FROM THE EDITOR
Welcome to our World Cup special edition! I hope it provides you with the information and analysis needed to follow the tournament in Russia.
Certainly, there are no shortage of contenders. On paper, the “big three” of Germany, Brazil and Spain look to be ahead of the pack, but there is no shortage of strong contenders from Europe: France, Belgium, Portugal and, yes, even England.
The African challenge looks strong this year, with Nigeria and Senegal in particular looking intriguing prospects. From South America, Uruguay and Colombia have developed from four years ago, while Argentina look brilliant but unpredictable.
A personal hope for this tournament is to see more attacking football. Sadly the trend from the 2016 European Championship was for greater defensive efficiency. Iceland, far greater than the sum of their parts, and Portugal, clawing their way to the title in Paris, demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach.
However, if the evidence of the knockout stages of this season’s Champions League is anything to go by, teams are losing the art of defending. And that can only be a good thing.
For attacking football to flourish, we need the big individual stars to live up to their billing. Barcelona’s exit from the Champions League at least spared Lionel Messi an intense finish to the European club season. The hope must be that he arrives in Russia in a fresher state than at previous tournaments. Neymar’s enforced break with a broken footbone may also prove a blessing in disguise.
But the stars may not be enough. We need positive thinking from the coaches. It’s unlikely to come from the likes of Panama’s Hernan Dario Gomez and Akira Nishino of Japan. For them, the priority is to spare the blushes from goal-heavy defeats. But there are encouraging signs from the leading protagonists. Germany scored a record number of goals in qualifying and continue to innovate under Joachim Low, while Spain look to be back to something like their best under Julen Lopetegui.
For many, the beauty of the World Cup is that it reminds us of a simpler game, free from the financial machinations of the modern sport. There are no oligarchs or petro-billionaires trying to buy their way to success.
But sadly this tournament will not be free from problems. Russia, as the first Eastern European country to stage a World Cup, will be worthy hosts. When the hosting decision was taken in 2011, they put a strong and persuasive case, based on a long and rich football pedigree. But the circumstances in which they were awarded the 2018 tournament was clouded by corrupting forces. How
else to explain the decision, taken at the same time, to award the 2022 finals to Qatar, a country with a no footballing heritage but vast financial resources.
The 2018 World Cup will provide Vladimir Putin with a global platform to legitimise his own brand of strong-man gangsterism and there are also fears that the racism that is so prevalent in Russian club football will rear its head.
This may yet be the last World Cup to feature 32 teams, with calls for the 2022 finals to switch to 48 sides ahead of the plan from FIFA’s Gianni Infantino to expand the 2026 tournament. Much will become clearer after the pre-tournament FIFA Congress in Moscow, when a decision should be taken on a host for 2026: Morocco or USA/Mexico/Canada.
We will report on the decision in our June issue, when we’ll also round up the European season. Then in July (on sale July 20), we will review the World Cup in microscopic, unapologetic detail. Until then, enjoy the World Cup!
Gavin Hamilton, Editor
This may yet be the last World Cup to feature 32 teams, with calls for the 2022 finals to switch to 48 sides