The World Cup tournament in Qatar has shown what a great invention simultaneous final matches are, writes Janne Palomäki.
Luis Suárez’s pain is there for all to see: South Korea has just scored a goal in another stadium. PDO
No one can forget the human distress on the Uruguayan bench when the news of the winning goal of the second game got out, or what kind of jumble of emotions Costa Rica, Japan, Germany and Spain offered us late Thursday night.
This is all a disappearing popular entertainment, if Fifa in its great unwisdom implements his plan for the initial groups of three teams in the 2026 World Cup tournament. It would mean that the last matches of the teams could not possibly be played at the same time.
At the same time, the teams in the last inning would get a competitive advantage because possibly some suitable result would take them both further.
This is exactly why the 1986 tournament switched to the current system. And it works extremely well.