World Cup Takes

The World Cup is done, so this is everything I thought about it that isn’t a team or a match report. I’ve written up every single team individually, group by group, and the final and England’s tournament have their own pieces, so none of that gets repeated here. This is the rest of it: the hosts, the ugly bits, the kits, the format, the refereeing, what it was actually like to live through, and the one big argument I want to make about where football is heading.

The quick verdicts

• Argentina were the most interesting team to watch, by a distance.
• Spain were by far the better team out of them all.
• My biggest frustration was Senegal. I thought they had a great team and they were really unlucky to get the worst group. They lost against two of the best teams at the World Cup in France and Norway, and then they had such a good game against Belgium and lost it in that manner after controlling it. I really wish they’d been the team that knocked America out.
• Cape Verde were probably the nicest surprise of the whole thing, with Norway close behind.
• Brazil and Germany didn’t show us enough. It was always going to be someone.

I also liked the balance of surprises. Small teams making it far enough but not too far. I know the quarterfinals might have been a bit of a let-off, because the four biggest teams got the easier games, but I really liked having nicer teams go deep and then the four favourites in the semi-finals.

The hosts

I thought the hosts were great. I loved Mexico, Canada and America as a trio. I don’t agree with the culture and the current politics, but there were positive aspects to it as well. It was what you want from a World Cup: a foreign culture and a different vibe. They all played alright too.

Mexico could have gone further if they’d been a bit luckier with the draw. They won their group, and if it had lined up differently they might not have played one of the top four teams, and they’d have really had a chance. Really unlucky on them, but they did great. The Mexico City stadium is insane, and the talking points around it were really nice as well.

Canada did really well, about as well as they could have.

I would have loved Mexico to host bigger games past the round of 16, and to still be in it at that point too.

An American World Cup, and I chose to embrace it

The kickoff times had a certain energy to them, the whole American vibe the thing brought. I wasn’t a big fan of the hydration breaks, the halftime shows, the adverts, or the prices. Everything looked really, really expensive. But that is America, right? The World Cup was in America. That’s the culture and we got a glimpse of it.

I hope it doesn’t influence the game too much. I hope we’re not getting halftime shows and hydration breaks from now on. But it was American. It was an American World Cup, and I choose to embrace it rather than hate on it. I do hate on some of it, and when I do I’ll justify it with: it was just so American.

That covers hydration breaks, adverts and expensive prices. What it doesn’t cover is the genuinely ugly stuff.

The three things that weren’t acceptable

There were some really ugly parts of this World Cup, and there’s a line where “it’s just American culture now” stops working as an explanation. I know the whole conservative-America-is-a-culture-now thing exists because of Trump. Some of this is, in my opinion, just not acceptable.

The Balogun mess. My single biggest disappointment about this World Cup, in terms of things that actually happened, is the Folarin Balogun situation. He picked up a red card and the automatic one-game ban that comes with it, and then it was absolutely clear that Trump made a call to FIFA and they folded and lifted it for him. It’s incredibly annoying, and a lot of people made really good points about how it hurts the integrity of the game. Once you do that, where does it end? Can you now go back and undo every red card that decided a knockout tie?

Fair play to the guy for going to the Belgium manager after the match, because you want to do the best for your country and if you’re given the chance you take it. But it was really poor on America, really poor on Trump and really poor on FIFA to do it. That was the biggest controversy at the World Cup, one of the worst things that’s ever happened in the sport, and a terrible precedent. It reeks of corruption at the highest level, and it’s just disgusting.

To be fair to the Americans, up until that point they’d mostly kept the politics out of it. Trump had been front and centre before the tournament, then went quiet during it, didn’t turn up to games or make statements, and then out of nowhere he came in and made himself the main character, as he always does. His declaration about it was disgraceful, and it genuinely hurt the World Cup.

The referee who wasn’t allowed in. Omar Artan, the Somali referee, couldn’t come and officiate because he was denied entry at Miami, even though he had a valid visa. He would have been the first Somali to referee at a World Cup and he’s one of the most respected officials in Africa. That is unacceptable, and it shouldn’t be looked over.

The Iran situation. The Iranian team couldn’t stay in America. They had to camp over the border in Mexico and travel in for their games. The way they were treated was not fine. Sorry, that’s unacceptable, and it should be talked about a lot more than it was.

Those three stand out most, though I’m sure there were more to do with fans that I wasn’t very involved in. I never thought about going out there, so I never really looked into it.

