DALLAS – Yes, the World Cup is rigged.
Oh, calm down. It’s not what some of you think. The World Cup is "rigged" in the same way the NCAA basketball tournaments and tennis majors are, with brackets drawn to ensure as much as possible the top teams meet in the semifinals or finals and not before.
And, as FIFA’s luck would have it, it worked. The World Cup is so chalky it might as well be a sidewalk in front of a 4-year-old’s house.
For the first time since FIFA began ranking teams in 1994, the top four teams when the World Cup began are in the semifinals. No. 2 Spain plays third-ranked France on Tuesday in Dallas, while top-ranked Argentina plays No. 4 England on Wednesday.
Argentina's Lionel Messi, left, is defended by Switzerland's Remo Freuler and Miro Muheim during Saturay's World Cup quarterfinal match in Kansas City, Mo.
It’s also the first time since 1990 all four semifinalists are previous World Cup champions.
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"If we look at the four remaining teams, all of them could be champion," Switzerland coach Murat Yakin said after Argentina pulled off another escape act with a 3-1 win on Saturday, July 11.
Which was the whole point.
FIFA changed rules to help top teams
Upsets in the World Cup, much like the NCAA Tournament, are great fun in the early rounds. Who doesn’t like seeing Duke get taken out by a Mercer in the first round of the men’s tournament?
OK, bad example. Pretty much everyone likes seeing Duke get taken out by anyone, in any round.
You get the idea, though. We love the UMBCs and the High Points and the Furmans and the FDUs for the chaos they cause. For making sure underdogs everywhere keep dreaming big and don’t lose faith. It’s the same reason we flooded the Cape Verde and Congo bandwagons at this World Cup.
England's Jude Bellingham, Djed Spence and Harry Kane celebrate after defeating Norway Saturday in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Havoc is only fun for a while
When it gets down to the semifinals and the finals, though, we want order restored. We want to see the top teams and the star players because, odds are, that’s going to give us the best games.
We want chalk.
Wouldn’t you rather see Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal go toe to toe again rather than watch one of them run roughshod over a player you only learned existed a month ago? Don’t you want to know if Lionel Messi and Argentina have another life or two left in them to use against Jude Bellingham and England?
Be honest.
"We’re the only team that has managed to beat (France) twice. A great team is going to face another great team," Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said after his team beat Belgium to join Les Bleus in the semifinals.
Havoc is fun for a while. But at some point, we want to see the best in the world do their thing.
Spain's coach Luis De La Fuente celebrates after leading his team past Belgium in Friday's World Cup quarterfinal match in Inglewood, Calif.
Expanded tournament made change possible
FIFA, to its credit, recognized this. With the expanded tournament adding another knockout round, FIFA could change the rules to delay meetings between the top teams until the end of the tournament. So long as they won their groups, the top four teams would avoid each other until the semifinals.
No more repeats of 2010, when Brazil’s title hopes ended early because they had the bad fortune to run into the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
"To ensure competitive balance, two separate pathways to the semifinals have been established when developing the match schedule," FIFA said when it announced the rule change last November.
"This will ensure that, should they win their groups, the two highest-ranked teams will not meet before the final."
Just as in March Madness, the top teams still have to do their jobs. They still have to win their groups and dodge upset-minded teams in the first three knockout games. They all did, ensuring the biggest World Cup yet will have the biggest finish.
