Football Unites the World … in wishing it had paid more attention in applied mathematics class. Or so the Fifa slogan could have been expanded to say, given the mind-warping that arose from the formula for slicing the newly expanded 48-team tournament down to 32 sides for the first knockout round.
After all, why do a random draw when you can build a matrix with 495 possible scenarios in order to assign the fixtures for the eight best third-placers? Anyway, what matters is that Mauricio Pochettino’s team will face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32, and no new format is going to stop us from – in time-honored fashion – speculating wildly about what may happen next while we still have the chance, with the potential for American wins rated using one of the mantra-loving manager’s motivational rallying cries of choice.
