DOHA: The statistics from the group stage analysed, French coaching great Ars­e­ne Wenger believes the te­a­m possessing the best wingers will ultimately end up winning the World Cup.

Wenger, FIFA’s chief of global football development, sitting alongside fellow Technical Study Group me­mber Juergen Klinsm­ann, a World Cup winner with Germany in 1990, presented the numbers of an enthralling group stage that saw the exits of the likes of Germany and Belgium at a news conference here on Sunday.

The pattern that’s been drawn is that teams have tried to create scoring opportunities from the flanks as defending was more concentrated through the centre. Numbers gathered by FIFA showed 58 per cent of the entries in the final third were from the wings. Wenger noted that in addition to attacking wingers, the abilities of full-backs bombing forward was also crucial.

“Will the team with the best wide players win this tournament? I think so,” Wenger told reporters. “That will be interesting to see.”

For all the chances created on the wing, though, there is a need for a centre forward. Klinsmann, a striker in his playing days, noted that there remains the need for a classic marksman who can put away chances.

“Germany didn’t have a centre-forward who can make the most of the chances that are created,” lamented Klinsmann.

The group stage saw some compelling drama as it came to a close. South Korea progressed with a last-gasp goal, all sorts of permutations came into play during the final 90 minutes of the group involving Germany that saw Japan clinch top spot while Belgium could’ve advanced with a goal in a nerve-wracking last few minutes against Croatia.

With the World Cup being expanded to 48 teams from 32 from its next edition, a proposed format for that will see the group stage shift from its usual four-team groups to 16 three-team ones. It’s raised questions whether the edition in Qatar will be the last to throw that sort of drama.

Wenger said the format for the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico hadn’t been decided yet. “It may be 16 groups of three, 12 groups of four, two sides of six groups of four. But I will not decide that, it will be decided by the FIFA Council hopefully by next year.”

Wenger noted the World Cup expansion, which has its critics who claim the 32-team format is best-placed to show the best sides across the globe, will help football deve­l­opment across the world.

“[The 48-team World Cup] will represent not even 25% of the world, 22%,” he said. “It will give more opportunities to teams and will give more incentive to develop football inside their countries. We analyse football in 205 countries, and there is a deficit of education in many countries. We have created the Talent Development Scheme to fight against that but I am convinced that if countries have more opportunities to go to the world stage, it will do more to develop football in their country.”

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2022