England looked unconvincing as they overtook Haiti in the first leg of the World Cup. Photo: Getty Images/Bradley Kanaris. Cup of eight teams, many feared that this was a bad move. After all, Thailand's 13-0 loss to the US in Reims was still fresh in the mind.
There were fears that the move would greatly weaken the quality of the World Cup, widen the gap even further, and result in more of these humiliating bills this summer. In short, people thought it was too early for such an expansion.
We were all wrong.
There was a lot of skepticism about whether the sport was ready for this move to become a 32-team tournament, but the first five days of this intriguing World Cup showed that expanding the competition was absolutely the right thing to do. This was illustrated by the performances of the alleged minnows of the international game.
World No. 53 Haiti gave England's European champions a run for their money on Saturday, Jamaica defied the odds to keep France at bay and earn their first ever World Cup point, while Sweden needed a 90-minute winner to complete a comeback win over plucky South Africa. And, of course, co-host New Zealand got very upset after beating 1995 champions Norway on opening day.
Hannah Wilkinson's goal sealed New Zealand's famous victory over Norway. Photo: AP/And Roar Kornaga
One cannot ignore the fact that all eight debutantes of the Women's World Cup have lost the opening match and none of them have scored a goal yet. However, none of them were embarrassed and three lost by just one goal.
Better-than-expected performances by the underdogs dispelled fears that this World Cup would spark a series of completely uncompetitive matches between the haves and have-nots. It's not done yet.
Yes, the two lowest-ranked teams in the tournament, Zambia and Morocco, suffered the heaviest losses in the group stage, losing 5-0 and 6-0 to former champions Japan and Germany respectively, but it's as one-sided as it was. Strong and sometimes overwhelming performances from Brazil and Germany led to big wins on Monday, but overall it was a close and tight tournament – at least so far.
This is partly due to the fact that many of the big players haven't hit their full potential yet, namely the Canadian Olympic champions, who lost to draws with Nigeria and France, and the rusty Lionesses. But the increase in the number of professional leagues, clubs and players around the world since the previous World Cup has brought those chasing them closer despite their much less financial support compared to leading countries such as the US.
In earlier editions of the tournament, prior to the wider spread of professionalism, it was not uncommon for heavily one-sided scoring. In the 2015 final, Germany defeated Côte d'Ivoire 10-0, while Ecuador was defeated 10-1 by Switzerland and 6-0 by Cameroon. Just eight years earlier, Germany had beaten Argentina 11-0.
Yet, even when a lower ranked team fails in this final, history shows it can be a springboard for them to grow. The most striking example of this improvement is Japan, which in 1999 was defeated by Russia 5-0 and Norway 4-0, but only 12 years later they became world champions.
The best teams did not even qualify
And who was Japan's victim this time in their first 5-0 win? Zambia, which itself had beaten Germany 3-2 in a friendly warm-up earlier in July. Who knows where the Copper Queens might be in 2035.
What gives extra confidence that the expansion was the right call is that there is a group of strengths that didn't make it to the event. Austria, Belgium and Iceland, all ranked in the top 20 in the world, did not qualify for the play-offs.
Scotland, whose team includes talents such as Real Madrid's Caroline Weir and Chelsea's Erin Cuthbert, made it to the European play-offs but lost to Ireland. And Wales, whose mascot Jess Fishlock was named America's NWSL MVP just two years ago, narrowly missed out on the list as well.
Furthermore, Chile, eliminated by Haiti in the Intercontinental Play-off final in qualifying, is a team that includes 2021 FIFA Goalkeeper of the Year, Lyon's Christian Endler, who could easily be the star of this tournament.
All of them are stronger than many who took part in the 2019 finals.
Still, FIFA: don't think about expanding further.
The 32-team tournament lends itself to an unprecedented symmetrical draw format, and a hazard-filled qualification process is necessary for the growing interest in international matches outside the World Cup. The organizers should give this format a chance to thrive as the sweet realm of competition has reopened at this tournament.
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