World Cup 2026

So the World Cup is coming to North America in 2026. Great!
They're expanding from 32 to 48 teams to be more inclusive. Great!
They are going to have 16 groups of 3 teams each, 2 group matches instead of 3 for every team. Oh no.

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3 teams in 16 groups, where the top 2 teams advance to a 32-team knockout round?

The first thing this instantly robs fans of is the simultaneous matches to conclude the group stage.

Let's look at a scenario involving a fictional Group with Brazil, Croatia and Tunisia.

Brazil play Croatia first and win. Now it's Croatia vs Tunisia. If you're Tunisia, you know that two draws will get you in. So your best shot is to play super conservative against both Croatia and Brazil, keep 11 guys back and allow zero goals. That's not great soccer or fair or good for anyone.

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Here's another group: Spain, Australia, Senegal.

Spain beats Australia. Senegal and Australia tie. Now it's Spain vs Senegal. They both know that a tie is great for them. Spain gets to win the group, Senegal advances. So they both play conservative and it ends 0-0. That seems super realistic, right?

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So 16 groups of 3 teams is shit. What's the alternative? The obvious is 12 groups of 4.

The top 2 teams advance, that's 24. Then you sort the 3rd place teams and the 8 teams with the most points advance. If that seems familiar, it's what the World Cup 1986 to 1994 when they used the group stage to narrow 24 teams down to 16.

But leagues and clubs are concerned with the total number of matches. So instead of fairness, we're left with money determining the result. Sounds like FIFA after all.