Let me start by saying I think 99% of what the NMAA does is good, positive and vastly improved over what the organization used to be, but this World Cup format for the state soccer tournament is silly! Yes, there were more games (24 each day). Yes, the NMAA says there were over 1,000 kids participating each day and over 5,000 paid spectators. But if it's about more games and money, let's just let everyone in to play.
1) It doesn't make much sense that a top seed can fail to advance even though they don't lose a match (see Sandia Prep boys).
2) You just played 3 days of soccer and still can't decide who should advance in Pool C in Class 5A!
3) Out of town teams like Hatch Valley, Socorro, Farmington and Los Alamos must make "2" trips to Bernalillo in consecutive weeks for postseason matches (I don't know the dollar amount, but I'm sure it's not cheap to put the team up in hotels and feed them while they're away.. not to mention the extra time they miss from school).
4) The top seeds were not really rewarded in the best way possible because some pools were tougher than others.
5) Any event when your parents/fans don't know if you advance (even after the match is complete) must be changed.
I know there is NEVER going to be a system to make everyone happy, but when you tinker with the format to make it into something not many fans can understand you make it more of a mess.
*Also, the finals in boys Class 4A and 5A are scheduled for 7:30pm on Friday night. Having games end at 9pm at night in November isn't very spectator friendly.
