Is there a World Cup without Queiroz or Hugo Broos?

For those who have followed his work since the 1980s, the near-miracle he has achieved with the Ghana national team comes as no surprise.

Perhaps three months ago, Carlos Queiroz envisioned a quiet retirement, far from the spotlight and the challenges that defined his entire professional life. But the call of the game and the added difficulty of managing an African national team with only 60 days' notice before another World Cup finals spoke louder and stronger to the man who revolutionized mindsets in Portuguese football.

The proposal, simple yet profoundly challenging, was to put the Black Stars back on the map after they missed the 2025 AFCON, and were drawn into a tough group with England and Croatia. Nothing is won yet (as Queiroz himself noted after the excellent goalless draw with the English), but building a team can also involve emergency therapies and shock strategies.

That's what the Portuguese coach has already accomplished, with four points from two games and World Cup knockout stage qualification practically secured.

Received in Accra like a deity of the beautiful game, Queiroz reinforces, with each passing minute, the gratitude of Ghanaians, and continues to demonstrate that knowledge and charisma can greatly help consolidate a career and excite fans, officials, and players alike.

It's true that goalkeepers in football have always been the most resistant to the erosion of time and wear, ensuring a longer average career span than most of their outfield teammates.

It's equally true that few (very few...) reach a level like Guillermo Ochoa's. Six World Cups, an achievement only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi can also boast. Ochoa's story intertwines with the history of Mexican football itself, although the goalkeeper has made the world his home. He even played in Portugal, representing Aves SAD in the top league.

Physical and technical ability are obviously essential for maintaining such a specialized position, but so are character and team spirit. When he kissed the goalposts he defended at the Azteca Stadium in the final minutes of Mexico's match against the Czech Republic, Guillermo was sending a message of hope to all young people now embracing this difficult specialty: one of resilience, passion for the game, total dedication, and a willingness to always say yes to his country and national team, even as a substitute.

From Germany 2006 to the Americas 2026, Ochoa has penned some of the most beautiful pages in the history of modern football.

Stéphanie Frappart (now called upon by UEFA for referee management in Europe) had already made history in Qatar three and a half years ago. The French referee set standards of excellence, abolishing gender wars and leveling herself with the best.

In the United States, after a rising and very confident career in the women's game, both domestically and internationally, Tori Penso officiated in this World Cup finals with the serene authority and recognized ability of one of the great names in global refereeing.

Let's add Katia Garcia. The name, for those less attentive to this sector of football, might go unnoticed, but in Mexico, she is a respected figure in Liga MX refereeing. With a degree in Political Science and International Relations, Garcia joins the American as a female representative among the central figures of Team One at this World Cup.

Ability is not measured by gender or stature, and FIFA, in its component of maximum demand on its referees, keeps this factor well in mind.

Tori Penso and Katia Garcia are, above all, two excellent referees and two extraordinary transversal motivators for anyone who wants to follow in their footsteps. Proof that dreams drive life, and that the impossible is just a little bit harder...

When we affectionately call a coach an old fox of world football, we are, in essence, saluting and celebrating them. That's what we owe to Hugo Broos, the septuagenarian coach of South Africa, who, over the past five years, has led the Bafana Bafana to a growth that places the South African men's national team among the best on the continent.

But for those who follow football, it's no secret that what truly matters is representation on the biggest stage in the world. The World Cup finals appear for Hugo Broos as, possibly, the last great challenge of a long and hard-earned career.

With the victory over South Korea, the Bafana achieved one of the most striking and historic moments in their country's football, largely thanks to Broos, a Belgian who arrived in the far south of Africa several years ago, and is responsible for structuring a true team, based primarily on domestic talent, meaning athletes who play every week in the Premier Soccer League, the country's main professional league.

Whatever happens in the match against Canada (Round of 16), Hugo Broos will have his name etched in gold in the history of South African football.

He only stands out because his long blonde hair gives him away from a distance, and precisely because of these characteristics, he doesn't look Portuguese. And he isn't, in fact, although he is a little bit, at heart.

Austin MacPhee is Scottish, and has long been involved in football. Indeed, anyone who regularly follows the Premier League will notice his presence alongside Unai Emery on the Aston Villa bench. There, in Birmingham, but also with the Portugal national team, MacPhee is responsible for set-piece training, a curious English expression that we can freely translate as 'bolas paradas'.

An increasingly specific and decisive moment in football matches, a corner kick or a free kick near the opponent's area constitutes specialized material, requiring someone to dedicate themselves exclusively to it.

At 46, Austin is part of Portugal's technical staff, and the results, with excellent executors like those serving the 'Seleção das Quinas', are beginning to show.

Proof that tactical training is a very significant vector of preparation at the highest level, and that true specialists are indispensable, especially in a competitive structure as challenging as a football World Cup...