World Cup 2026 draw its curtains over the first group stage at which a quarter of the worldwide nations participated. Since the competition increased from 32 to 48 teams, it was obvious that more goals will be scored, and countless unimportant records are shattered and enhanced at levels never expected even in 1998, the first edition with 32 teams. I was afraid it will be like this, but few realize the dilution of quality. People may be enchanted by the number of goals scored, and the diversity of nations participating, but the point is not this. Not in football.
Instagram, more important at the World Cup 2026
A competition should be a competition, not a cultural event. It was beautiful to see Vozinha in action, for example, and how he reached 20 million followers on Instagram from 43K he had prior to the performance against Spain. However, this has nothing to do with football. It is exactly the same thing as labeling a post by the numbers of follows of likes. In some sorts, this is how football looks like. Few realize the football quality is so poor, that you don’t even need to know hot to play football, to become a footballer. And Vozinha is not necessary the best example, as Cape Verde looked to be a solid team and they deserve the qualification. It is just the thing behind.
Lionel Messi’s performance proves me right
Speaking of becoming footballer, look at Lionel Messi. Many think he scores goal after goal at the World Cup because he is still the best, at 39 years, but the reality is that the value coming from behind is so poor, that for Messi is not a problem to score 15 goals even if at the World Cup 2030, where he really should play. Actually, Messi looks in a better shape than in 2022, when he became World champion, but what will remain forever a general accepted answered question is: why Messi couldn’t perform at the same levels in 2010 and 2014, when, in theory, he was by far in its peak form?
World Cup 2026 for social media
Of course, there is an answer: value dilution in football, gradually for many decades, but accentuated in the last one. Now, you need a line and some followers, and you can become a footballer. You can participate a World Cup, gather followers, and get a good contract based on that. Is this football? Not really. It is a bounding culture, which makes viewers feeling closer to football players. Of course, in many regards, it is beautiful, but seeing players who can’t hit the ball properly with their feet, when they win millions of dollars per year, it gets bothering.
Less quality at World Cup 2030
To me, in any case, this is only the beginning, because if FIFA will really trigger the 64 teams plan for World Cup 2030, the value will nose dive for real. You can’t add 16 more nations, and hope for quality increase. From where? Let’s see… is there any national team that worth mentioning who missed the World Cup? “Italy!” will say many, but in reality, Italy missed a third World Cup in a row, and the last teams who eliminated them where North Macedonia and Bosnia & Herzegovina. Also, Norway trashed Italy 7-1 in two games. How can this team worth mentioning?
The Czechs, huge disappointments
Yes, yes, I know. Italy won in 2021 the European Championship. They did so, exactly because football become irrelevant. Otherwise you can’t have such a record. Denmark? It was put out by Czechia, a catastrophic team at the World Cup, exactly like Bosnia & Herzegovina, but the latest made it thru and will play US! Many poor teams qualified, and I specifically want to make a reference to South Africa, a nation I cherish personally, since I’ve had a great experience in Western Cape, in November 2025. I was happy for them to be qualified, I am rooting for the side at the World Cup 2026, but that is about it.
South Africa writes history, even if they are a very poor football team
What South Africa is playing is not football, they are at almost the same poor level as Romania, so you can’t logically expect them to go thru. But, regardless, for the first time in history, they qualified to a World Cup knock out stage, from second spot, by beating South Korea, 1-0. From a cultural stand point, South Africa has a very strong football print, mainly because they hosted the World Cup 2010. But when it comes to playing football… I prefer to watch their might rugby team playing. There, indeed, this is a problem: the football selection pool is the one rebounded, mostly, by youngsters that don’t make it in rugby. A sport hundreds of time more popular.
Muslera, Ronaldo, Neuer, Modric… another go in 2030?
It is not the only abnormality. Mentioning Lionel Messi, and Vozinha, of course we can realize they are two individual happy cases, but there are many which are obvious more of a burden then a help for their national team: Muslera, Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo, Manuel Neuer, Dzeko and so on, look to drag their teams behind, than ahead. Portugal looks to be able to break through when Cristiano Ronaldo won’t be playing for more than 30 minutes, Muslera buried Uruguay already, while Modric and Neuer are significant red flags for their side. Again, this is not football. It is just building fake media legacy. Not to mention Neymar, him being more a mascot than a merit call up.
World Cup 2026 – last 32 nations left and final picture
To me, all these are deeply disappointing from a competition stand point, but it is for sure a great thing to write countless rows about. It is just a media thing, a debate stuff, not football anymore. How the World Cup will look like from the moment when, indeed, 32 teams are still in place, like they used to be? The key fact is that nine African teams out of 10 made it thru the ranks and qualified to play further. This is interesting. Uruguay, Turkey, South Korea, and Czech Republic are the biggest upsets. Belgium was saved by a final 5-1 win against New Zealand. Matches like Paraguay – Australia and Austria – Algeria are below words. Iran performed shockingly well, at a World Cup they weren’t welcomed to, and logically they shouldn’t participate at… But, leaving a bit some extra comments behind, let’s see how the last 32 look like and which is the path towards the final:
Source: sports.yahoo.com
Having a brief look on the above, we see teams that merely qualified that are now in the last 32, like RD Congo. We also notice that, in “normal” circumstances, here including the classical refereeing decisions – by the way, by giving the microphone to the referees, we see better which is their overall level, and why we should not have too many hopes – the quarter finals should look like:
- Germany – Netherlands
- Spain – Belgium
- Brazil – England
- Argentina – Switzerland / Colombia – wow, what a huge surprise! 🙂
But will it be so?
From Joachim Klement’s prediction – the man who predicted the last three World Cup winners! – the champion should become Netherlands. The only thing is that they can’t beat anymore Portugal in the final, as they are on the same side of the phase, but they can still definitely win against in the semifinals. Spain looks a better choice, but who knows? The first real test will be Japan – Brazil, where the mathematician claims a Japanese win, so then normally this can open possibilities for… Norway! I will run some facts, with a huge does of subjectivism, in a separate article. For now, I just want to point out the huge upset that football became, crumbling quality meters to make place for quantity, inclusion, and other beautiful concepts, but which don’t match to the main principle of a competition.