Refereeing, VAR and hydration breaks

The refereeing was okay overall. There was probably too much talk about it, and I thought a lot of that was over the top, though some of it was fair enough and some decisions were genuinely shocking. The Mexico v England game in particular was really well managed, bar maybe the free kick Mexico scored from. That was a hard, hard game to control and the ref did well.

One thing I really liked was how diverse the refereeing was. We got to see refereeing styles from different continents, which I thought was genuinely interesting.

VAR I don’t mind. The interventions were fine on length compared to what we’re used to. I actually like the throw-in and goal-kick counts, and the countdowns for keepers releasing the ball. The corner checks don’t bother me.

Hydration breaks are where I’ve got a proper opinion.

• People talk about them like they never existed, but they’ve always been a thing. In Romanian football, midday summer fixtures get one whenever the ref decides it’s too hot, and that’s exactly how it should work: the referee’s call, based on the actual conditions.
• The problem is how they were applied here. A hydration break basically happens anyway every time there’s a two-minute injury or a VAR check, everyone gets a drink. So having a scheduled one right after a moment like that, say the 20th minute after someone’s just been down injured, is ridiculous, and it’s a clear sign these are being done for advertising rather than genuine concern for the players.
• From a fan’s point of view they’re not bad at all, I’ll admit. It solves the eternal problem of when to go to the toilet or grab a drink without missing anything. Awesome, hydration break, off I go.
• But they break the game in a way football never had and never needed. They kill momentum and let managers change and communicate strategy mid-flow. That basically drags the concept of quarters into football, and I don’t think that’s a valuable addition at all.

Stadiums, atmosphere and kickoff times

Big fan of the stadiums. They looked incredible on TV and brought a completely different energy from European football. The atmosphere was good, the grounds looked full, and while I know there were ticket-price controversies I wasn’t close enough to the process to say much beyond it clearly being expensive. What I love most is that they used stadiums that already exist rather than building new ones just for the tournament, the way Qatar did, which is a huge plus.

One thing I keep coming back to: the Estadio Azteca deserved a semifinal or a final. Having it at this World Cup brought so much, and the atmosphere was electric. The games there, particularly Mexico against England, were great. It’s a big shame that the last match played there was a last-16 tie.

On kickoff times, I get the complaints but I don’t fully agree. There were plenty of games at sensible hours, 5pm, 6pm, 8 to 10pm, and no games during actual working hours here. Yes, there were some 2am and 5am kickoffs that were genuinely annoying, but the real reason times got worse is simply that there are so many more games in this format. And that’s the beauty of the World Cup: you can’t have convenient times unless it’s in a friendly time zone. World Cups in South Korea, Japan, Brazil, the US, or somewhere like Australia are exactly what makes the tournament unique, and you have to embrace it. Just put the replay on in the morning, dodge the spoilers, and you’re fine. And if you want to know which game is actually worth putting on, shameless plug: I built a whole app for exactly that, Worth the 90, which scores every match on how good it was without giving away the result.

The kits

I thought the kits were really good. I liked the Adidas ones more than the Nike ones, but Nike made some really interesting ones too. There were some genuinely great designs, much better than before. A really good World Cup from a kit perspective, and I want to do a proper top kits of the World Cup list at some point.

The format

The 48-team format was better than I expected, and one thing I loved was how many smaller countries it let in. Watching teams that don’t usually make a World Cup, sides like Cape Verde, and seeing so many of them make a good impression, was really nice.

Although it’s worth saying that some of the nicest surprises would have qualified anyway. Cape Verde are a really small country, but they came through the African qualifiers by beating Cameroon to get there, so they’d probably have made it under the old format too.

The problems people predicted did still show up, though, mostly around third place. Teams that played their final group games early had no idea how hard to push, while teams playing at the end knew exactly what they needed, and whether you got through often came down to how hard your group was rather than anything you could control. The dynamic of one group shouldn’t decide qualification for another.

I’ve got a full alternative, borrowing from the new Champions League format, that I think fixes most of this. Rather than cram it all in here, I’ve written it up properly in its own article, with worked examples and a simulator you can play with: How I’d Fix the World Cup Group Stage.

The best players

This World Cup was more fun for the individual battles. Even without playing each other, Kane, Mbappe, Messi, Bellingham and Haaland had this ongoing scrap for the Golden Boot, scoring all over the place, and it was great to watch. Big players showing up for the sport like that brings so much colour. Messi rolling back the years as a superstar again, Haaland and Mbappe scoring from anywhere, both of them huge characters with big personalities and interviews. It would have been a much more boring tournament without them, and it brought a lot of stake to the early stages.

