Ghana's coach Carlos Queiroz has slammed the World Cup expansion to 48 teams. He fears this change might make the tournament a “vulgar, ordinary competition.”
Queiroz’s comments come as African teams have done well, with nine out of ten countries, including Ghana, moving to the next stage of the tournament.
He spoke at a press conference after Ghana lost 2-1 to Croatia on Saturday. Despite the loss, the Black Stars qualified for the knockout stage as one of the best third-placed teams.
“I do believe that what really has huge value, huge and significant value, is [that which] is rare,” Queiroz said. “I’ve never seen in my life common things, ordinary things that come with huge value.
He added, “So, the number of teams that qualify for the World Cup, I am afraid that [it] can turn this competition [into a] vulgar, ordinary competition. With so many teams qualifying for the World Cup, I think the value of the competition [comes from it] being rare to be in the World Cup. It’s, in my opinion, still debatable. I need to see. It’s one opinion that is based on my personal feeling.”
The former Portugal and Real Madrid manager made these remarks even though Ghana would have been out of the tournament in past years for finishing third in their group. He also shared his belief that expanding the competition is driven by money.
“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.”
Queiroz also raised concerns about the extra games affecting player welfare. He believes World Cup qualifiers have lost their value.
“You see in Europe… who is out of Europe in the qualification?” he asked. “So, even the qualification matches in Europe, in Africa, they start to lose significance and meaning, because everybody’s qualified, in South America, most of the European teams.”
Ghana will play against Colombia in the round of 32 on July 4. If they win, they could face either Switzerland or Algeria in the round of 16.
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