SBOTOP fans will know that I would never get a job at FIFA.
That’s because I would be the worst advocate for World Cup 2026 qualifying (certainly in the European side of the pool).
Mine is a simple equation based on the premise that, for all the World Cup qualifying 2025 highlights that may be delivered, the excitement nowadays has largely dissipated.
Basically, unless you come from Mongolia or the outer Hebrides (and I believe both are fine places), you are certain to be assured of a place at next summer’s spectacle Stateside.
In fact, I can never see another World Cup in my lifetime where the likes of a major nation – think France and England (1994), Holland (2002 and 2018), Italy (2018 and 2022, despite being reigning European champions) – miss out, and that is exactly how the game’s governing body want it.
That’s because they keep expanding the tournament; firstly from 16 to 24 teams, then from 24 to 32, and soon from 32 to 48, meaning high-profile qualifying failures have become increasingly rare.
You don’t need to study the World Cup 2025 betting odds to realise that, in that format, it takes underperformance on a gigantic scale to miss out on qualification for such a tournament.
Tuesday night’s games in Europe were another case in point.
For example, did anyone really expect England to manage anything other than a convincing win against Latvia; just the latest team of international minnows or lowly ranked nations they have been paired with in qualifying.
That is not the fault of Thomas Tuchel and his players, of course, for they can only face whoever are placed in front of them.
The set-up, however, means that the established footballing nations should always qualify for and reach the latter stages of a major tournament which is exactly when a top, experienced manager will earn his corn and next summer will be the real time to judge the German boss.
That they beat the nation ranked 137th in the world 5-0 in a group which also contains Albania, Serbia and Andorra tells its own story.
Captain Harry Kane scored twice in the rout, incidentally, to take his tally for his country to 76 goals in 110 caps.
One of the best strikers of his generation, when I see Kane ranked above greats such as Sir Bobby Charlton and Jimmy Greaves in the scoring tally, it’s not because his achievements are better (or worse) than his predecessors.
It’s simply that players of yesteryear rarely played in so many internationals against such lowly opposition.
Likewise take Spain, whose midfielder Mikel Merino scored twice as La Roja beat Bulgaria to move closer to sealing their spot in America next summer.
The European champions boast a formidable record in Group E with this their fourth win from four, while they have scored 15 goals and conceded none.
While their opposition, which also include Turkey and Georgia, is slightly stronger than England’s, it hardly reads like a who’s-who of international football.
So, there you have it, that is the reality of World Cup qualifying most of the time in the year 2025 and that is why I am unlikely to get too excited until the tournament starts in earnest.
Yes, there may be the odd wonderful story of a first-time qualifier; the latest this week saw Cape Verde, a country with a population of fewer than 600,000 inhabitants, make history.
Fun fact: Cape Verde only joined FIFA in 1986 and did not have enough money to even try to qualify before the 2002 World Cup.
Furthermore, there is no professional league in the country, whose islands are spread far and wide.
But when the tournament is open to 48 nations, the question of integrity and footballing quality becomes diluted until the latter stages.
Is that what we really want for supposedly the biggest tournament in the entire sport?
Let the debate begin.
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