This article was written by guest contributor Steve Grassa.
Last night’s adrenaline-spiking victory by the United States men’s national team over Ghana in the 2014 FIFA World Cup seems to be registering far beyond the small-but-growing cadre of American soccer fans, but the byzantine structure of international association football can be a barrier to potential new fans of the sport. Let’s take a step back and set the scene for those of you who may want to tune in but are utterly confused by all the talk of group play, point systems, and knockout stages.
The 20th World Cup kicked off in Sao Paolo, Brazil, last Thursday. The host nation beat Croatia 3-1 to begin a month-long soccer spectacle gilded by the passionate flair of 32 diverse nations’ fan bases, set against the backdrop of some of Brazil’s most picturesque cities. A global audience in the hundreds of millions broke their four-year World Cup fast, tuning in to watch the opening match live.
FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association, or International Federation of Association Football) is the international governing body for soccer and the organizing force behind the World Cup tournament. FIFA’s 209 member associations spent the better part of two and a half years competing in qualifying tournaments organized by their respective confederations in a struggle to whittle the World Cup field down to 32. There are confederations in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, North America, and Oceania. The North American Confederation (CONCACAF) includes Central American and Caribbean nations.
FIFA determines the number of entries each confederation may send to the tournament based on both the raw number and strength of the region’s teams. Each confederation then organizes a qualifying tournament that will produce the required number of entrants. There are usually four teams left over that must play further intercontinental playoffs to determine the last two World Cup bids.
FIFA also sets the dates on which qualifying matches are played. Since many international players make big bucks playing in the top European leagues, FIFA must be careful to respect the club season calendar. As a result, qualifying matches are spread across the calendar year. A team rarely plays more than two qualifiers in the same month, and international dates tend to fall earlier in the club season than later. This turns the qualifying process into a multi-year odyssey.
The club versus country tug-of-war is an ongoing topic of debate in soccer circles. No country wants to risk missing out on the World Cup, but the Manchester Uniteds and FC Barcelonas of the world don’t like their multi-million-Euro investments risking injury traveling to the far reaches of their continent to play qualifiers in sometimes-sketchy conditions. Imagine the uproar if the NBA had to take a weekend off every other month so LeBron James and Kobe Bryant could suit up for Team USA in vital Olympic qualifiers in Panama and Honduras. It is the immense global popularity of the World Cup that forces the clubs to capitulate and release their players for FIFA dates.
Simply making it to Brazil is a laudable achievement for the majority of the tournament field. Jordan, a nation seeking its first-ever World Cup appearance, successfully navigated three rounds and 18 matches of Asian qualifiers only to fall to Uruguay in an intercontinental playoff. Mexico endured 16 grueling CONCACAF matches before vanquishing New Zealand in a playoff to book their place in Brazil. When the United States beat Mexico to clinch their own spot in the World Cup, the American fans broke out in joyous song.
After the qualification process is complete, the 32 finalists are divided into eight four-team groups via a lottery known as the FIFA World Cup Draw. Eight teams are seeded based on their FIFA World Ranking and distributed into each of the World Cup groups, which are lettered A through H. The host nation receives an automatic seed and is placed in Group A.
Another core principle of the draw separates teams from the same confederation. Because European teams make up almost half of the field, many of the groups will have two European teams. Getting drawn together with two European teams is often seen as being placed in a “Group of Death.” These groups can be particularly fatal if there’s also a South American power in the mix. It’s also unfortunate to be drawn with the host nation, as only one host (South Africa in 2010), has ever failed to advance from the group stage.
Once the tournament begins, each team will play one game against the other three members of its group. Teams are awarded 3 points in the standings for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. There is no overtime in the group stage. If the game is tied after 90 minutes, both teams get a point in the group standings. After the three group stage games, the two teams with the most points in each group advance to the knockout rounds. If two teams are tied on points, the team with the greater goal differential (goals scored minus goals conceded) will advance. If the two teams in question have the same goal differential, then the team who scored more goals will advance.
With three guaranteed games, the group stage offers each World Cup participant a chance to leave a lasting impression, even if they fail to advance. Any team with a distinct style, a little flair, and a nose for the goal is sure to capture the hearts of the fans. A loss doesn’t necessarily spell elimination, so teams will take more risks in the group stage, often leading to more entertaining games with more goals scored. The Group (sometimes groups) of Death features marquee matchups between some of the world’s top sides while the other groups provide opportunities for underdogs to topple traditional powers.
