I am not a football aficionado, but like most young boys in the MidEast I played football as my first sport but graduated to other athletic events as I grew up, culminating in tennis in my retirement years. However, like my good friend and colleague HorstCerni I did follow this latest version of the quadrennial World Cup matches quite frequently. I must have watched more than half of the group matches and almost all of the knockout ones. Here are some random thoughts on the event.
I liked the expansion of the competition to 48 teams as it gave spectators a broader view of how this sport is played in many more countries, especially those not usually competing on such a global scene
It was quite an accomplishment to host the teams in three countries at the same time; a plus to FIFA.
While most of the teams came from the powerhouses of Europe and South America, it was surprising how both MENA and Africa are becoming serious competitors. Even the three host countries of North America are fielding teams that can compete with the best.
On the other hand, missing from action are the big population countries in Asia; China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines etc. A big part of the world was not represented.
The biggest disappointment was the absence of Italy in the competition. A four time winner of the Cup it did not even qualify for the 2026 games. In fact it was the only one of previous winners not to participate in 2026,
About eight countries competing had populations less than five million, the smallest and most surprising being the island of Curaçao with less than 160,000 inhabitants.
What was interesting was the large number of players, even among the European teams, who were black or brown faces. One friend joked that Morocco’s team were largely French nationals, while their opponents the French team were more than half Africans!
Novelties from FIFA other than the expanded field of teams were the introduction of “hydration breaks “thus making football a game of quarters and not of halves. Some diehards think this breaks the fluidity of the game, but I felt it was a good thing from the health point of view. Despite the breaks we still saw many players cramp up and leave the pitch.
The showmanship of the games was quite impressive: the unfurling of huge national flags before the players and their national anthems was dramatic; the half time show was entertaining, but not really necessary; Infantino’s Peace Prize to DJT was a farce that was best avoided; officiating was generally good with the VAR technology a plus like the “hawk eye “ in tennis.
On the sport itself I still think it is the “beautiful game” but it has degenerated in some ways; the irony is it is called “foot” ball, yet players use their hands and heads as often as their feet! They throw in the ball when it goes out, they grab each other when chasing a ball, they pull the others’ hands, shirts and even pants. This roughness jars and it is disturbing that officials allow so much of it. When I played football the only contact allowed was a shoulder push.
Also unpleasant has become the many tricks players use to hurt the other, from kicking the shins to stepping with their metal cleats on the other’s feet. This behavior is supplemented by the antics of false injuries as they pretend to be hurt and then jumping up and running kilometers!
I don’t understand the addition of “stoppage time” or its importance. After all the match is 90 minutes long, with another possible 30 minutes overtime, so what is special about the 3 to 5minutes added? It really makes no sense. I do admit, however, that in fact many goals are scored in those short minutes quite often, but that is still unusual.
Another idiosyncrasy is the offside rule which I never liked. So what if an attacking player is a few inches ahead of the defenders? In basketball, it is called the fast break and is an additional exciting aspect making the game faster and more unpredictable. Why doesn’t football abandon this old fashioned rule? It may result in more goals being scored and enliven the game.
Critics of football have always claimed that sitting thru an hour and a half and seeing one side win by 1 to 0 is boring. One of the most interesting matches of this World Cup was the third place game between France and England when a total of TEN goals were scored. The disappointment came from the fact that France was the number one choice of winning the Cup, only to lose the third place slot also.
Another aspect of football I don’t like is the scene near a goal when a corner shot is taken. Having some 15 to 18 players jockeying for position while pulling and pushing opponents is not pretty. Perhaps there should be a limit of 5 players allowed from each team in addition to the goalkeeper defending? This would reduce the wrestling going on among all the players. A thought!
Officiating should become much stricter so that unruly actions can be punished more often. The yellow card is in my opinion not used enough. Teams at the Cup have a roster of about 25 players, so the expulsion of those with yellow cards should not in principle affect the teams.
Finally, I was sad that Messi and his Argentinian side did not win…it would have been a worthy retirement present for him to end his remarkable career. On the other hand I know that Spain played a better football, proving that their winning both the EURO and World Cup is no fluke. Their precision passing is a pleasure to watch and epitomizes what the “beautiful game” should be.
One of the most civilized games I watched was Spain vs Portugal where both teams displayed the kind of football that purists like me love to watch.
Like most of our XUNICEF colleagues I liked the great story about how Messi and Yammal met and how both became UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors.
Another disappointment was Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal whose performance was not up to its billing at all and his inclusion in the team did not make much difference.
On a personal basis I was most dismayed by the loss of the remarkable team from Egypt to Argentina. Leading by 2 to 0 less than fifteen minutes from the end I could not have imagined that Argentina could score three goals in such a short time.
As a Canadian citizen now I was pleased with our team’s overall performance, though it was clear they need much more work to compete with the best.Their 6 to 0 victory over Qatar was a worthy accomplishment.
One of the lowest points in these games was FIFA’s accommodating Trump to defer the red card expulsion of the US best player Balogun.
All in all these games were a pleasant interlude for most spectators and a welcome break from the unpleasant news of events around the world.
Thanks, Fouad. Very nice review. I also disliked the physical aggressiveness and pulling at shirts. And yes, the off-side rule should be eliminated.
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