The World Cup is going to be expanded to 48 teams and, frankly speaking, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
Fifa unanimously voted in favour of the move last week, with the change due to come into effect for the 2026 tournament. Assuming, of course, that after Qatar 2022 the world has any interest left in the World Cup.
As football decisions go, this expansion was always likely to send the purists running into the streets wailing that the greatest sporting event on earth is going to be fatally diluted by lesser nations.
And these prophets of football doom have not let us down over the past few days with their pessimistic predictions that the World Cup will turn into a Sunday league contest.
However, I genuinely don’t see the inclusion of these extra finalists as such a big deal.
Yes, there will be weaker sides in the tournament, teams doing little more than making up the numbers. But isn’t that always the case? England are normally there aren’t they?
From 2026 there may be more one-sided games at the beginning of the contest than normal, but for the most part it will still be the big boys who make it through to the knockout stages. And that is when things get properly exciting… just as they do under the existing format.
And there certainly can’t be too many logistical complaints about the change either. The tournament will still last a month and the players won’t have more matches to play than before – winning it will still only take seven games.
And let’s be honest, 16 extra places is going to give a lot of ‘nearly’ nations the incentive to try harder to qualify, making the whole thing feel more globally inclusive.
So, as I said, from a football perspective, I honestly don’t see there being too much wrong with the idea.
However, what annoyed me last week was Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s insistence that the only reason they are growing the finals is for the love of football and that it was a decision based solely on “sporting merit”.
Does he really expect us to believe that Fifa didn’t even consider the fact that by bulking up the tournament they would make half a billion extra profit?
A lot of the mistrust and cynicism that many feel towards Fifa is a result of decades of mismanagement and misinformation by Sepp Blatter and his pocket-lining cronies.
Infantino is displaying all the early signs of being another Blatter-in-the-making by treating everyone connected with the sport like idiots. Couldn’t he have at least had the decency to admit that the extra revenue influenced them a bit? Say something like “money wasn’t our primary concern but the extra revenue will be helpful as we try to improve grassroots football around the globe”.
It would have been little more than a soundbite but it would have at least acknowledged something that is glaringly obvious to the entire world – this decision is going to make Fifa a hell of a lot of money.
Meanwhile, Fifa cynics – and there are no shortage of those – have suggested the enlargement was also an underhand attempt by Infantino to shore up his support and strengthen his power base.
I can see why people might think that, as more finalists means more happy football associations and more happy football associations mean more votes for the man who made them happy.
However, I am prepared to give Infantino the benefit of the doubt on that one as he’s only been in the job a few months. Surely he couldn’t have become as devious, power hungry and reprehensible as that in such a short space of time. Could he?
If he has, then we have a man in charge of football whose personal ethics make Blatter look like Fifa’s very own Mother Teresa…
Taylor was a managerial legend… domestically
As modern-era England managers go, Graham Taylor was not the greatest. In fact his record during his three years in charge of the national team was among the worst it has been my misfortune to endure – and that’s saying something, considering some of the muppets who have managed the Three Lions.
But nobody can deny that despite his many failings, he always approached the job with a wholehearted and genuine desire to do the right thing. He loved England and was desperately proud to get the job.
During his ill-fated stint, Taylor remained dignified despite having to put up with levels of abuse from the media and the fans that would probably result in criminal charges if they were to happen today.
16 extra places is going to give a lot of ‘nearly’ nations the incentive to try harder to qualify, making the whole thing feel more globally inclusive
Domestically, especially during his time as manager of Aston Villa and Watford, Taylor was brilliant. Taking the latter from the fourth division to second place in the top flight in just five seasons was a truly remarkable feat.
Sadly he was unable to replicate that success for the national team, where things just never clicked for him. But that didn’t make him a bad manager, nor a bad person. In fact he remained one of the nicest people in football right up to the end.
Hopefully the news of his death will make the fans who hurled abuse at him from the terraces, and the hacks who crucified him in the tabloids, reflect on how they treated a decent, honest man trying his best for his country.
Living up to the hype
Please, please, please, can today’s game not be a huge let-down?
Every time there is a big match on the horizon we are subjected to a week-long blitz of hype guaranteed to raise expectation levels to breaking point.
Unsurprisingly, today’s clash between Manchester United and Liverpool has been given this treatment, and more than a few mouths are watering at the prospect of two title-chasing giants going head-to-head.
The problem is these games so rarely live up to their billing.
We settle down in front of the TV hoping to watch a classic but by the end of it we realise it would have been more exciting spending 90 minutes finding witty anagrams of Jurgen Klopp. (No, I couldn’t think of any).
I don’t want much this afternoon. It doesn’t need to be a 5-4 thriller or a 9-0 massacre. I don’t particular care which team wins and I don’t even mind if it ends in a draw.
Just don’t make it one of those tedious, cagey games where both teams set up to nullify the other and spectacularly succeed in boring us to death in the process.
Heck, I can even live without goals if need be, provided there is some goalmouth action, a few near misses, one or two crunching tackles and the odd moment of controversy.
Anything other than the traditional, big-game anti-climax.
An easy record to break
Talking of Liverpool, there was a lot of fuss last week about how the team that started against Plymouth last Sunday was the youngest in the club’s history.
Fair enough, with an average age of 21 years, 296 days it was considerably younger than the previous record of 22 years, 303 days, which was set back in 1965.
I understand breaking that long-standing record makes for some nice headlines but the problem is we are comparing chalk and cheese here.
When Bill Shankly named that young team more than 50 years ago, it was in a top-flight game against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Meanwhile, Klopp’s team of kiddies took to the pitch against League Two Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup.
Equally, the total number of players on Liverpool’s books now is probably three or four times what it was half a century ago. You are bound to get a better selection of talented youngsters when the pool is so much deeper.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with managers fielding young teams if they believe they can still get a result (although it makes me incredibly sad to see the FA Cup reduced to a reserve competition).
But I just don’t see Klopp’s decision to go with youngsters as being anything other than a reflection of the depth of his squad and the lack of importance the big clubs are now giving to the FA Cup.
Shankly, on the other hand, picked his young team for all the right reasons and in a league game that mattered. He played them because he believed they were good enough, not because they needed match experience or because his stars needed resting.
As I said, chalk and cheese.
sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade