{"id":3004,"date":"2026-06-18T11:03:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3004"},"modified":"2026-06-18T11:03:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:03:28","slug":"world-cup-expansion-may-dilute-the-tournament-but-it-gives-small-nations-a-moment-in-the-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3004","title":{"rendered":"World Cup expansion may dilute the tournament, but it gives small nations a moment in the spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FOXBOROUGH \u2014 Graham Arnold played and coached soccer for 44 years in Australia, leading the Socceroos to the Round of 16 in the 2022 World Cup. But Arnold, now the manager for Iraq, has never seen anything as emotional or impactful as when his new country qualified for its second World Cup, 40 years after the first.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI saw a change of just in the faces and the energy in the Iraqis when we qualified,\u201d Arnold said Tuesday night in Foxborough after Iraq lost its World Cup opener, 4-1, to Norway. \u201cMost of the world wouldn\u2019t know, but in Iraq 46 million people are obsessed with football, and it\u2019s the only major sport, and it\u2019s huge. So to qualify for the first time in 40 years changed the country, it really has.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The World Cup will likely be settled between the usual powerhouses such as Argentina, France, and Spain. But with this year\u2019s World Cup expanded from 32 to 48 teams, countries such as Iraq are the story of the group stage, which enters its second week on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Four countries qualified for the first time \u2014 Curacao, Cape Verde, Jordan, and Uzbekistan. Six other small countries are in the tournament for just the second time \u2014 Congo (1974), Haiti (1974), Bosnia-Herzegovina (2014), Panama (2018), Qatar (2022), and Iraq (1986).<\/span><\/p>\n

They finally get a chance to play Messi, Mbappe, and Ronaldo, in front of millions of fans worldwide.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, when you\u2019re a child sitting in front of the TV, you dream of this,\u201d said midfielder Amir Al-Ammari, who assisted on Iraq\u2019s lone goal Tuesday. \u201cRight now, I can\u2019t believe it. My feelings are all over the place. We\u2019re in a group of big stars who play in strong leagues. For me, that will be another milestone in my career, to go out and compete against the biggest stars in the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In Foxborough, throngs of Haitians and Iraqis packed the stadium and were thrilled to cheer on their country on the world stage, even if their teams ultimately lost.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re passionate about their national team, and as you saw there\u2019s a lot of Iraqis here today,\u201d Arnold said. \u201cI just want to say to all the Iraqi fans back in Iraq, be proud of the players. We\u2019ve gone up a lot of levels with the opponents we\u2019re playing against. Stay happy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The expanded field also helped countries end long World Cup droughts, with Austria, Scotland, and Norway each qualifying for the first time since 1998.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJust how difficult it is for a country like Scotland to go to a World Cup and win games, it doesn\u2019t happen very often,\u201d Scotland manager Steve Clarke said after his team defeated Haiti, 1-0, for its first World Cup win in 36 years. \u201cI said we were going to enjoy it. Obviously if your team wins, you can enjoy it even more.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Related: <\/span><\/span>Finn: Sorry, Scotland, Norway might be Foxborough\u2019s favorite footballers<\/div>\n

The expanded field has brought significant changes to this year\u2019s format. There will be 104 matches, up from 64. The new Round of 32 is now the first knockout stage, as 32 of the 48 teams advance.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In previous World Cups, only 16 of 32 teams advanced \u2014 the two top teams in each group. This year, eight of the 12 third-place teams will also advance.<\/span><\/p>\n

The offshoot is that the groups appear to be diluted, and the setup creates the potential for some teams to not play full tilt in the third match after their status is set. But it also keeps some of the smaller countries in play for advancement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe the way the World Cup is, with 48 teams, 3 points should be enough to get you through,\u201d Arnold said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apple TV analyst Taylor Twellman said he was initially against tournament expansion, but acknowledged, \u201cI might be missing the boat a little bit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo I think the group stage is going to be lopsided this year? I absolutely do. I don\u2019t think the Haitis and the Curacaos can really compete at this level,\u201d said Twellman, the Revolution\u2019s all-time leading scorer. \u201cOn the other hand, we wouldn\u2019t be talking about them if they didn\u2019t qualify for the World Cup. I think it\u2019s a moment to recognize some of the lesser nations and the trials and tribulations they\u2019ve had in this sport, and how they\u2019ve had to navigate that to get here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The small countries have mostly acquitted themselves well. <\/span><\/p>\n

Curacao, the smallest country ever to qualify (population approximately 158,000), took a predictable 7-1 beating from Germany. But Congo scored a huge emotional win Wednesday with a 1-1 draw with Portugal. Jordan, a first-time qualifier after 40 years of attempting, gave the Austrians all they could handle in a 3-1 defeat on Tuesday night.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo one was expecting us to be that bold, to be that proactive, and to be that capable of benefiting from the available opportunities,\u201d Jordan manager Jamal Sellami said. \u201cThis was exactly the message we wanted to convey.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And the biggest surprise result of the tournament so far has been the tiny nation of Cape Verde, with a population of approximately 500,000, tying mighty Spain, 0-0. Goaltender Vozinha became a national hero with several big saves and broke down in tears after the match.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis means everything for our country,\u201d Cape Verde manager Pedro Leitao Brito said. \u201cThis is proof of what our country is about \u2013 resilience and to try to overcome hardships.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more A win against Australia would give the United States a spot in the knockout round with a game to spare<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They finally get a chance to play Messi, Mbappe, and Ronaldo, in front of millions of fans worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"\nWorld Cup expansion may dilute the tournament, but it gives small nations a moment in the spotlight - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3004\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World Cup expansion may dilute the tournament, but it gives small nations a moment in the spotlight - 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