Do you have any feeling that the expansion of the World Cup has not brought any benefits or guarantees to this traditional strong team?

Some people will definitely say that when the World Cup expands the extra quota is for those second- and third-tier teams, and if traditional strong teams are shortlisted for the World Cup, do they still need the benefits brought by the expansion?

Having said that, the expansion of the army has increased the number of places on each continent, which objectively provides a layer of insurance for the strong team. Let’s take Brazil as an example. Although they beat Paraguay 1:0 in this round and came to the third place, it seemed that they were much more stable, but in the first few rounds, Brazil’s ranking was very ugly, and even fell to fifth place at one point. As before, South America had only 4.5 places, so Brazil's ranking was very dangerous. But now, the expansion of the army has given South America 6.5 places. How to say it? The top seven are all very down-to-earth, and the expansion of the army has given Brazil too much fault tolerance. So what if you win the fifth or even sixth place? Isn’t I still going to the World Cup with ease?

Therefore, the expansion of the army will not affect Brazil's World Cup full attendance, but it can definitely play a role in promoting or insurance. The same is true for

Asia. The previous 4.5 places were not enough for Japan, South Korea and Ishaao. Look at the last World Cup, Australia played in the qualifiers to the end, played in the Asian playoffs and the Intercontinental playoffs. Isn’t it very thrilling and tortuous? But now that the quota has changed to 8.5, they no longer have to worry. Even if Saudi Arabia falls into the playoffs, with their strength, it is likely to get a place. Therefore, the expansion of the military also played a guarantee role for Japan, South Korea, Ishamo. Although most of them cannot use it, this guarantee function exists objectively.

Relatively speaking, European strong teams enjoy the least dividends because Europe has the largest number of places. This time, the expansion of the army has the smallest increase in European quotas, basically without any trace. How to play in the past qualifiers and how to play now, but if three more places are available, then we will divide several more groups to make the strong teams more isolated from each other.

But to be honest, there are so many strong teams in Europe, and they are divided into two or three groups, and the impact is not too great. Especially for a traditional strong team, do you have a feeling that the expansion of the World Cup has not brought any benefits or guarantees to them? How difficult they should be, how difficult it is. Even, it is possible to miss the World Cup again.

Who else besides Italy?

Italy and Moldova, Israel, Estonia, and Norway are in the same group. On the surface, this group is not difficult for Italy, but a 3:0 match made Italy feel refreshed. It turned out that Italy can't even beat Norway now, and it was crushed by its opponents.

This is the embarrassment in Italy. Now they are no longer the World Cup champion 19 years ago, nor even the European Cup champion 5 years ago. Nowadays, no matter which top-notch team Italy is in the same group, they are the weakest ones. Even Italy does not have the upper hand in the same group as teams like Switzerland, Austria, Serbia, and Denmark.

Do you still remember the last European Cup quarterfinals? Italy was pressed to the ground by Switzerland, and the loss of 0:2 has to thank Donaluma for his several saviors. Although the World Cup has expanded and the number of European places has increased, this range cannot keep up with Italy's decline. In fact, the difficulty of Italy meeting Norway this time has been reduced. At least, Norway is weaker than Switzerland in the last World Cup, but Italy even played worse.

Absent for three consecutive World Cups? This matter is a bit ridiculous against the background of the World Cup expansion. But with the current state of Italy, this is really not an exaggeration. As mentioned earlier, the World Cup expansion basically did not bring any favors or guarantees to Italy. They are still the same, but their opponents are making progress little by little.

Perhaps, the whole of Europe is waiting for the second leg of Italy's home court and Norway. After all, the other three opponents are not afraid, and if Italy wants to advance directly, it must strive to defeat Norway, and this is just a basic condition. If you get second in the group and fall into the playoffs again, then everything is hard to say.