Women's World Cup

I've never seen it at any level--neither youth league, high school, college, or pros.

FIFA, in deciding the brackets for the Women's World Cup a year ago, placed many higher seeds in the same groups and same bracket. That means strong teams, instead of meeting each other later in the month-long tournament, are facing off already in the Round of 16.

Case in point: Germany, ranked number one in the world, defeated Sweden, ranked number five, 4-1, Sat., June 20.

The problem is that in grouping the good teams together, instead of placing them in opposite brackets to earn their way through the rounds, you sabotage your tournament.

The top teams begin eliminating each other, instead of meeting in the semifinals and finals.

Grant Wahl, the sideline commentator in Fox Sports One's television coverage of the Germany-Sweden game, passed on the official FIFA response that "we wanted to create good match-ups and fill the stadiums."

Aly Wagner, the analyst in the booth, cut through the baloney. "It's a travesty," she said.

And it is. FIFA's corruption, we now know, stretches wide and deep. From the charges of massive corruption that U.S. federal law enforcement is bringing against numerous current and former FIFA officials, I wouldn't be surprised if large amounts of money exchanged money over the arrangement of brackets.

It just doesn't make sense to create brackets that would cause Germany, the number one, to face number-five Sweden in the Round of 16, then assuming both teams make it that far, to face number-two U.S. shortly thereafter.

Any bracket maker knows that you spread your strong and weaker teams out through the various groups, then make sure that one meets the lowest seed possible, two meets the next lowest, and so forth. It's for the health of the competition. You reward higher-ranked teams with easier match-ups.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper