The 2026 World Cup as football's laboratory
The 2026 World Cup will go down in history as football's ultimate petri dish. With 48 teams scattered across three time zones, FIFA treated the tournament as a grand laboratory for new rules, hyper-commercialised entertainment and ground-breaking broadcast technology. Some of it was an absolute triumph that enhanced the viewing experience immensely. Other elements were bloated, plastic and fundamentally detached from what makes football the beautiful game.
With the World Cup now in the rear-view mirror and the domestic season approaching, Mirror Football chief writer John Cross has sifted through the wreckage of the summer's experiments to highlight four things we must throw straight into the bin, and three things the Premier League needs to steal immediately.
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Stop the clock breaks should be binned
What started as a genuine medical necessity in extreme climates has officially mutated into an unwanted tactical timeout. Cross is entirely clear: the corporate-friendly pauses have no place in a sport that relies on continuous momentum.
"Ditch them," says Cross on the final episode of the Make Football Great Again podcast. "They're just not for me."
While stopping the clock might make sense in the scorching summer heat of Texas, trying to translate it to the domestic game is a laughable concept. Can you imagine trying to enforce a mandatory fluid break during a freezing, wind-swept January Monday night fixture in the north of England? Get rid of it.
Halftime shows do not belong in football
Football is a sport rooted in subculture and raw terrace passion, not heavily choreographed corporate pop music. The attempt to inject American-style stadium entertainment into the intermission of the world's biggest match fell entirely flat for traditionalists.
Cross was left thoroughly unimpressed by the plastic spectacle:
"Ditch it. I'm kind of a bit meh. I don't care, but then basically, personally, I would ditch it... Those bizarre choreographed shows didn't really work for me, so generally ditch."
Football fans use halftime to dissect tactics, complain about the referee, and queue for a pie - not to watch a Hollywood stage production.
Group-stage expansion needs a rethink
The maths simply didn't work. By expanding the tournament to 48 teams, the opening round felt less like an elite global showcase and more like an endless, low-stakes warm-up where practically everyone qualified for the knockout rounds.
"I hate the group stage and the lack of jeopardy," Cross explains. "It's embarrassing and it's just silly and it's just not what we want. You've got to go back to kind of 32 or the whole hog can go 64."
If the tournament is going to expand, it needs a format that creates immediate drama, rather than a endless safety net that dilutes the opening weeks.
Technology should help, not confuse
Technology is supposed to eliminate controversy, but the microchip sensors embedded inside the tournament match balls only succeeded in muddying the waters, leaving fans and pundits entirely unconvinced by the digital readouts.
"Well, I didn't like it," Cross admits, recalling the highly contentious decision to rule Croatia's goal against Portugal out. "Because basically, you cannot tell me that it helped... No chance. Absolutely no chance."
When technology starts contradicting the plain evidence of the human eye, it creates confusion rather than clarity. Hoof it into Row Z.
Momentum graphics are a clear win
Television coverage took a massive leap forward this summer with data overlays that actually added context to the unfolding match, tracking the shifting tides of dominance in real-time.
"I loved [the momentum graphics]. Absolutely loved them," Cross enthuses. "Keep, love that. I think it was a genuine, interesting stat that did generate, and it was fascinating."
In a league as frantic and unpredictable as the Premier League, giving viewers at home a visual representation of which team is building sustained pressure would be an incredible addition to standard punditry.
VAR can be improved by common-sense protocol
VAR protocol remains a constant source of frustration in England, but the World Cup proved that safety-net rules can be introduced effectively to prevent catastrophic officiating blunders without slowing the game down.
"Yeah, I liked it," says Cross. "And I think that, yeah, there were a few bits and pieces that I quite liked on the VAR thing. You know, I think that I was positive about various bits and pieces that they've done. So I think generally, yes, keep."
The Premier League desperately needs to streamline its video review processes, and adopting this common-sense approach would erase a major refereeing headache.
Hand shielding during chats must be stamped out
The modern habit of players shielding their lips with their hands whenever they speak to an official or an opponent has long driven fans crazy. The tournament's attempt to clamp down on this insincere behaviour was a breath of fresh air.
"I'd like to keep that rule that you can't, but you have to do it across the board," Cross argues, insisting that domestic football must enforce it strictly to break the habit. "Look, we'd have a couple of early scares, but then basically, they'd soon learn. We all know why it was brought in. It was brought in for the very best and most important reasons... The players will quickly learn."
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