Cape Verde achieved the unthinkable. The tiny Atlantic archipelago, written off before they got on the plane, qualified for the last 32 of the World Cup – knocking out Uruguay in the process. They will now face world champions Argentina in Miami on Friday. It is the kind of story Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, must have been dreaming of when he expanded the tournament to 48 teams. Cape Verde are the poster boys for his plan. They took a point off European champions Spain, stopping them scoring, then drew 2-2 with Uruguay. A final group-stage draw against Saudi Arabia secured second place on just three points. Their 40-year-old goalkeeper, Vozinha, became a social media star: starting the tournament with 50,000 Instagram followers, his count shot to five million after his heroics against Spain, and now stands at 16.7m. His mother, unable to attend initially because of the high cost of a US visa, flew in for the Uruguay game. These are stories only the World Cup can create.
But away from the good news stories, there was no real jeopardy for the major nations. That was partly caused by the need to send third-placed teams through and Fifa’s decision to use head-to-head as the first group-stage tiebreaker. Four teams won their groups with a game to spare; five were eliminated. We did not get any shock defeats in meaningful games for the big teams, like Saudi Arabia beating eventual champions Argentina four years ago. Instead, the world’s most recognisable players – Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane – traded blows in an electric race for the Golden Boot, making plenty of headlines. That in itself was a gift for Fifa.
“Cape Verde qualified for the last 32 after a remarkable run, but major nations faced no real jeopardy in the new group stage.”
The tournament has also seen more goals than any World Cup since Sweden 1958. Infantino may well be thinking ‘I told you so’. But the question remains: did the new format really work? The colour and character of football from around the globe took the focus, yet the lack of upset meant the group stage lacked the jeopardy that makes the World Cup special. With Cape Verde’s fairytale and the star names delivering, Fifa can claim success – but the debate over the format will linger.