Bryn Mawr Eagle {l Wrote}:commavegarage {l Wrote}:Bryn Mawr Eagle {l Wrote}:So if we lose against Belgium does that mean we win the World Cup?
if an NFL team loses a regular season game does that mean it wins the super bowl?
If FIFA ran the NFL the answer would probably be "yes."
This discussion is so stupid. How many times has an NFL team lost its last regular season game and still made the playoffs because someone else on the same day also did not win.
The NFL uses group play - they just call it the regular season. Teams play a fixed number of scheduled games, and than certain teams, based on their placement, make the knockout round, which we call the playoffs. The principal is the same. Because the NFL only has 32 teams which are all on the same continent (for now, see Jaguars, Jacksonville), and is not sharing their players with other competitions, they only need one level of group play, can play a greater number of games, and can finish it in 4 months. Because the WC has 100s of countries from all over the globe, and club play to work around, they create layers of group play, and extend the competition over the course of 2-4 years.
Since the Dolphins 4 decades ago every SB champion has lost at least one game along the way. And its almost always been true, I believe, that every WC champion has lost a game along the way. In both competitions, you usually can afford to loss prior to the knockout phase. Of course, once you get to the knockout phase, you can't lose, no matter how well you played previously.
Its stupid to hate one and not the other.