I think I’m going to enjoy it. Yes the table is overwhelming and the whole format is going to take some getting used to. But I’m hopeful it will keep meaningful matches throughout. Felt like so many group stages are essentially done after two matches.

Though the whole notion of 2/3 of the teams move on feels a bit too American-sports-playoff-expansion to me

It's interesting, definitely more "big" matches from the start than the previous format.

Let's see how it goes in the coming weeks.