KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The worries before the World Cup were many. There were the visa wait times, the ticket prices, anxieties over hotel rooms and public transit, and countless battles between FIFA and local organizing committees.
Now, with the group stage done and the knockout round set to begin Sunday, it is time to declare: The North American World Cup has been a success.
No doubt there were visitors who were turned away, would-be attendees who could not afford tickets, and hotels and local businesses who feel the promised bump in tourism hasn’t materialized.
But overall, the stadiums have been full, even for matchups that seemed lackluster on paper: nearly 70,000 people packed into stadiums to see games like Cape Verde-Saudi Arabia, Algeria-Jordan and Bosnia and Herzegovina-Qatar. And for headliner events, the environment has been top-tier, like at the U.S.-Australia game in Seattle and in Kansas City for Lionel Messi’s historic hat trick for Argentina.
Visitors and hosts alike have been dazzled by the scenes. Kansas City was swarmed with tens of thousands of Dutch fans for a pre-game march. Boston was besieged by the Tartan Army. Australian fans seized their chance to come to the closer North American coast, where they packed the stands and belted “Waltzing Matilda.”
And of course, the games have been terrific. Now, the knockout round is set, with some blockbusters shaping up for the Round of 16 and beyond.
Read on for more takeaways from the tournament so far:
France is the best team in the tournament
Some pre-tournament favorites have looked good, like Argentina. Others have underwhelmed, like Portugal. Some have mixed their good and bad moments, like England, Germany and Brazil.
But one team has consistently looked a cut above the rest: France. Les Bleus had supposedly drawn one of the toughest groups at this World Cup, with dark horses Senegal and Norway competing with them for the top spot. After a sluggish first half to start their opener against Senegal, France turned on the gas and has cruised ever since. They’ve made their World Cup look downright easy, with at least three goals in each game.
No path to the World Cup Final is easy, and France would certainly arrive battle-tested if they get there, with a potential later matchups in the Round of 16 against Germany, in the quarterfinal against the Netherlands or Morocco and in a possible semifinal against Spain. But their group stage performance leaves no doubt that they should be the favorites to win all of them, and more.
The U.S. is better than expected, though its path to the quarterfinals isn’t easy
Is this finally the World Cup run to remember for the USMNT? The American men were once the plucky underdogs of international soccer, always willing to run for 90 minutes and gut out a tough, gritty game. Those days seemed to fade for a decade or two after their 2002 quarterfinal run.
Suddenly, the results are good, the vibes are even better, and the expectations are growing by the minute. For the first time ever, the starting lineup mostly features players with key roles on teams in top European leagues. And these boys can score: The six goals they scored in their first two group stage games were twice as many as they netted across four games in the 2022 World Cup.
The third group stage match against Turkey, in which U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino gave most of his usual starters a rest and his backups a chance to play, cooled their momentum somewhat with a 3-2 loss.
Still, a Round of 32 matchup against Bosnia and Herzegovina should be winnable. That would be their third win of the tournament so far, the most ever by any U.S. men’s team at a World Cup. And a potential Round of 16 matchup against Belgium (or Senegal) is tougher but should be competitive, too. A quarterfinal in Los Angeles, even if it’s a loss against Spain, would be an epic and fitting result for this team on home soil.
This will be an epic Golden Boot race
The stars are delivering in this World Cup. Argentina’s GOAT Lionel Messi has six goals. France’s twin titans Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé are hot on his heels with four goals apiece. The imposing 6-foot-5 Norwegian megastar Erling Haaland has four goals despite resting on the bench for Norway’s third game. Brazil’s Vinícius Júnior also has four.
Messi should have plenty more opportunities as Argentina drew perhaps the easiest route to the quarterfinal, with a Round of 32 match against Cape Verde, followed by a possible Round of 16 game against the winner of Egypt versus Australia. Plenty of other stars have two or three goals and what could be a deep run ahead, like England’s Harry Kane and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo. Watch this space.
The expansion to 48 was criticized, but it has been a lot of fun
The biggest criticism of expansion was that there would be no real peril for top-quality teams in the group stage, both because there would be more lopsided group stage matchups and because eight third-place teams advance. That has mostly borne out.
The highest-ranked World Cup team that failed to qualify for the knockout stage was Uruguay, which came in ranked No. 16. By contrast, the 2022 tournament had four teams ranked higher and were eliminated in the group stage — Belgium (No. 2), Denmark (No. 10), Germany (No. 11) and Mexico (No. 13). The new Round of 32 will have to do some of that work of adding surprise and peril to the big favorites.