There are also matches that are intriguing due to their historical or political subtext. In 2002, Senegal shocked the world by defeating defending champion and former colonizer France in the opening game. In 1998, the United States suffered a disappointing loss against Iran. North Korea’s appearance in South Africa four years ago was not memorable for their soccer (they scored one goal and gave up 12) but for the wild stories that surrounded the team: it was rumored that the fans supporting the team in the stadiums were not North Koreans but Chinese actors paid by the government. It was also rumored that only North Korean team highlights were being shown back home. I guess they had their one goal on a loop.
The knockout stage of the World Cup is essentially a 16-team single-elimination tournament. The bracket is determined by the aforementioned World Cup Draw. The teams that finish first in their groups are paired against teams that finished second (A1 vs. D2, B1 vs. C2, etc.). These matches are win-or-go-home, so the soccer tends to be more conservative here than in the group stage.
Each team is carrying the weight of a nation’s expectations, and the intensity of the matches leads to more physical play. Players are red-carded more frequently in these later rounds. Yellow and red cards are issued for particularly aggressive fouls and other serious violations. Two yellow cards are the equivalent of a red card. If a player is issued a red card, he is thrown out of the match and his team may not substitute for him; they must play one man short for the rest of the game. A red-carded player is also ineligible to play in his team’s next match. An early red card can alter the course of a match. Croatia benefited from a 40th-minute red card against Germany in the 1998 quarterfinals to score one of the tournament’s great upsets.
Knockout stage matches must have a winner. If the game is tied after 90 minutes, extra time is played. Extra time (soccerese for “overtime”) consists of two 15-minute halves. The entire 30 minutes of extra time is played whether or not anyone scores. FIFA used to have a “Golden Goal” rule (soccerese for “sudden death”) but scrapped it after the 2002 World Cup. If the game is still tied after extra time, a penalty shootout will settle the matter.
Penalty shootouts are soccer’s answer to Russian roulette. Each team selects five (probably exhausted) shooters to take a penalty kick at the opposing (probably terrified) goalie. Whichever team makes more of their kicks wins. If it’s still tied after five shooters, each team will send another until one scores and the other misses.
A penalty kick is taken from a spot 12 yards from the goal. During the game, a team is awarded a penalty kick if they are fouled close to the goal, inside the 18-yard box known as the penalty area. If a player suffers a foul anywhere else on the field, he is entitled to a free kick from the spot where he was fouled, but if the player is fouled in the penalty area, any player on his team is entitled to kick from the penalty spot.
Penalty kicks are designed to give the shooters an advantage. They are a punishment for preventing a goal-scoring opportunity in a sport where scoring is scarce. The shooter and goalie will eye each other and try to glean some tell as to where the other will be shooting or diving. Most times, the goalie picks a direction and leaps, giving him a 50-50 shot of successfully blocking an average attempt. But if the shooter makes a good shot, the goalie doesn’t have much of a chance.
The penalty shootout, however, comes after 120 minutes of heated competition. The pressure in any World Cup match is intense and only grows as the tournament progresses. A shootout can be a battle of nerves. With the game on the line, the shooters become a little more fallible. In the 1994 World Cup Final, Italian Roberto Baggio famously missed the goal entirely, sending his penalty over the crossbar and giving Brazil their fourth World Cup. (They would add a fifth in 2002.) Italy won the 2006 World Cup in a shootout against France, after Zinedine Zidane was red-carded for his infamous headbutt. England has lost all three shootouts they have been in; Germany has won all four of theirs.
The tournament so far has featured goals aplenty, with at least three scores in nearly every match. We’ve already seen some shocking results. Holland’s 5-1 defeat of defending champion Spain turned heads, as did Costa Rica’s 3-1 upset of Uruguay. The rest of the Cup promises plenty of excitement.
Will Brazil claim their sixth trophy and redeem their failure to win as hosts in 1950? Can Lionel Messi, widely considered the world’s best player, score for Argentina with the same ease as he does for the Barcelona club? Who will win the Golden Boot, awarded to the tournament’s top scorer? Can the U.S. defense withstand Cristiano Ronaldo’s immaculately chiseled abs to advance from the Group of Death?
Over the next month, 32 nations will play what Brazilians like to call “The Beautiful Game.” A champion will be crowned, Cinderella teams will pull off huge upsets, spectacular goals will be scored, unheralded players will burst onto the scene, the world’s great players will perform as only they can, and at least one player will be shown a red card for a momentary lapse of sanity. Through it all, the world will watch, billions strong.
