A new World Cup era is born, a before and after. There will be many changes, everything has been expanded. There are fewer and fewer 'cracks', but more and more competitions, matches and trips. And the tournaments that were already there are getting bigger. Example: to play lto Spanish Super Cup the champion of the league and the champion of the Copa del Rey a single match, now it is played in a quadrangular in Saudi Arabia.
The Toyota Cup/Intercontinental Cup it was a kind of Club World Cup to a single confrontation in Japan, starting in 2025 it will be played by 32 teams and will cover 64 games. The Libertadores Cup It was born in 1960 with 13 matches, the current one is made up of 155. To this must be added the new championships and cups that have been created. Everything has grown exponentially, although the year still has twelve months.
He 1970 World Cup had Beckenbauer, Müller, Uwe Seeler, Pelé, Tostão, Jairzinho, Gerson, Rivelino, Gigi Riva, Mazzola, Gianni Rivera, Teófilo Cubillas, Sotil, Chumpitaz, Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, Gordon Banks, Mazurkiewicz, Pedro Rocha, Lev Yashin… . Many stars. And there were 16 selections.
Now there will be 48 and we can barely classify them as such. Mbappé, Haaland (if he goes, because he doesn't qualify often with Norway), Bellingham… There is a shortage of lights. For this reason, millions force them to be Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but one will be 39 years old and the other 41. Leo has said that Qatar 2022 was his last world Cup.
We tell you: Video: Yáser Asprilla scores an incredible goal and gives Watford the victory in England
Well, finally, the Fifa gave the keys to understand the tournament that will be played in North America. The most important thing: the form of dispute was defined. There will be 48 teams distributed into 12 groups of 4 each. First and second in each zone plus the 8 best third parties will qualify for the round of 32. This is a new instance that is created, and it will mean that the champion will have to play 8 games instead of 7, as until now, so we will have to be lucky with injuries and be careful of suspensions.
From the round of 32 until the final there will be eliminatory matches. The curious thing is that a team could be champion without winning any of its eight games. As? You could be third in the group with three draws and then advance with more draws and victories on penalties.
The calendar was also announced. The ball will start rolling on Thursday, June 11 and the final whistle of the World Cup will be on Sunday, July 19. The 39 days of development will cause leagues around the world to be paralyzed for a long time, since first the clubs must release the players twenty days in advance and then they will have their holidays. Of those 39 days, on 34 there will be football, only on five will there be rest.
The feature of Qatar 2022, that brought together the 32 teams and millions of fans in a single city: Doha. That generated a wonderful, unrepeatable atmosphere. One met on the street, in the subway, in bars, in stadiums with visitors from all over the world. The atmosphere was fantastic. In the case of Canada, United States and Mexico The distances are enormous, generating discomfort and unaffordable expenses for the fans, as well as fatigue for the teams, as happened in the 94 World Cup. To partially mitigate the transfers, Fifa divided the tournament map into three geographical zones to move as little as possible. possible to the participants.
Also: Nacional speaks out about the insults to coach Jhon Bodmer in Cali
Gianni Infantino, president of Fifa.
As a historic novelty, a city and a stadium will host the opening match for the third time: they are Mexico and the Aztec, who already raised the curtain in 1970 (Mexico 0 – Soviet Union 0, very boring match) and 1986 (Bulgaria 1 – Italy 1). The venue for the final was also announced: the Metlife Stadium in New Jersey. Metlife replaced the famous Giants Stadium, where the Cosmos played in times of Pelé and Beckenbauer. The Giants was demolished and the new one was built on what was its parking lot, inaugurated in 2010.
However, for the World Cup, Metlife will have to give up its name, since Fifa does not allow what it calls “parasitic advertising.” The same will happen in Mexico. He Aztec will continue to be called Azteca, but the stadium Akron, from Guadalajara, and BBVA, from Monterrey, They will not be able to use that name between June and July 2026.
“Parasitic advertising can be defined as unauthorized marketing activity that seeks to take advantage of the great interest and popularity of an event through commercial links, or also as the search for advertising without the authorization of the event organizer,” he explains. Fifa on its website.
That is why all brands that may appear “in the background” during the event must be hidden. “Parasitic advertising tries to take advantage of the goodwill and good image of Fifa tournaments, without contributing to their organization,” they explain.
The player is a member of the Argentina national team.
“It was believed that the defining game would be in Dallas: good geographical location and covered stadium, which is the key issue because in July in NY Either it may rain heavily or there may be intolerable heat. “That generated some controversy,” he says. José Luis Pierrend, Peruvian colleague residing in Arizona. However, Dallas received a jackpot: it will be the sub-host with the most commitments: nine.
USA It will host 78 matches of the competition, Mexico 13 and Canada another 13. The three are already classified as hosts. They could be eliminated in the group stage, but they will play at least three games in front of their fans. All the information of the Cup 2026 was disseminated by Fifa at an event held in Miami, led by Gianni Infantino and attended Mario Kempes, Cafú, Teófilo Cubillas and other soccer stars.
Read here: 'It was better to accept the mistake': Duque's former Sports Minister criticizes President Petro
“However, the press here in USA It did not give it greater coverage. It was the week before the Super Bowl and nothing else was talked about,” adds Pierrend. “It was not a good time to make this announcement days before the Super Bowl, the media almost ignored it. Here everyone is still revolutionized by Messi, people wear his shirt and many find it incredible that he lives here, that helps football to be present, but in the rest of the country the issue of the World Cup went unnoticed,” corroborates Johani Ponce, Venezuelan journalist based in Miami.
Gianni Infantino, president of Fifa.
In Mexico The news of the distribution of matches was bittersweet. “On the one hand, the media exhibited pride because the Aztec It will receive the opening of a World Cup for the third time, but on the other hand there was little flavor with the thirteen games that the United States 'let Mexico have'. Likewise, there is full awareness that the country is currently not in a position to host a complete World Cup, these are different times,” he says. Marcelo Assaf, Argentine journalist who has lived for thirty years in the Federal District.
There is no need to fear changes. When it went from 24 to 32 teams there was criticism, but it was not bad and more non-traditional teams were able to access the mega sports festival that is the World Cup. However, 48 seems like too big a number. It can already be said that there will be a record for everything: goals, crowds.
“New York will host the World Cup final, which will be the most important match in the history of football,” the president of the World Cup declared grandly. Fifa, Gianni Infantino. We will see. Although it will be a revolutionary World Cup. For all.
Last Tango…
Jorge Barraza
For the time
@JorgeBarrazaOK
#keys #World #Cup.. #Tango
