I personally think going to a 2 stage format would make the cup much more equitable. As it is the cup is in the words of Frank McGuire 'Russian Roulette'
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1734&dat=197003...First off for this to work GS will need to be reworked to kick more into effect later in the season which really would be very similar to real life.
the round of 1024 is not until the 4th round of the cup, leading of course to 512. break every country down into 512 five team groups=2560 with the winner of each advancing to the knockout phase. I am sure some sort of program of protocol can be put together to some balance in the group pairings, make all the games neutral court games