An Alternative Euro 2016 Knockout Stage
While I applaud the new European Championship format for being ruddy unpredictable, the design of the knockout stage leaves much to be desired.
By UEFA's seemingly arbitrary rules, only teams in Groups A, B, C or D can meet a third-placed team in the Round of 16 (which is theoretically easier). Tough shit if you end up in Groups E or F. And no, just because all teams were made aware of this fact beforehand doesn't make it any more sensible.
I came across comments in websites proposing for a ranking system to determine the Round of 16 matches and I feel that it's probably a fairer system then the current one.
A ranking of the teams which finished first/second in their respective groups would look like this:
We would then have to apply the following rules:
Such a method of determining the Round of 16 fixtures would also (hopefully) encourage teams to go on the offensive instead of play it safe. I honestly cannot remember too many exciting matches save for the two this morning. Simply speaking, the present format does not reward risk-taking since it's technically possible to get to R16 without winning a single match (I'm looking at you, Portugal).
By UEFA's seemingly arbitrary rules, only teams in Groups A, B, C or D can meet a third-placed team in the Round of 16 (which is theoretically easier). Tough shit if you end up in Groups E or F. And no, just because all teams were made aware of this fact beforehand doesn't make it any more sensible.
I came across comments in websites proposing for a ranking system to determine the Round of 16 matches and I feel that it's probably a fairer system then the current one.
A ranking of the teams which finished first/second in their respective groups would look like this:
 |
| Table X: Ranking of group winners |
 |
| Table Y: Ranking of second-placed finishers |
- The four best-performing teams in Table X would play a third-placed team.
- Italy and Hungary, by virtue of being the worst-performing group winners, would play the worst-performing second-placed teams.
- The best-performing second-placed teams in Table Y would play among each other.
A quick simulation of the above rules (using the trusty RAND() function in Excel) generates the following Round of 16 match-ups:
- Slovakia vs Germany
- Rep of Ireland vs Wales
- Portugal vs France
- Northern Ireland vs Croatia
- Iceland vs Spain
- Belgium vs Poland
- Italy vs Switzerland
- Hungary vs England
The brackets from the Quarter-Finals on-wards will have to be randomly drawn.
Such a method of determining the Round of 16 fixtures would also (hopefully) encourage teams to go on the offensive instead of play it safe. I honestly cannot remember too many exciting matches save for the two this morning. Simply speaking, the present format does not reward risk-taking since it's technically possible to get to R16 without winning a single match (I'm looking at you, Portugal).
And now, since it's bleeding obvious that I have a lot of time on my hands to think about garbage like this, please allow me to go find something more worthwhile to do with my life.
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