Curacao's German Demolition and Cabo Verde's Incredible Draw Show Two Sides to the Expanded World Cup Argument

Why Curacao’s German Demolition Highlights Why the Expanded World Cup Might Not Have Been a Great Idea

The 2026 FIFA World Cup hosted in Canada, Mexico, and the United States kicked off last week and there is already some controversy surrounding the largest competition in sport.

This year’s edition of the competition marks the first year that the tournament has been expanded since 1998, seeing 48 teams compete for the chance to lift the Jules Rimet trophy on July 19th.

Back in 2019, Arsene Wenger stated that “We (FIFA) had to open it to the world. And I think it’s the minimum we could do, to open to more African countries, more Asian countries, because we want football to be strong everywhere.”

But the question is, has this expansion of the FIFA World Cup had the desired effects so far that FIFA were hoping for?

The first example of the expansion not quite going to plan for FIFA came on Sunday evening as Germany were taking on tournament debutants Curacao. Despite Curacao scoring the biggest goal in the nation's history, Germany didn’t really get out of first gear and still cruised to a 7-1 victory.

A wholesome moment from this World Cup when a Curacao fan was asked about the Germany game…

“We won against Germany even though they beat us 7-1, one goal against Germany? Thats a win for us, it was only a dream for us to be here at the World Cup”

🥹❤️pic.twitter.com/dLCYUiULJR

— Football Away Days (@FBAwayDays) June 15, 2026

Alexander Ceferin’s Controversial Comments

Games such as Germany against Curacao could be seen as almost training level games for the top sides in the competition which is what Alexander Ceferin felt when he recently made controversial comments.

Ceferin told a conference in his nation of Slovenia that he felt as if the expansion of the tournament would make the competition less interesting for the fans. He reportedly said “We have a lot of matches that are completely uninteresting. On the other hand, even small countries can participate and feel the pulse of the World Cup, which is a big thing.”

However, these comments have been hit with backlash from various nations competing at the World Cup in the form of a joint statement that read “We respectfully but firmly reject these comments. For our countries, there is no such thing as an unimportant World Cup match.”

This backlash is probably deserved as the expansion gives an opportunity for more of the world to compete in such a great competition and an opportunity for the fans to witness such a feat from their nations.

History For Cape Verde

Today, Cape Verde single handedly showed that the expansion of the tournament was a fantastic idea and the joy that it can bring to a nation. They managed to hold European Champions and World Cup favourites, Spain, to a 0-0 draw in their debut World Cup match as they enter the competition as the third smallest side ever with a population of just 530,000 people.

The moment the full time whistle went and Cape Verde secured a POINT against Spain on their World Cup DEBUT…

WHAT JUST HAPPENED 👏😅 pic.twitter.com/xN76kfcIMw https://t.co/78c1Tosy30

— george (@StokeyyG2) June 15, 2026

Despite having some smaller nations at the tournament this year as a result of the increase in size, these moments for countries such as Cape Verde will go down in history and deserve to be celebrated all over the nation.