World Cup Notes

Some words to wrap up the World Cup, which was unexpectedly delightful for most of the past month.

Sunday’s final was a true snoozer. Poor Spain. The country that was never quite good enough has now won two of the last four World Cups. In each case, though, their opponent abandoned their typical attacks to slow the game down and try to beat the crap out of the Spaniards, hoping to either win 1–0 or get the game to PKs and steal it there.

It nearly worked for Argentina, who showed zero interest in trying to score until the closing minutes of extra time. They were content to just not let Spain score, and beat the Spaniards up in the middle of the field, hoping they would be too worn out to get the winner of their own. A very cynical way to play the game, as the Euros would say. But given the difference in talent and form, it is a totally understandable way to try to get a result.

Argentina was lucky Spain could not finish, or this could have, easily, been a 3–0 or 4–0 game.

Alas, Spain could not find the back of the goal and we went to extra time, when anything could happen. Hell, it nearly did. After Spain finally scored Argentina had a fantastic chance to score off a cross when the stout Spanish backline got lazy for a moment. Fortunately Argentina could not put the cross on goal and Spain escaped.

Spain was an amazing team without being flashy. Their attack never turned into a consistent threat, but the back half of their lineup was so locked in that didn’t matter. They only gave up one goal in eight games, and did so without beating the crap out of their opponents. They just suffocated every hint of an attack.

Three of Spain’s best players are under 25. Hell, two of them aren’t even 20 yet. Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal were both far from 100% in this tournament. Throw in the most cohesive national program in world football, and the future looks very bright for the Spaniards.

Of course we thought the same thing about France eight years ago. Sure, France lost the last final on PKs and crashed out it to the semis this year, but dominance is never guaranteed.

In four years Spain will be the co-hosts with Portugal and Morocco. France should still be very strong. England as well. Argentina will surely drop off even if Messi decides to play at 43. Might Morocco ride their co-host status to another deep run? Will Germany or Brazil finally get their shit together again? I’m not one for betting, especially four years out, but Spain defending seems like the smartest money at the moment.

If our East End food tour guide Max was available, he would confirm that I told him I thought the Argentinians would run out of steam. Between their age, the heat, and always playing from behind, I figured it would catch up with them at some point. Shame for Max that it wasn’t until the final they fell apart and still had the legs to beat England. Messi was so good early in the tournament, but it was too much to ask him to sustain that for five weeks. Losing in the final at 39 years old is not a blemish on his legacy in any way, especially when this team wasn’t nearly as good as the champions of 2022 and he drug them all the way to the final.

For all the fears that a hundred things would ruin this tournament – the weather, our president, FIFA, war in the Middle East, Mexican cartel violence, inflation – the games themselves were mostly brilliant. Along with everything around them. There were no violent clashes between opposing fans. American communities adopted teams they hosted. Foreign visitors were amazed by what America has to offer.

Sometimes sports conquer all the bullshit that tries to get in the way.

Naturally FIFA wants to try to fuck it up by expanding, again. The jump to 48 teams worked. Mostly. There were a handful of teams that had no business being in the tournament. But the expansion also gave us Cape Verde and allowed more teams outside the traditional hotbeds of Europe and South America entry. The World Cup is a grueling tournament that comes quickly after the lengthy European domestic season ends. Adding more games seems like a recipe for the tournament becoming more like the NFL or NBA, where you hope the biggest stars can survive the grind.

But FIFA has never turned down an opportunity to make more money.[1]

Americans learned that replay can ruin soccer just as it has ruined American sports. A soccer podcaster noted how before VAR came into existence, often the talk after big games was more of mistakes the referees had made than the result, and VAR had fixed much of that. However, that comes at the expense of longer games with more breaks where everyone is standing around wondering what is happening. You are almost afraid to celebrate a goal now, fearing a delayed offsides flag or VAR call that could overturn it.

I’m not sure what the answer is. Maybe more officials to cover the entire field better, and avoid situations like in the Egypt-Argentina game when a goal was overturned because of a foul 80 yards away? But that may lead to more fouls and less action.

I continue to insist all replay reviews should be made at real speed, no slow motion. I’m not the only one saying this. Maybe someday a league will listen.

The hydration breaks were dumb, but aren’t going away. There were clear moments in many games where momentum shifted because the teams got three minutes to huddle with coaches and adjust strategy.

There were lots of complaints about interminable, and very American, pregame activities and the halftime show Sunday. I just didn’t watch any of that. Or, rather, I had Telemundo on and muted and waited for the game to begin to turn the volume up.

When the World Cup came to the US in 1994, there were many features about how soccer was “the simple game,” with a few long established rules governing play and how the game was conducted. FIFA routinely threw these out this year. Soccer purists were aghast.

The dumbest justification for not making changes to anything is saying “That’s how it’s always been.” Perhaps it is time to rethink how international soccer games are played. But at least make it a conversation, or acknowledge experimenting, rather than just instituting changes without comment, as FIFA has done.

It is clear that FIFA believes the path to opening new revenue streams is by Americanizing the game even more. Which is fine. Just admit that this is all being done for money, not because you care about the health of the players or want to entertain the fans more during halftime.

Now comes the handwringing in the US about whether the World Cup will leave any lasting impacts. I doubt it will. The MLS did nothing to advertise itself during the tournament, so I doubt there will be a rush of new viewers when the league starts up again. Maybe a few more people will watch the Premier League, La Liga, etc this fall. I don’t think those new viewers will move the needle a bit, though.

America likes spectacle and large events. We can jump into the World Cup without any context and understand the games mean a lot to people in other countries and go along for the ride. We can fall in love with Norway or Algeria or maybe the country our grandparents came from for a couple weeks. That short-term attention doesn’t translate into Americans suddenly following the transfer market closely to see if Arsenal can reload for another run, if PSG can maintain all their players, or if Real Madrid can finally find the missing piece to make their team of superstars click.

Most of us in the US are going to enjoy the rest of summer and start counting down the days until football begins. American football.