5 highlights after the first round of the 2018 World Cup
Many candidates for the championship disappointed in their debut matches, balanced matches excited the audience, and classy goals were what happened after the first round of the World Cup.
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| The match between Argentina and Iceland. Source: THX/ TTXVN |
Many title contenders disappointed in their debuts, balanced matches excited the audience, classy goals.
Here are the takeaways from the first round:
1) The World Cup is a football festival and the whole world is a guest.
The tournament kicked off with some scepticism (at least among some) about Russia's ability to host amid security concerns, rising hooliganism, and the problems that followed the poorly-organized Confederations Cup in 2017.
So far all these have proved to be far-fetched fears. Fans from all over the world have gathered for an international festival. Security is tight and visible but not imposing.
Despite the fact that most trips to the venues hosting the matches have a transit point in Moscow, it means that football fans from all over the world have turned the Russian capital into the most crowded and bustling gathering place these days.
2) The ticket sales issue needs to be reconsidered.
Although fans come to Russia to enjoy the football festival atmosphere, it is disappointing to see so many empty seats in the stadiums where the matches take place.
Pre-tournament concerns may have put off many fans but it is clear that FIFA needs to act to ensure too many empty seats are not left.
Knowing that many tickets are not sold to foreign fans, they need to find a solution to let local fans own those tickets. This is an experience that needs to be considered for the future.
3) Balanced matches
The first round of the World Cup group stage brought fans to all sorts of emotions: newcomer Iceland drew with South American powerhouse Argentina, Japan defeated Colombia, Mexico surprised the world by defeating reigning world champions Germany, or the team considered mid-level in Europe shared points with giant Brazil.
The Swiss may explain that with their FIFA ranking (Switzerland ranked 6th), a 1-1 draw with Brazil (2nd) is not surprising, but it is proof of the unpredictability of World Cup matches when after the first round, there were only 3 matches with a difference of 2 goals or more.
Football is growing and the gap between teams is getting narrower.
4) The Battle of the South Americans
Uruguay's 1-0 win over Egypt was the only victory for South American teams in the first round of the group stage.
Although it is still too early to talk about a "crisis" of South American football with a series of world-class stars, the reality is that South American teams have never won when the World Cup was held in Europe.
5) Penalty rain
In the first round, there were 9 penalties awarded by the referees to the teams, a record number.
There have also been situations where penalties have been awarded after referees have consulted Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, but it seems that match officials are more open to blowing the whistle than before in even the smallest of incidents.
Is it because they think VAR will help them correct mistakes or is it simply because the perception of a foul has changed? If the answer is the latter, then we will see more penalties in the coming rounds.
The first round of matches is just an appetizer for what lies ahead. The second round of matches will see things become clearer with some teams securing their places and others bowing out early.
What is certain is that there will still be many surprises waiting for football lovers from now until July 15./.
