UEFA Second Round
World Cup '98
Qualification

This is how UEFA's second round of qualification got organized. The column on the left describes how each of these teams fared versus the top, third and fourth finishers in their group (see previous page). Kind of complicated I know, but not a bad system overall. Then the teams were paired up from a draw from the hat, for a final home and away aggregate match competition, the four winners advancing to France 98 whereas the others would stay at home.

As you can see, Russia got paired up with Italy.. That is not good, especially because Italy was already paired up with England in the first round, and that meant only one of them, or one in their group, would qualify automatically for France 98 whereas the other one would have to fight it in a home and away aggregate match. This is the only major thing I would have disagreed with FIFA about, at least in what concerns UEFA's road to France qualification. What I would have done is matched the 2nd place team with the 9th, the 3rd with the 8th, etc, all the way up to pairing the 4th place best 2nd finisher team with 7th, and then finally of course, the 5th place best 2nd finisher with the 6th. In this way, Russia may have had an easier time qualifying for the World Cup, in which they are a good team, but even before the first Italy-Russia match was played, Maldini, Italy's head coach, was already complaining about this 2nd round organization! So if it's up to me in the future my friends at FIFA, please hire me and you will have a much better World Cup Organizing Committee, at least in what concerns its qualifications.. Because I'm good at numbers and I don't seek personal preferences on anyone!.. I like the whole world being represented at the World Cups; I know a lot of organization takes place.. If I didn't respect your organization I wouldn't be saying what I'm saying now! Please email me if you wish, I'll be happy to hear from you.. :) In the meantime, all of you, enjoy this presentation I am now showing you :)

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