ghazi52
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
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- #16
Argentina put title on line
The political element to the draw saw Iran vow to boycott the ceremony because the United States refused to grant visas to several members of its delegation, although Iranian head coach Amir Ghalenoei will be there in the end.
Lionel Messi's Argentina are the reigning champions after winning the World Cup for the third time in Qatar in 2022.
Messi will turn 39 during the tournament but this week told ESPN: "I hope I can be there. I've said before that I'd love to be there."
Argentina are among the top seeds along with European champions Spain, record five-time winners Brazil, France, Germany, England, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium. The three host nations complete the first pot of seeds.
The decision to expand the tournament has also cleared the way for several first-time qualifiers, including Cape Verde, Jordan and Curacao.
'Natural evolution'
If the expansion is to everyone's liking, FIFA's head of global football development Arsene Wenger insisted this week it was a "natural evolution" and that 48 teams is "the right number".
Those teams will be split into 12 groups of four, with the top two from each advancing alongside the eight best third-placed sides to the last 32.
For the first time, the four highest-ranked nations will be kept apart, meaning Spain, Argentina, France and England cannot meet before the semi-finals, if all four top their groups.
Six finals berths are still to be decided in playoffs, the winners of which will be among the bottom seeds -- the favourites will therefore want to avoid the potential banana skin of Italy, World Cup winners as recently as 2006 but who failed to qualify for the last two tournaments.
Because of the complexity, teams will only learn the full details of their match venues and kick-off times on Saturday, a day after the draw.
The political element to the draw saw Iran vow to boycott the ceremony because the United States refused to grant visas to several members of its delegation, although Iranian head coach Amir Ghalenoei will be there in the end.
Lionel Messi's Argentina are the reigning champions after winning the World Cup for the third time in Qatar in 2022.
Messi will turn 39 during the tournament but this week told ESPN: "I hope I can be there. I've said before that I'd love to be there."
Argentina are among the top seeds along with European champions Spain, record five-time winners Brazil, France, Germany, England, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium. The three host nations complete the first pot of seeds.
The decision to expand the tournament has also cleared the way for several first-time qualifiers, including Cape Verde, Jordan and Curacao.
'Natural evolution'
If the expansion is to everyone's liking, FIFA's head of global football development Arsene Wenger insisted this week it was a "natural evolution" and that 48 teams is "the right number".
Those teams will be split into 12 groups of four, with the top two from each advancing alongside the eight best third-placed sides to the last 32.
For the first time, the four highest-ranked nations will be kept apart, meaning Spain, Argentina, France and England cannot meet before the semi-finals, if all four top their groups.
Six finals berths are still to be decided in playoffs, the winners of which will be among the bottom seeds -- the favourites will therefore want to avoid the potential banana skin of Italy, World Cup winners as recently as 2006 but who failed to qualify for the last two tournaments.
Because of the complexity, teams will only learn the full details of their match venues and kick-off times on Saturday, a day after the draw.
