Great stories, little jeopardy - does the new World Cup format work?

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Cape Verde will take on Argentina after a remarkable run to the knockout rounds Football issues correspondentPublished46 minutes agoNew format, new teams and fascinating storylines. But did the new World Cup group stage really work? Cape Verde achieved the unthinkable and qualified for the last 32 - knocking out Uruguay in the process. Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, may well have been thinking 'I told you so' as Cape Verde were one of the countries to benefit from expanding the tournament to 48 teams. But away from the good news stories, there was no real jeopardy for the major nations. That was partly caused by the need to send third-placed teams through and Fifa deciding to use head to head as the first group stage tiebreaker. It meant four teams won their groups with a game to spare, and five were eliminated. With more goals than any tournament since Sweden 1958, can Fifa claim it has been a success? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and cast your vote below. Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane trading blows in an electric race for the Golden Boot made plenty of headlines. That in itself was a gift for Fifa, with the world's most recognisable players all showing up and trying to outdo each other. But the World Cup is not just about the star names, certainly at the group stage. The colour and character of football from around the globe takes the focus. We did not get any shock defeats in meaningful games for the big teams, like Saudi Arabia beating eventual champions Argentina four years ago. Cape Verde, an archipelagic country in the Atlantic Ocean, may not have come to the World Cup expecting to qualify for the knockout rounds. And they were written off by many before they got on the plane. After all, who could have imagined they would emerge from a group which included Uruguay and European champions Spain? That Cape Verde could take a point off Spain, and stop them scoring too, was remarkable. Not just that, they then drew 2-2 with Uruguay, too. The draw against Saudi Arabia in the final group game secured second placed in the group and a date with world champions Argentina in Miami on Friday. Ok, they might have been the only team to finish in the top two on three points, but they did what they needed to do. There could be no greater vindication of Infantino's plan. Cape Verde were the poster boys. Vozinha, their 40-year-old goalkeeper, is now a social media star thanks to his heroics against Spain. Starting the game with 50,000 followers on Instagram, that shot up to five million after full-time. At the latest count, he has 16.7m. And then his mother, who had been unable to attend the World Cup because of the high cost of obtaining a US visa, was able to fly in for the Uruguay game. It is a story which only the World Cup can create for a player like Vozinha, who has spent his career in Moldova, Cyprus, Slovakia and the Portuguese second division. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Vozinha became a social media star after his performance against Spain The Caribbean island of Curacao, which became the smallest country ever to qualify, did not get through but they did claim a point against Ecuador. DR Congo's hard-fought 1–1 draw against Portugal helped them to emerge as one of the best third-placed teams. Haiti's Wilson Isidor produced a goal-of-the-tournament contender against Morocco, too. The expansion has allowed for other stories as well. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Ivory Coast and South Africa all made it to the knockout rounds for the first time. Though, of course, it is now much easier to do it with generally weaker groups and more teams going through. The first knockout round, with 32 teams, is the size of the old World Cup format. But predictably, the tournament has so far been dominated by the European and South American nations. Not so predictably, African nations have been superb, with nine of their 10 teams getting through to the last 32. Cape Verde's story was one reason for Fifa to celebrate this new format, but it might mask under-performance elsewhere. Is there the depth to justify it? All but one of Concacaf's 20 points were scored by the three co-hosts. Curacao, Haiti and Panama, who benefitted from the extra places, scored three goals and conceded 21. But it was disastrous for Asia. Nine teams and three victories from 27 matches, earning just 0.67 points per game. Only Australia and Japan made it through the group stage. Asia had double the automatic places for this tournament, up from four to eight, plus Iraq qualified through the play-offs. If Africa proved the worth of this new format, Asia and Concacaf showed the opposite. Great stories do not make a tournament, they are only part of it. And there is no getting away from it. The group stage lacked any jeopardy for the major nations. Of the 12 top seeds, only co-hosts Canada and Portugal

Great stories, little jeopardy - does the new World Cup format work?

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