sweden's qualification for the world cup was an absolute farce. i honestly can't remember ever seeing such an undeserved achievement in my life. you finish dead last in your qualifying group with 2 points, and let me emphasize this, just because you beat the likes of slovakia, estonia, and azerbaijan in nations league c, you get to play in the playoffs. i mean, you're playing in the playoffs because, per the rules, you got relegated in the previous nations league cycle. then, because you're not seeded in the playoffs, the match you were supposed to play away at ukraine ends up being played on neutral ground in spain. then, by sheer luck of the draw, you beat ukraine on neutral ground, and again by luck of the draw, you end up playing poland at home in the final. you beat them at home too and book your spot in the finals. having all of this line up back-to-back just wasn't fair in any way.
first and foremost, this whole nations league nonsense needs to go. why are you rewarding failure? if you absolutely insist on having some kind of incentive, then give that extra spot to teams in leagues a and b so that teams actually fight to get promoted to those leagues. why is a team getting special treatment just because it beat azerbaijan and estonia in league c?
the playoff system itself also needs a serious overhaul. just have all the matches played on neutral ground in a single host country, like the european cups did during covid. today, turkey was the only away team to advance, even though on paper the away teams were actually stronger, which goes to show how much home advantage matters.
this is what happens when incompetents are running the show. then again, uefa probably figures, "as long as the big teams make it, who cares about the rest." hopefully they'll move past this mindset and we'll get a fairer qualification process.
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