Has the expanded World Cup been a FAILURE or a SUCCESS? | 2026 FIFA World Cup | Football Ramble
Video Overview & Insights
With dozens of hours of sleep lost to the sheer chaos of the World Cup schedule over the past month, perhaps a one night break from the football wasn’t the worst thing in the world. And now we’re well rested, it seems like the ideal time to reflect on some of the joy, heartbreak, and downright bafflement the World Cup has offered us so far.
I feel like I’ve heard something similar to this take about the start times and staying up being a result of the expanded tournament from almost every British media and YouTube channel I follow.
While I don’t disagree that the start times have been bad for you guys, I feel that this complaint has taken a whole new set of legs and influenced discussions about expanded tournament and other topics in a way that it shouldn’t.
Not trying to be rude here, but to put it bluntly, get over it and welcome to being a football fan anywhere outside of Europe or near it. If you’re in the Americas, this is just the standard we’ve all dealt with outside of a few times it was hosted anywhere outside of Europe.
I don’t understand the logic behind not liking the expanded tournament other than referencing start times which is just a continent problem. You’re saying you don’t want more of the best sporting competition in history? You don’t want more Cinderella stories and underdogs? If you can just get past “wah I have to get up at weird hours or stay up like every fan outside of Europe has for the last century to watch”, I think it becomes clear that you’re just arguing for less of a good thing.
The expanded tournament isn’t a bad thing, but it certainly needs to be adjusted/perfected. I think making this change alongside changes to things like tiebreakers was the biggest issue. I also don’t see the round of 32 as ultimately pointless. As a Mexican, I’ve seen my team qualify to the knockouts when they probably shouldn’t have, only to get demolished by a giant. The only difference now is that you have a whole round of cinderellas getting a chance to take a swing at a traditional powerhouse. I didnt find it pointless to watch Germany be haramballed to death by a smaller team. I also didn’t find it pointless to watch the Netherlands flounder again, or for Argentina to barely get past a Cape Verde, etc.
Marcus, Luke & Vish are here to answer your World Cup Mailbag questions ahead of the quarter-finals kicking off tonight!
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Should be 64 teams and have more groups with 2 teams qualifying. The nonsense 3rd place getting through got rid of all jeopardy for bigger nations
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To me, finishing 3rd in a group of 4 teams and still qualifying for the next round is absurd and it doesn't matter how FIFA tries to downplay that fact.
Video Chapters:
0:00 - Does the expanded World Cup feel like a success or failure?
Men simply saying numbers for 5 minutes and not even answering the success/failure question.
11:43 - Which team has surprised us the most?
17:51 - Which previously unknown player have we been most impressed by?
Sensing a bit of needle between Marcus and Vish, have a horrible feeling old vishy may not be long for the ramble, which would be a pity (even as an OG it used to be better in 2009 irritant of a fan)
21:12 - Who is the hardest manager at the World Cup?
25:54 - How is Vish preparing for Saturday?
How about a 'Europa League' world cup for second tier nations?
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27:42 bold move sticking the leg up there, Luke... Very "TV presenter aimed at teenagers"
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FIFA is obsessed with Argentina since 1976
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I think 40 teams would work. 8 groups of 5, top 2 go through to the round of 16
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Has the expanded World Cup been a FAILURE or a SUCCESS? | 2026 FIFA World Cup | Football Ramble
After those Norway comments you're no longer allowed to virtue signal about flags on lampposts
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Deschamps is a secret hard man. Defensive midfielder. Definitely had his nose broken a few times.
Nagelsmann is probably the least frightening. He probably takes really obnoxious martial arts classes but would be winded after 11 seconds of fighting.
More User Perspectives
I really enjoyed it. Was a bit of a slog at the end but still enjoyed most of the games. The big change they need to make IMO is randomised matching for knockouts. Still use the same system where A1 cannot play B1 for example, but teams shouldn't know which group they're facing before kick off. Completely avoids that nonsense about the Algeria/Austria/Spain stuff.
@Alex-lc7vThe expanded tournament 100% cheapens it. I was laughing at the TV watching 1 of the games. It was completely surreal watching league 2 level play at the "pinnacle" of the sport.
