Italy are knocked out of the world cup by the weather. NZ were due to play them. I'm not saying Italy would have qualified BUT New Zealand, and in particular England and France have a HUGE advantage over the other teams reaching the knockout stages, longer rest periods, fewer games played, less chance of injury (more recovery time), and no chance of red card in the fourth game of the pool.
The world cup can and should be played all over the world in different countries and seasons BUT all games SHOULD be played. Make contingencies to replay games if something unexpected happens.
If there was a terrorist attack or serious natural disaster at a country holding a tournament and the whole tournament was abandoned fair enough but selectively cancelling games due to a tropical storm and not replaying them is a joke.
NZ and England march towards another WC. Little chance for Ireland Vs NZ in a normal situation and now even less.
If Japan's game gets cancelled and they qualify ahead of Scotland without playing Scotland it'll be an even bigger farce.