00:00Well, Tom Basin is an assistant professor in sport management at Coventry University in the UK.
00:08Hello to you, Tom. So, we're halfway through the tournament.
00:11Overall, what has stood out to you most, both on the pitch and also off?
00:16Well, I think on the pitch, the best thing is it's been great.
00:20There's been kind of something for everyone.
00:22There's been some great stories with the unfancied teams.
00:25They've had South Africa reaching the knockouts for the first time.
00:27Cape Verde on debut, drawing with Spain and then qualifying for the last 32.
00:32And at the other end, you've got Lionel Messi, sat as the leading scorer on six goals.
00:36Then just behind him, you've got some of the other big boys.
00:38You've got Mbappe and Haaland and Dembele and Vinny Jr.
00:42The big players have come out to play.
00:44They've been fantastic.
00:45Off the pitch, I think it's been interesting that four years ago in Qatar,
00:50the sports-watching discussions were largely overtaken by the football once the tournament started.
00:55That hasn't happened here.
00:56You know, we're still talking about Iran and ticket pricing and the structure of a 48-team World Cup.
01:02The off-field noise has been there throughout and is continuing.
01:06Now, this is the first men's World Cup featuring 48 teams, isn't it?
01:12Has that expanded format worked, do you think?
01:15Or do you think it's diluted the quality of the competition?
01:18I think there were two fears before the tournament started.
01:20The first was dilution.
01:22And I don't think that's happened.
01:23I think we need to remember that the difference between, say, the 30th-ranked team and the 40th-ranked team
01:29isn't huge, especially if they're playing against someone like Argentina or Spain.
01:34And what we've seen is the teams that are disappointed, the likes of Tunisia or Uruguay or South Korea,
01:40these are teams that regularly qualify for a 32-team World Cup.
01:43So I don't think that dilution has happened.
01:46But what we have seen is that the fears about the structure of the group stage has been borne out.
01:50We have effectively had 72 group games to eliminate just 16 teams.
01:54We had Scotland, who played their final game on Wednesday, and they were eliminated yesterday.
01:59That's a nightmare for any Scottish fans out in America trying to plan their journey home
02:03or whether they're going to the next game.
02:05So I think that the dilution hasn't.
02:07But the issues with the structure of the group stage, I think that's certainly been an issue.
02:12Of course, African teams have enjoyed one of their strongest World Cups yet, haven't they?
02:18A record number reaching the knockout stages.
02:21What do you make of this?
02:23Yeah, having nine African teams through to the knockout stage is fantastic.
02:27And I think what we're seeing is that football's a global game now.
02:30So we're seeing that African players are playing with and against the best players in the world
02:34for their domestic clubs.
02:35The DR Congo team that drew with Portugal had, I think, five players who played in the Premier League.
02:41We have Morocco, who are a legitimately good side.
02:44They have players playing for the top clubs in Europe.
02:46But we also need to remember that part of this is because of the expansion of the World Cup.
02:51More places than ever for African teams means that they've had more opportunities than previous to progress.
02:57And, of course, Iran's participation has generated controversy, hasn't it, because of political tensions.
03:03How much do you think that's overshadowed the game itself?
03:07I think for Iran, it's obviously overshadowed it an awful lot.
03:10And we look at what the Iran team have had to go through.
03:13They've had to relocate their base.
03:14They've had restrictions on when they can enter the U.S.
03:17They've had support staff denied visas.
03:20Because, amazingly, the team, they weren't unbeaten, unfortunately still went out.
03:24And I'm sure that Iran will feel that the disruption has cost them on the pitch.
03:29I suspect that now they're out, there'll be less attention on this.
03:33This will move from a sports story back to being a geopolitical story.
03:38But I also think it's going to be one that we speak about over the years.
03:41It's pretty much unprecedented for a host to be at war with a competing nation.
03:45And so I think this is going to be something that isn't forgotten quickly.
03:50Tom Basin, thank you very much indeed for that.
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