Haaland especially. Some people were hating on him for playing for Man City and maybe being too good, but we saw a lot more of his character here and he’s such a likeable guy. He’s so funny. Mbappe as well. Both of them are so honest and funny in front of a camera, and they’re massive meme material, which is great fun.

What it was actually like to live through

There were a lot of talking points at this World Cup and I loved talking about them, but I really enjoyed it from a social perspective too. There are friends I hadn’t seen in about a year who I met up with to watch games in pubs. I had chats about random football matches with people who don’t usually watch World Cups at all. Loads of people who never watch football got into it.

I was pretty disengaged by the end of last season, and I was really hyped for this one. I spent so much time reading about it, listening to podcasts, watching the games, watching replays, building my apps. I loved it so much. It was in the summer, the weather was great, and England made it far, which matters because I live here.

Then all the little things. The Bosnia song from the start of the tournament that kept living rent free in my head. “Muchachos” popping into my Instagram over and over. The noise, the celebrations, the African teams doing really well. The Cape Verde keeper picking up loads of Instagram followers after the Spain game, which looks even more insane now looking back. Teams from different continents and different football cultures, Australia, Japan, all of it, it’s great to see.

And my favourite thing of the whole World Cup: there’s a thing on Reddit where every day someone posts a video of all the goals from the previous day with the scoring nation’s commentary over them. That is the best way to watch World Cup goals. If you want to check it out, it’s incredible. The way each country’s commentators celebrate a goal is hilarious, and wholesome, and great to listen to. I absolutely loved it. I’d recommend it to anyone.

Football has swung back into a national era

This is the point I most want to make, and I think it’s the most interesting thing to come out of this World Cup.

Football feels like it’s jumped straight back into a national era. It moves in a cycle between club and national football, and we’ve been in a long club period where the best managers and most of the interest sat there. National football has always been interesting, but the biggest sign of this shift is the managers.

Five or six years ago, the quality on Premier League benches was insane: Guardiola, Klopp, Ancelotti at Everton, Tuchel, Pochettino, Unai Emery. Before that it was the Barcelona and Real Madrid era with Messi and Ronaldo, Mourinho against Guardiola, and the global interest sitting first in La Liga and then the Premier League. For the last 20 years or so it was hard to get good managers into international football, because they wanted games week in, week out.

Now look at where the managers are: this World Cup had Ancelotti, Tuchel and Pochettino in national jobs, plus Nagelsmann. I think it’s because football added way too many games, and fans, managers and players have all become burnt out. Compare how Klopp looked when he left Liverpool to how he looks now, healthy and full of energy again, and it’s clear playing twice a week for years had worn him down. Guardiola looked like he needed the same break by the time he left Man City. The national game gives you enough football without that grind, so the focus has shifted.

Then there’s the stake. England played Argentina for the first time in over 20 years, and Spain played Argentina competitively for the first time since 1966. Argentina have reached three finals since 2014, but they somehow haven’t faces Spain or England so when they finally do, it means something.

Compare that to Liverpool playing Man City or Real Madrid over and over across seasons, even though they’re not even in the same league. People are burnt out, and the passion drains out of fixtures you know are coming round again next year. Whereas when England lost to Argentina, there’s no guarantee of a rematch anytime soon, and that scarcity is exactly what makes it matter more.

More is coming too: Tuchel likely staying with England, Ancelotti in Brazil, Zidane lined up for France as Deschamps steps down after 14 years, Klopp for Germany, Koeman probably leaving the Netherlands with Xavi coming in, and I am sure Italy will go for a big name. Countries that used to just get lucky with a good manager being available, like Germany or the Netherlands, aren’t the exception anymore. Everyone’s doing it now.

None of this is unprecedented, it was the case before the club era too, but you’d have to go back a long way to find this much interest in the national game. My take is that we’re reaching a peak, with a level of quality that rivals club football because everyone good is now on it. It might hurt club football for a bit, or maybe people just got a taste for how fun this is and keep watching both, but I think a lot of attention is moving to the national game.

There’s one more factor: money separates big and small clubs, but not big and small nations, since every country just fields one squad. That’s part of what let Cape Verde, with players who weren’t good enough for the Netherlands. Football’s getting more diverse because of it, Japan have an insane squad, Senegal are stacked with Premier League players, and I think the smaller nations from South America, Africa and Asia keep getting better from here.

Overall, I loved this World Cup, I was really involved and there were loads of talking points. My favourite part was getting games we don’t see very often, England against Argentina, Spain against Argentina, exactly the clashes I was hoping for, and I’m already looking forward to the next one.