Quote Originally Posted by JUSTaway View Post
Tbh, even though Scotland are in these Euros, I thought 16 teams was the perfect format, you had the real top teams, and no room for error in the group stages, straight forward two teams through, quarters, semi, final. 24 teams is just a stupid number, highest placed third teams qualifying in groups of different quality is a bit of a lottery, and also the quality goes down, fair play to Northern Ireland for not just qualifying, but getting through the group stage last time, but there was a couple of games when all they could do was defend. Clearly federations like Scotland will vote for it as it was there best chance of qualifying for a tournament, and Uefa want more games/money.
Agree with most of what you say but I'm happy to see more games and not just because I'm Scottish. The previous format made some early games very cagey and a bit boring as a result, I wonder if in this new format the so called lesser teams might be more open in the first and second games to try and get that all important 3 points.

I've not studied this new format, does it basically mean a win and a draw pretty much sees you through to knockout?