FIFA World Cup 2026: On to the knockout rounds

It has long been accepted that football is a poor relation in this basketball crazy country, but once every four years when the World Cup comes around, the roles are reversed at least in the sports bars and grills that stream the games live all night into the wee hours stretching into midmorning, the aficionados and spot commentators giving their unsolicited analysis and debating the finer points of the game, while outside it is already broad daylight.

First thing noticeable about the tournament’s 23rd edition is the expanded format: 48 teams vying for the coveted prize instead of the usual 32, stretching the games to more than a month, meaning more revenues but also more teams having the chance to win. It’s not difficult to imagine the merits of such a shift, and magnanimity outweighs greed on this one; even initial doubters of this reloaded version will agree.

So instead of eight groups of four teams each with the top two per group advancing to the round of 16 knockouts, we have an additional 16 knockout games drawn from 12 groups of four teams each, with the top two advancing along with the eight best 3rd place teams in the group stage. To put it plainly, the math boggles the mind, what with tiebreaks resolved through goal difference or goals scored just to get to the knockout round of 32.

By a series of unfortunate events, including shady VAR reviews, bonehead errors, incompetent referees, questionable substitutions, or mid tournament debilitating injuries following much thrashing and paroxysms on the pitch to get attention of umpire, three teams favored to advance were ushered out after the group stage: four-time winners Germany which started like a house on fire, perennial contender Netherlands which as predicted by one pundit always manage to do something stupid, and Asian powerhouse South Korea undone by a keeper who lost the ball upon bumping into a teammate at goal.

A word on VAR or video-assisted referee: If you thought goal-line technology was revolutionary, then VAR surely would have the capacity to reinvent the game. Not only is there no more room for human error, but the new standard practically sees the invasion of AI into the game, taking away a huge chunk of excitement with it. Maybe a compromise can be reached, similar to how baseball has refused to adopt technology to determine umpires’ calls behind the plate, unless there is a challenge. That could be the keyword: challenge. Meaning, the call on the field should stand unless there’s a challenge from the opposing team for offside or proximate foul. And maybe limit the challenges to one per half for each team, and an additional one for extra time. In this manner, the tyranny of technology can be moderated, or not be overly reliant on it.

But what if poor field calls necessitate the use of VAR in order to make the beautiful game as close to perfect as possible? There are more blemishes on FIFA chief Gianni Infantino’s bald head than there are errors in a VAR officiated game, or so he likes to believe.

Contentious VAR reared its head when Paraguay eliminated Germany, when a foul was called on a German defender for a slight nudge on the Paraguay keeper, thereby nullifying a header by a German player that would have won it for the Bavarian nation in extra time without having to lose it on penalties. Also, the heartbreaking exit by Croatia, whose tying goal was ruled offside despite bouncing off the head of a Portuguese player, which should have allowed for a reset of the offside rule. Not to mention Senegal’s loss at the death of extra time when a marginal foul was called on an African defender after VAR review, allowing Belgium to slot in the winning penalty after spectacularly equalizing with two goals in the last minutes of normal time.

Another noteworthy innovation, if in fact it can be called such, is the quarter hydration breaks, the better to put in more commercials or for the general audience, a chance for a pee break or a beer run. The formerly sluggish team suddenly finds its legs after the break at the midpoint of every half, then again the practice may be superfluous in the midst of heavy downpour, which teams play through unless accompanied by thunder and lightning, i.e. an electrical storm.

Action can only get more exciting, contentious, and mind-blowing as the month wears on, sleep becoming a hindrance to the enjoyment of the game. So what if we’re turned into a nation of sleepwalkers for a few weeks?

Already, bookies are angling for a rematch between France and Argentina, the two dominant teams from the group stage, apparently headed for a collision course being in different brackets. Their respective lead players, too, are neck and neck in the race for the Golden Boot: Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe. Not to count out Erling Haaland and his dark horse Norway with their Viking persuasion. Nor England, with Captain Harry Kane out to end 60 years of futility.

Spain, too, is among the favored, with a new generation of stars led by teenage phenom Lamine Yamal, after their World Cup-winning team of 2010, whose members now watch mostly from honorary boxes. Morocco, too, carries the torch of Africa, while Colombia tries to relive the glory days away from the cartel.

No accident that sports’ biggest prize can also be the most unpredictable, and Filipinos can be forgiven their momentary football craziness, episodic as it were, occurring only once every four years, despite the once redoubtable Azkhals since being relegated to the doghouse of neglect, apathy, plain disinterest from the powers and unseen hands that run the show.