The World Cup is the dream of every player. Certainly. More importantly, it is the dream of many football backgrounds in the world. Many, not all, because there are still "guests who regularly attend there". Therefore, in that "most" there are mid-range and small teams, when holding tickets to the finals - especially for the first time, the pride is boundless.
At the 2026 World Cup, you can share that feeling with the teams of Cabo Verde, Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan. At the end of the group stage, 3 of these - except Cabo Verde, were eliminated. Cabo Verde made history can be said in another story, but here, the farewells of Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan are completely understandable, although experts acknowledge the efforts and marks they left in North America.
In other words, they can return as heroes, welcomed solemnly for everything they have contributed and given... Of course, saying they are not disappointed is not entirely true. But compared to other farewells, they are happier, even feel much luckier.
The World Cup is a place of convergence, a place of resonance of joy. However, when everything has 2 sides, then on the journey of the biggest football playground on the planet, joy can turn into disappointment, can "turn its face" into extreme pain, sometimes transform into a threat to you, to the things around you...
It is worth mentioning that, from the beginning, the World Cup did not specifically name who or which team was the "victim". Instead, the match - or the matches - are the "drawings" gradually formed for the problems of someone, of a team that have accumulated for a long time and do not suddenly appear in just a few weeks of summer.
Farewell words from the coaches
Not talking about the regrettable farewells of the injured players before and when the World Cup started, the person who said bitter goodbye earliest was coach Sabri Lamouchi. Tunisia's opening match lost to Sweden 1-5 on June 14 - meaning only 3 days after the opening ceremony in Mexico, he was sacked. But the problem is, even though the Football Federation of this country (TFF) appointed Herve Renard to put out the fire, after the next 2 heavy defeats, the players themselves talked about the issue of the TFF.
Lamouchi may be shocked by the way the TFF treats him and wants to be like Steve Clarke in the Scottish national team. The 62-year-old coach proactively resigned - despite just extending his contract for 4 years before the World Cup kicked off, and left in the gratitude of the Federation.
That is probably what both Miroslav Koubek (Czech Republic) and Hong Myung-bo (Korea) are looking forward to. The disappointment of being eliminated is undeniable, but the waves of criticism - especially in Korea, speak to the harshness as well as the power of the media, social networks, and even extremist thinking formed in illusion.
Farewell words of the teams
With the national teams, the farewell is also in 2 extremes, either disappointment or regret. With the South Korean team, 2 other names stopped right from the group stage, leaving a great disappointment: Uruguay and Turkey.
Uruguay has a veteran coach (Marcelo Bielsa), a quality star squad, only having to travel a short journey from South America to North America, but the result is overflowing disgust - 2 points after 3 matches. And only when falling into this state, all their problems are revealed (can go deeper in another article), like a mess of explosions, confusion and full of rivalry right inside.
Turkey also has stars expected but only ranked last in the group, not leaving a feeling commensurate with the grand send-off ceremony on the day of departure. Anyway, the consolation is their efforts in the final match that brought a 3-2 victory over the US team.
Just taking one step further, the fall of the two European giants, Germany and the Netherlands, came with the same scenario - losing on penalties. For a long time, people have said penalty shootouts are luck, but in a penalty shootout where 3 players were unsuccessful, it was a matter of bravery, not luck. As Joshua Kimmich of Germany admitted, they are not in the group of "level 1" teams as they thought.
In another extreme, the regret lies in the farewell of the Japanese team and partly Iran. With Iran, it is because of the huge efforts in a sea of difficulties, then ups and downs in emotions when having to wait for a ticket decided by others - seemingly fair, turned into a Hollywood-class performance.
With Japan, it is really regrettable. Although the reverse defeat to Brazil may be a reason to comfort, everyone sees that the "Samurai Blue" came to this World Cup really quality and their performances make coach Hajime Moriyasu's pre-match statement about the World Cup championship ambition not just a "bragging" for show.
Looking back at Japan's journey from previous World Cups, maybe they still lack something, or fate still forces them to go the path they need to go before reaching the level of the elite group, but when they have promised to return, people believe.
