 said:

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It's for that reason that I think a merger with CONCACAF would be mutually beneficial… giving the 3-4 quality teams in CONCACAF opportunities to play quality opponents, and giving CONMEBOL more teams so they can build a proper tournament.

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100% on board with this. Beneficial all around.

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Problem is FIFA gives all teams equal voting power. Why would the Caribbean countries want to give up their power and open path to qualification (especially with Concacaf moving to 6 slots with expanded WC)

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Good point. My best guess is that 2026 WC will cause FIFA to self-correct. There is a distinct possibility that you could see a group stage match of France v. Vanuatu. As-is with 32 teams, almost every group stage game is a high intensity contest where either side could win. Sure, there are some laffers that happen but generally all of the games are solid.

But with 6 guaranteed CONCACAF teams (and, for that matter more than 1 Oceana team), you're going to get group draws that include serious dregs that limped into the tournament.

Furlock Bones said:

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aTmAg said:

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Question:

Does a gold star (rather than black) mean "defending champions"?

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No it means champion. Get one for every WC.

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I was talking about the color. I saw a tweet somewhere with an animation where Argentina's gained a star and they all turned gold. So I looked up Mbappe during the 2018 world cup, and the star was white:



And then after they won when the stars were gold:




So I was wondering if this was a consistent practice.

They just make them match their badges.

deadbq03 said:

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They just make them match their badges.

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Yeah and the tweet I saw, Argentina's silver badge turned gold along with the stars when the 3rd star was added.

aTmAg said:

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deadbq03 said:

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They just make them match their badges.

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Yeah and the tweet I saw, Argentina's black badge turned gold along with the stars when the 3rd star was added.

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I don't know then. Maybe some countries do that. Germany's 2018 kits had black badge/stars still, so it's definitely not universal.

deadbq03 said:

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They just make them match their badges.

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That's pretty much it.

Another interesting tidbit -- FIFA lets Uruguay wear 4 stars even though they've only won 2 world cups.

Here is a reddit post showing what I'm talking about:

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldcup/comments/zpi5zb/this_is_history_argentina_here_for_the_third_star/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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deadbq03 said:

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They just make them match their badges.

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That's pretty much it.

Another interesting tidbit -- FIFA lets Uruguay wear 4 stars even though they've only won 2 world cups.

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CFB lets the Brazilian women's team wear 5. They say "we are one team".

Uruguay wears 2 from the 24 and 28 Olympics which FIFA considered senior men's competitions at the time. Huh. Did not know that.

USMNT: Hey, maybe those Brazilians are on to something.

Sounds fair to me.

ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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jeffk said:

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USMNT: Hey, maybe those Brazilians are on to something.

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Sort of like a marriage, I guess. If you give the trophy wife half of your money, she's at least got to look good and come to social events hanging on your arm.

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In this case, is the wife or the husband the trophy spouse?

The wife is literally supplying the trophies in this case.

I'll pass this on to the Fed.

Mathguy64 said:

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ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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deadbq03 said:

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They just make them match their badges.

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That's pretty much it.

Another interesting tidbit -- FIFA lets Uruguay wear 4 stars even though they've only won 2 world cups.

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CFB lets the Brazilian women's team wear 5. They say "we are one team".

Uruguay wears 2 from the 24 and 28 Olympics which FIFA considered senior men's competitions at the time. Huh. Did not know that.

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They started wearing four stars in 1992.

From the Wiki article:
The 1924 and 1928 Olympic football tournaments had several distinctions that separate them from other editions organized before and after. Firstly, these championships were principally administered by FIFA, the French and Dutch football associations, respectively, without obstructive involvement from the International Olympic Committee.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stars_above_Uruguay%27s_football_crest#cite_note-:5-5][5][/url] Secondly, these two Olympic football tournaments were the first ones in history that were open to all players, including professionals.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stars_above_Uruguay%27s_football_crest#cite_note-6][6][/url] From the outset, FIFA, the football associations and media outlets from across the globe recognized the legitimacy of these Olympic football tournaments as being equivalents to professional world championships.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stars_above_Uruguay%27s_football_crest#cite_note-:0-7][7][/url][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stars_above_Uruguay%27s_football_crest#cite_note-:2-8][8][/url]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stars_above_Uruguay%27s_football_crest

bagger05 said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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deadbq03 said:

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They just make them match their badges.

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That's pretty much it.

Another interesting tidbit -- FIFA lets Uruguay wear 4 stars even though they've only won 2 world cups.

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CFB lets the Brazilian women's team wear 5. They say "we are one team".

Uruguay wears 2 from the 24 and 28 Olympics which FIFA considered senior men's competitions at the time. Huh. Did not know that.

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They started wearing four stars in 1992.

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Still more credible than college football championship claiming lol

deadbq03 said:

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jeffk said:

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The wife is literally supplying the trophies in this case.

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And the husband is supplying the money. It's a good analogy.

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The husband cut a $6.5 million check to the wife last week. Sweet deal.........for her.

carl spacklers hat said:

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deadbq03 said:

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jeffk said:

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The wife is literally supplying the trophies in this case.

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And the husband is supplying the money. It's a good analogy.

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The husband cut a $6.5 million check to the wife last week. Sweet deal.........for her.

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Well he's got like 40 wives. I mean it's damn near a harem.

carl spacklers hat said:

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deadbq03 said:

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jeffk said:

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The wife is literally supplying the trophies in this case.

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And the husband is supplying the money. It's a good analogy.

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The husband cut a $6.5 million check to the wife last week. Sweet deal.........for her.

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Each USWNT player gets about $254K for watching the men play. The men will get some amount, far less than their counterpart, for watching the women play in Women's WC in 2023.

akm91 said:

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carl spacklers hat said:

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deadbq03 said:

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jeffk said:

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The wife is literally supplying the trophies in this case.

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And the husband is supplying the money. It's a good analogy.

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The husband cut a $6.5 million check to the wife last week. Sweet deal.........for her.

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Each USWNT player gets about $254K for watching the men play. The men will get some amount, far less than their counterpart, for watching the women play in Women's WC in 2023.

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To be clear, the men ultimately do not care.

Serious question: how do the women who are entitled to some of that cash get selected? Is it based on the latest 26 player roster? Or the 26 that make the 2023 WWC roster?

Women will probably go 1 round further than the men. Maybe to the semis if they get a good draw.

Based off the fact sheet here (https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2022/05/ussf-womens-and-mens-national-team-unions-agree-to-historic-collective-bargaining-agreements), it looks like it's the named team that gets the pooled money.

It'll all even up eventually if FIFA continues to get pressured to raise the purse for the WWC.

jeffk said:

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It'll all even up eventually if FIFA continues to get pressured to raise the purse for the WWC.

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It's going to be a hot minute before that happens. This is still an organization whose business model is basically just corruption that sold a world cup to a wealthy country with no cognizable soccer history and no ability to hold the tournament at the correct time of year. It will probably be 2050 or later before that ever happens.