The expanded format has also given us moments and teams to remember like Cape Verde — which would probably not have reached the World Cup under the old format — taking the pre-tournament favorites Spain to a scoreless draw in their opening match. It’s a thrill for fans of teams who rarely have a shot, like Scotland or Haiti or the Democratic Republic of Congo, to have a chance to see their nation on this kind of stage. In fact, nine (of ten) African countries advanced to the knockout round.
Plus, seven teams have reached the knockout stage for the first time in their country’s history: Cape Verde, Egypt, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Congo, Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sure, they won’t be favorites to make a deep run. But the games should be electric.
Transcript:
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
And now it’s time for sports. Before this year’s World Cup, there was a lot of concern the North American host countries might not quite capture the magic of the beautiful game’s biggest contest. Well, put those worries to rest. The World Cup has been a thrill and promises to continue to be as the knockout round starts later today. NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan joins us now. Hi, Becky.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning.
RASCOE: You’ve been crisscrossing the country to cover this thing. Where are you now?
SULLIVAN: Yeah. I’m in Kansas City today because last night I went to this game, Austria versus Algeria, which is one of the last two games of the whole group stage. I was sort of worried it was going to be a little bit of a dud. Could’ve been a 0-0 draw because if one team had won, then the other team would’ve been eliminated. But if there was a tie, both of them got in.
Instead, it was actually this total roller coaster, a very wild 3-3 game. I was sitting behind an Algerian American family who was going through it. Ayesha, they were going through it with each goal. Algeria, you know, with the result – with the draw, they joined eight other teams from Africa that have advanced to the knockout round, which is a treat to see. And then tomorrow, I’m headed back to California to catch up with the U.S. men’s team for their round of 32 game on Wednesday.
RASCOE: And it’s at the knockout stage now. So that means if you’re still in it, win or go home.
SULLIVAN: Yep.
RASCOE: Who do you think is going to be on the winning side of things?
SULLIVAN: You know, I think France is an easy pick. They have been like hot knife through butter, I think, scoring with ease no matter who they play. They had sort of drawn this group that I think a lot of people thought was maybe one of the toughest ones. They had to play Senegal, Norway and Iraq, and it was just no problem for them. They have these two star scorers, Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele. Each of them have four goals. They’re each a serious threat to win the Golden Boot, which is, of course, awarded to the player who scores the most goals at the tournament. They did, however, draw potentially a tough path to the final. They could potentially face Germany, then Netherlands or Morocco, then Spain in a semifinal. That is not an easy path, but I think France is capable of winning all of those and more.
RASCOE: So are there any Cinderellas of this World Cup?
SULLIVAN: Yeah. I think there’s always some teams that can flirt with this. I think the really tiny one is – that’s been a ton of fun to watch is Cape Verde, which is the third smallest team to ever qualify for the World Cup, actually. So, of course, it’s their first time in the tournament and, of course, the first time in the knockout round. They might not have qualified at all, actually, if it hadn’t expanded to 48 teams this year. Yet they’ve been shockingly good. They were undefeated in the group stage. They had three draws but against some good teams, including Spain.
However, their reward in the first round, Ayesha, is a matchup against the defending champion Argentina, and, of course, the GOAT, Lionel Messi, who scored again yesterday. He is leading all goal scorers with six in this tournament. They are a force to contend with. And Argentina, of course, will – I think, will be massive favorites in this game. They could win it all. Anything can happen in soccer, though.
RASCOE: OK. So Argentina and France have momentum. Anyone else seem to be heading to the quarters or the semis?
SULLIVAN: Maybe. You know, I think maybe Norway could be kind of a dark horse. They have this superstar striker Erling Haaland, who’s already scored a handful of goals. I also think Mexico looks pretty good. They were the third team besides France and Argentina to win all three of their group stage games. And now they get to play their first two knockout rounds in Mexico City as a result.
And then, of course, the expectations could not be higher for another home team, the USA. They did not get the easy draw that they were hoping for in the knockout round, but this is the most electric team they have fielded in a very long time. So they have to play Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday. If they can win that, then they would face Belgium or Senegal in the round of 16. Win that, they’d be onto a quarterfinal in Los Angeles, matching their best finish in the modern era of the World Cup.
RASCOE: That’s NPR’s Becky Sullivan. Becky, thank you so much.
SULLIVAN: You’re welcome.