MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — More World Cup teams. Same World Cup story.
This edition started with an unprecedented 48 teams; it’s now down to eight, with six of those from Europe. And unless Morocco pulls off a series of surprising outcomes over the final two weeks, the champion will come from Europe or South America.
Again. As always.
The quadrennial men’s soccer tournament that has been around for nearly a century — the first World Cup was in 1930 — has been contested on 22 previous occasions. The champions: 12 from Europe, 10 from South America, zero from the rest of the globe combined.
This year’s quarterfinal lineup: six from Europe, one from South America, one from Africa. Not exactly a history-bucking set of outcomes there.
That said, it seems like even some of Europe’s best players are surprised at how well this World Cup has gone for the continent. In addition to France facing Africa’s Morocco on Thursday, there’s one all-Europe matchup Friday as Belgium battles Spain, then another Saturday as Norway takes on England. The last quarterfinal also takes place that day, too, as Switzerland attempts to strike another blow for Europe by taking down Argentina.
“I thought it was not possible to do some things,” Norway star Erling Haaland said last week after his two goals helped his team beat five-time World Cup champion Brazil for a spot in the quarterfinals, the first time his nation has gone this deep in a World Cup. “I guess I’m wrong.”
He was wrong in a good way. The tournament hosts were wrong in a not-so-good way.
North America had three cracks at breaking through this year in a bigger-than-ever, 48-team World Cup with Canada, Mexico and the United States all co-hosts. None of those teams even made the quarterfinals.
“We need to get over that next hurdle,” U.S. star midfielder Christian Pulisic said in a televised interview after the Americans were ousted by Belgium in the round of 16, a lopsided 4-1 defeat Monday night at Seattle’s Lumen Field that shows how far North America still has to go. “Trying to compete and beat the world’s best, that’s our next step … There’s still another step that we have to take.”
The three hosts all got through the group stage and the round of 32 — the beginning of the knockout phase — with ease. Canada, Mexico and the U.S. had a combined 9-2-1 record in those matches, outscoring opponents by a total of 20 goals. Things looked promising, to say the least.
Then came the round of 16. Thud.
Canada was outclassed in a 3-0 loss to Morocco last Saturday at NRG Stadium in Houston, England ousted Mexico 3-2 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on Sunday night, and the U.S. got rolled by Belgium in a match that looked one-sided from the outset. Combined numbers from that trio of matches: 0-3-0 record, outscored by seven goals.
“Levels,” French soccer legend Thierry Henry said in his role as an analyst on Fox after the U.S. defeat. “The World Cup is different in the group stage. Round of 32 never existed before. Everyone made history in the round of 32. It never existed before … Unfortunately, one host, two hosts, three hosts, out. That’s exactly what you don’t want at a World Cup. That is annoying for me.”
If it annoys Henry, imagine how it feels for the Americans, Canadians and Mexicans.
There hasn’t been a team from CONCACAF — the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football — in the World Cup quarterfinals since Costa Rica in 2014.
Before that, it was the U.S. in 2002 in its best showing at the World Cup since finishing third in 1930. Canada has never been past the round of 16. Mexico has played in each of the past nine World Cups; it reached the round of 16 in eight of those, never going further in that span.
“Everyone gave everything,” Mexico midfielder Erik Lira said. “But, in the end, it wasn’t enough.”
That seems to be the refrain every four years for every place other than Europe and South America.
There was some diversity in the makeup of the 2002 World Cup quarterfinal field with five confederations — those from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America — all represented that year as Japan and South Korea co-hosted the tournament.
It was a rare blip. Of the 48 available quarterfinal spots over the six World Cups since, Europe has earned 30, South America 14, Africa three and North America one.
Morocco is carrying Africa’s hopes now, and that continent came out of the group stage looking poised for a breakthrough. It sent 10 teams to the tournament; nine made it into the round of 32.
And then, most of the teams’ hopes ended when they surrendered late goals.
Ivory Coast, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo all surrendered decisive goals in the 86th minute or later of what became their exits from the knockout phase. Cape Verde’s magical ride ended after giving up an own-goal against reigning World Cup champion Argentina in the 111th minute. And for Senegal and Egypt, the endings were particularly harsh — both led 2-0 late in the second half, then fell by 3-2 scores to Belgium and Argentina, respectively.
Egypt felt the match was stolen by officiating decisions.
“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition,” Egypt coach Hossam Hassan said. “Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the competition.”
The counterpoint to that was how, once again, a powerhouse like Argentina, led by veteran star forward Lionel Messi, found a way. For the fifth time in the past six World Cups, Messi’s team is in the quarterfinals.
Some things just don’t seem to change.
“It wasn’t easy to come back from a 2-0 deficit in a World Cup knockout match — especially given how games are going these days, where no one gives you anything for free,” Messi said. “But thank God, we did it once again.”