I think there’s more nuance to the 7 game tournament thing.
Realistically, the World Cup needs to be fit into a period of 2-3 weeks for logistical and tv rights reasons. And as well, a single elimination tournament format is not the best way to judge the quality of a team. There are a lot of ways the format is a poorer judge of the question “which country is best at soccer” than, for example, a more traditional league format would be.
Another example is that giant slaying is fun in single elimination domestic cups, but the first division is always a better indication of team quality.
I think there’s more nuance to the 7 game tournament thing.
Realistically, the World Cup needs to be fit into a period of 2-3 weeks for logistical and tv rights reasons. And as well, a single elimination tournament format is not the best way to judge the quality of a team. There are a lot of ways the format is a poorer judge of the question “which country is best at soccer” than, for example, a more traditional league format would be.
Another example is that giant slaying is fun in single elimination domestic cups, but the first division is always a better indication of team quality.
None of this takes away from winning the trophy.