@TommlockFor me,
(Early Group stage) Success.
(Late Group Stage) Failure - Dragged on and Head to Head was an awful metric.
(Knock Outs) Success.
I wonder if all games in a group should be simultaneous like the 3rd game is.
Not automatically putting the multiple hosts in pot 1 of the draw would be more balanced and less boring.
@joeo7999Marcus rattling Vish in the first 5 mins by asking him a question and then not letting him answer it.
@Featherboa1I've enjoyed it, but it's been a slog! I'm ready for it to finish now, and we still haven't even got to the quarters.
I'd rather it went back to 32 teams, but its more likely to to 60, as that means more games, and more games means more money, and what does FIFA love? MONEY!
The group stages were honestly just a farce for me, especially the final games and the third place finishes, which so obviously benefits the teams playing later.
I wonder whether the Swiss model approach could get used going forward, essentially creating a round of 24, where the top 8 teams get byes and there's a knockout round, and rewarding teams who go 9/9 rather than rewarding teams who don't even win a game!
I know the idea of 64 teams was glossed over, but could it solve a range of issues?
The Pitch: 64 teams pure knockout football.
I used to think the group stage was sacred. Now I'm not so sure. The expanded teams has done away with the group of death and any jeopardy.
Knockout format enables more shocks and drama of smaller teams making it through.
More chat around minutes played and the compounding cost being taken to extra time.
Infantino brings more nations to the World Cup securing their vote (and his job) for the rest of his tenure.
And there's fewer games in the tournament reducing the workload on players. Bit fanciful to suggest FIFA would want fewer games and better player welfare, but indulge me.
“World Cup is supposed to be cream of the crop”, wrong, it was this way when it was a 16 team tournament. Can you really call 16 teams a “World Cup”
@harryphillips6224It's money, it's all about the money. More teams, more games, more stadiums, more merch makes more money.
@jonathanayres6005As a competition, despite my reservations, it's been excellent. However, it has clearly been comprised by more than a couple of decision by FIFA that are clearly driven by revenue rather than an equal playing field. It's a very flawed organisation that's been infiltrated by paracites and has overreached it's sell date.
@Edge-of-ReasonMostly a failure, but what is more important: The corruption in the game. Infantino intervenes in favor of the orange swamp monster, Collina destroys the game though his nepotism in favor of Argentina and his illegal change of rules ("Protecting" the Keeper), the strange interfering or not interfering of the VAR (Germany - Paraguay, Argentina - Egypt, France - Paraguay and even Mexico - England and many more.). The MaFIFA is not only bending the rules, it is breaking the rules. And why? On one side: Corruption. On the other side: More entertaining. This must stop now!
@Lola_LaszivToo many games. And a lot of poor quality for some nations - Curacao, Uzbekistan, Tunisia and Iraq all got hammered. Some teams that qualified to KOs were absolute dross e.g. Canada v South Africa
@donalio123We’ve watched multiple matches, many within the last 10 days, that were some of the best in World Cup history.
The best attacking players in the world are competing for the golden boot.
It’s arguably been the best World Cup ever (so far).
Belgium winning the world cup after Martinez wasting the greatest players theyve ever had would be wonderfully entertaining tbf
@whatsthepointbotheringQuiñones talk is the definition of being caught up by the World Cup hubris. 😂
@oriongriffiths3030Brazil haven't beaten a European size in the knockout phases of the WC since 2002, their roster is ho-hum (with one exception) and their coaching has been poor. and straegically chaotic for years (Ancelotti is farr too laissez faire for this team). I wasn't surprised at all by the early exit. Their brand is miles bigger than their reality
@damianlaniganIt's been an absolute success on every level. Even the Trump intervention was fine: contributed to the USA's exit.
@damianlanigan"Lets talk about ancient Rome for a bit"
@JohnnyFoley-y3xThe group stage did drag a bit towards the end I think. But I think letting more people enjoy their nation being there makes it worth it and you simply don’t need to watch every game. Just pick and choose the ones you like.
64 would be better and introduce more jeopardy into the group stage. There’s still lots of European and African teams who are decent who didn’t qualify
This is a bit early fellas
@Deg-vu2fc