The tournament has delivered plenty of excitement, and after just a week of action, there is evidence to suggest that it could get even better.
And so we have made it through nearly a week of World Cup action. It is, genuinely, quite hard to believe that this thing kicked off six days ago. We have played 16 games, seen one massive blowout, and a fair few surprises sprinkled in. The content has been consistent, and no oneexcept probably lowly, charming Curacao, has been embarrassed on the day. Indeed, this has been a good tournament complete with good teams.
Yet there is a sense that things are just starting to simmer. This is the biggest World Cup ever, with 48 team participating. Gianni Infantino promised “104 Super Bowls”, which sounds like quite a lot of Super Bowls. So far, we haven’t quite had a World Cup classic. There have been a handful of remarkably enjoyable games, with a few forgettable contests sprinked in. Perhaps this thing needs a big ole to spring into life.
Either way, there are some early storylines forming. The USMNT showed in a 4-1 battering of Paraguay that they might be good after all. Cape Verde, in a 0-0 draw with Spain, delivered perhaps the most famous scoreless draw in tournament history. And there’s been plenty of captivating atruff in between. To make sense of it all, GOAL writers weigh in in another edition of… The Rondo.
