Hello friends, good vibes to all.
Just over a week ago, the draw for next year's World Cup took place in Washington, D.C. This World Cup, for the first time in history, will be played with 48 teams and will therefore have 12 groups, which were chosen that day. It goes without saying that I am completely against this expansion of participating countries, as meritocracy will become increasingly less relevant. It will become "easier" to qualify for a World Cup, meaning that only the best teams will truly be there, and therefore it is possible—though we don't know for sure yet—that the overall quality of football will decline. How can we infer this? By looking at how the groups were formed.
The most striking thing I notice after the draw is that there isn't a group of death. There might be a couple that look tough on paper, but that dreaded group that no one wants to be in simply doesn't exist. Looking at some of the groups, we have Group A (Mexico, South Korea, South Africa, and, if they win their qualifying match, Italy). It's not exactly a group of death, but I do see it as quite evenly matched. It's one of those groups where, if you were making a prediction, I wouldn't know right off the bat which two teams to pick to advance. Another very interesting group, and the one many are calling the "group of death," is Group L (England, Croatia, Ghana, and Panama). There aren't as many doubts about the European teams, but what the African teams can do with their physical attributes could prove difficult to overcome.
Following this trend, we should mention Group I (France, Senegal, Norway, and possibly Bolivia). If Venezuela had gone to the playoffs, this would have been their group had they qualified. Norway is an unknown quantity; they haven't been to the World Cup for many years, but now they have a very good team to compete. There's not much to say about France, and Senegal is the same case as the previous group: if the Africans are determined, they can be very difficult opponents, as has historically been the case. Beyond that, I don't see any other groups that deserve to be considered evenly matched because there's a significant disparity between the teams. However, this doesn't mean we won't see some great matches, because there will be.
Brazil-Morocco is one of them. The Moroccans, who dazzled in Qatar, will face Ancelotti's Brazil in a highly anticipated match. Germany-Ecuador is also very interesting; I can imagine an upset by the Ecuadorians beating the Germans, and it wouldn't be far-fetched at all. This is one of the matches with the highest demand for tickets. Spain-Uruguay is another match that stands out as one of the highlights of this group stage; I think it will be a hot topic. Portugal-Colombia is the penultimate match on this short list, a first-time encounter and a very evenly matched one. For many, the Portuguese are one of the favorites to win the World Cup; I include myself in that opinion. I think they have one of the best squads they've had in years.
And the last match would be England-Croatia, which, while we might be a bit more used to these kinds of matches because of UEFA competitions, is still exciting, especially in a World Cup. I didn't mention the current world champions, Argentina, because their group is one of the worst they could have been drawn into in terms of spectacle (Argentina, Algeria, Austria, and Jordan); there's nothing noteworthy there, no matter how hard you look. At the end of the day, when the World Cup arrives, we'll all be sitting and watching the matches, despite the quality of some of the teams, but it's undeniable that this new format, at least for me, is rather unappealing. The only good thing I see about it is that there are more matches, obviously.
All the teams go in with dreams and goals, and obviously, this situation isn't anyone's fault; it's just that we have an organization like FIFA that, for purely economic reasons, seeks to make something bigger, more accessible, and more extensive than it was with 32 countries. We'll have to wait and see how this experiment turns out; maybe it will end up being a good World Cup and will silence those of us who have been complaining a bit.
¡Un abrazo a todos, nos leemos en la próxima!
Well folks, that's all for today. I hope you enjoyed it.
¡Hugs to everyone, see you next time!