In this mailbag edition of Jonathan Wilson’s newsletter, he answers questions about inverted wingers, favorite jerseys and more
We’re now a year-ish from the World Cup. The tournament is still dominated by European and South American teams. But which continent without a winner (Asia, Africa, Central and North America and, I guess, Oceania) has the best chance of lifting the trophy first?
– Stacey
This is a fascinating question and one that brings a wide range of factors into play. To start, what difference will the expansion of the tournament make? On one hand, extending the tournament so the winner will have to get through eight games rather than seven probably makes shocks less likely, but on the other hand an extra knockout round adds another layer of randomness. Even with four knockout rounds, most champions usually had at least one game of significant jeopardy – a win on penalties, or an edgy one-goal victory after extra-time. Winning all five knockout games in 90 minutes, I suspect, will prove extremely rare but the likelihood is still that the winner will be one of the major European powers – France, Spain, Germany, England, Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands – or one of the big two from South America – Argentina and Brazil.
