I am split down the middle on this one. If and when the number goes up to 24 the quality will be diminished, not by the "lower" teams coming into it, because in fairness, there was many a team that wasnt involved in euro 2008 who couldve excelled, the likes of Scotland, Bulgaria, etc, who were extremely unlucky to miss out. But the lowering of quality would be that the best teams would have to play an extra game and thus when it comes to business end of the tournament we will see alot more russia-style performances (i.e. out on their feet).
Im an Irish fan, I was only three when ireland got to its one and only European Championships. The level of excitement was palpable and I would sincerely doubt the arguments made that romanians would be sleeping through their game with france. for as it was a boring game for the neutral... if i were romanian that day i wouldve been delighted to get a draw, no matter how boring, against the world cup finalists of 2006.
In conclusion, I am for the expansion, as the cream will rise to the top as they always do, it doesnt increase much the probability of meaningless matches... hell, it only comes around every four years i want to experience as much of it as i can. although 32 teams would be ridiculous, in my opinion, because alot of teams would not have to earn their way to the finals. thats my one complaint with the whole expansion, it devalues the qualifying tournaments... when a team gets to a major tournament these days through a qualifying section it is because they deserve it, if god forbid, 32 european teams were to picked for the finals, hell we might as well just allow andorra and the faroes to host the bloody thing.
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