The biggest question mark hanging over Gianni Infantino's tenure as FIFA president looms large – has the 48-team World Cup expansion been a roaring success or a flawed experiment?
Less than a year after Infantino took the reins, the men's World Cup in North America burst onto the scene with unprecedented diversity, but also exposed some stark disparities. Diego Maradona's dream of more countries participating seemed to come true as Africa and Asia soaked up increased qualifying quotas – four nations made their debut, including plucky Curaçao, who sent shockwaves through the tournament with an equaliser against Germany.
The expanded format undoubtedly brought fresh faces to the party, but also created a massive gulf in quality during the group stages. While some of the lower-ranked teams proved pesky opponents for the big boys – England's goalless draw with Ghana and Spain's stalemate with Cape Verde spring to mind – the reality is that major upsets against top-tier teams were significantly fewer than expected. Unlike past tournaments where holders Spain (2014) and Germany (2018) suffered early exits, a struggling Uruguay was the only major casualty in the group stage this time around.
The expanded format's drawbacks were evident too – five nations matched or exceeded Costa Rica's worst goal difference of -8 from 2022, with Iraq finishing at an abysmal -11. While it allowed superstars like Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi to build momentum in the Golden Boot race, it also highlighted the challenge of keeping the competition levelled across such a massive field. The closest thing to a 'group of death' involved France, Norway, and Senegal – all of whom marched on as predicted.
A contentious change was the revised third-place qualification system. FIFA's decision to ditch three-team groups for four-team groups with eight advancing teams sparked concerns about potential collusion between teams. The fluctuating nature of knockout opponents became glaringly apparent; Algeria's momentary lead against Austria in their final game sent shivers down fans' spines, but ultimately proved a false dawn.