Bigger World Cup, and Wolves

Day -470 WorldCup2018

I haven't forgotten about World Cup news. I'll ignore mention of mediocre English teams today, and of sacked Italian managers living off one great (ok, incredibly wonderfully unexpected) season.
World Cup 2026 may be a long way off and we don't even know which lucky country, but probably countries, will have the pleasure of dealing with the logistics of 48 teams. The excitement and controversy that surrounded the expansion has predictably subsided. There's nothing happening until Fifa decided the next step: how many teams qualify from each confederation. And then the real fun will begin in 2024 when teams who never thought they had a chance of qualifying will look forward to having a chance of joining the party. Brazil and Argentina might show up for qualifying in late 2025, because they'll figure it's hardly worth the effort of trying for the first few rounds when 6 out of 10 South American teams will qualify.

The latest reported numbers are:
Europe: 16 teams
Africa: 9-10. Ten was reported but the President of CAF, Issa Hayatou, said he expected 9.5 (one team in intercontinental play-off.
Asia: 8-9
Concacaf: 6.5
South America: 6. That's 60% of the teams in the confederation
Oceania: 1. Will the other teams raise their game to challenge New Zealand?

I will make one mention of a currently mediocre English team today but this is a sort of tribute to somebody who got me hooked on football with his talk of Billy Wright and the best team in the world in the 1950's, in his eyes anyway. Wolverhampton Wanderers are hardly world beaters these days, and are worse off than that other former giant of the Midlands, Aston Villa. My father's disappointment, maybe, was not just that none of his children showed interest in his profession as a career, but also that none of us shared his love of the Wolves. But we got the love of football. And like we had the confidence and knowledge to choose our own careers, we also chose our own teams. Or came across them by chance.

Here they are beating the other "greatest team in the world." I'll have to ask him about it next time we have our regular football chat on the phone. I bet he'll remember it well!