Ghana lost 2-1 to Croatia in Philadelphia on Saturday, and their coach walked into the news conference to complain about the very rule that kept his team in the World Cup.
Carlos Queiroz’s side finished third in its group. In any earlier tournament that would have meant a flight home. Under the 48-team format, the Black Stars slipped through as one of the eight best third-placed teams. Ghana had beaten Panama and drawn with England to get there, and they now face Colombia in the round of 32 on July 4.
Queiroz did not thank the system. “Today, money talks,” he said. “In the game, money talks. This is called not football but Moneyball. When money starts to talk, the decisions inside the pitch start to change. Let’s see in the future what will happen.”
“Rare” is the point
His objection is about value. “I do believe that what really has huge value, huge and significant value, is [that which] is rare,” he said. “I’ve never seen in my life common things, ordinary things that come with huge value.” With so many teams qualifying, he told reporters, he fears the tournament could become a “vulgar, ordinary competition,” though he allowed that it was one opinion “based on my personal feeling.”
The 73-year-old was appointed in April. He has managed 11 national teams over more than four decades, and he is only the second coach after Bora Milutinovic to appear at five consecutive World Cups. He took South Africa to the 2002 finals, Portugal to 2010 and Iran to the three tournaments after that. So he is not speaking as an outsider, and he said he does not think third-placed sides should go through at all.
He also pointed at qualifying. Six of South America’s 10 teams now qualify automatically, and a seventh can still get in through the inter-confederation play-offs. “The real success now in South America would be in not qualifying,” Queiroz said. In Europe, he asked, “who is out of Europe in the qualification?” Matches in Europe and Africa, in his view, “start to lose significance and meaning, because everybody’s qualified.” He added a concern about what the extra games mean for player welfare.
What the bigger field produced
Punch noted that Queiroz spoke just as African football recorded a first: nine of the continent’s 10 teams, Ghana included, reached the knockout stage. Seven nations also advanced from their groups for the first time. South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ivory Coast, Egypt, Cape Verde, Congo DR and co-hosts Canada are all set to make their knockout debuts.
Cape Verde, a country of 525,000 people, finished second in its group ahead of Saudi Arabia and two-time winners Uruguay. Its reward is a round of 32 meeting with defending champions Argentina.
FIFA approved the 48-team tournament in 2017, with president Gianni Infantino arguing it would give more countries and supporters a World Cup experience. Critics have said money, not sport, drove the decision. Knockout places went from 16 to 32.
Sources
- Ghana's Coach Carlos Queiroz Slams Expanded 2026 FIFA World Cup | Naija News
- Ghana Coach Slams World Cup Expansion Despite African Record
