FIFA World Cup 2026 — Ashley Westwood on dates, tactical discipline and the tournament’s breakout stars

Over the last few matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Round of 32, a number of fixtures and players have made headlines. Shocking events, the giants of football who have to work hard for every inch on the pitch, and young players making their mark on the biggest stage.

In an interaction with Sports starsCurrent Kerala Blasters head coach Ashley Westwood – who is an expert on post-match panel for the Indian audience at this World Cup – shared some of his observations from the ongoing tournament, touching on a number of topics including teams changing their playing style, the importance of home advantage and young players who have caught his attention so far.

Some national teams are associated with different styles, such as Brazil Play Bonito. Do you think managers in the modern game still try to maintain these traditional national styles?

You always have a kind of cultural, natural kind of football, because you can’t take the culture out of players. But what every manager understands is that the game is constantly evolving. Things sometimes become scientific, data-driven, formation-driven.

In modern science you have to make sure you get the right results, physical results. Otherwise you can lose a game based on physicality, energy and workload. So if you don’t recognize and respect that, you can be defeated no matter who you are.

Brazil had a flair-like style of football in the past. Easy on the eye, tricks and 1v1 specialists. If you look at Brazil (today), to be honest, they are quite counter-attacking. So they have a good middle block, quite defensive and quite solid in the middle of the field. And when they get the ball, they break quickly and try to get the ball to Vinicius Junior. So that’s probably a bit of a departure from the Brazil we know.

Morocco plays free-flowing football. There is always a bit of culture in your body, but the job of a manager is to be flexible and find a system that works.

How important do you think tactical discipline is to pulling off a disruption, given the number of disruptions we’ve seen so far?

You can’t go into a game as an underdog and just expect to play football. go toe to toe and win, because in the end their players are better than yours.

It’s like a boxer going into the ring against a boxer who is better than you. If you go there and you both exchange punches, you’ll probably get knocked out.

You should have a certain defensive element, you should have a certain attacking element, you should try to score some punches and goals at the right moments by trying to find some weaknesses, and you should study the opposition and find a way to win a game of football.

All three host countries advanced from the group in this tournament. How important do you think the home advantage is?

If you look at all the football matches around the world and look at all the statistics, on average 50% of the matches are won at home, 25% are draws and 25% are away wins.

No matter who you are or where you are, that statistic is real. There has to be an element of home advantage, whether that’s because you’re familiar with your surroundings, whether it’s because you feel more comfortable, whether it’s because your family is in the crowd and there are more of your families in the crowd, or because the fans are behind you.

We have seen a number of young players holding breakout tournaments in previous editions of the FIFA World Cup. Besides the big names, are there any players that have stood out to you so far this tournament?

(Ayyoub) Bouaddi was good for Morocco against Brazil, but at just 18 years old he perhaps calmed down as they progressed. Now we expect him to go on and perform some more after performing so well against Brazil.

Australia has a young centre-back who has done very well recently (Lucas Herrington). There are many eyes on him.

Do you think clubs that sign breakout stars take the risk of signing players after a great tournament performance?

I think the one that stands out as I come forward is Yan Diomande. He did very well. I think he’s only 19. The first match he played was great. He was electric. He was then linked with £100 million for Liverpool, he was linked with Paris Saint-Germain.

So I think young players can get a bit overhyped these days. You see him doing really well and you think, «Oh, he’s the one we’re going to sign him for £100m.» The price tag immediately goes through the roof.

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People look for a match when there is someone else, because the margins are getting smaller, because the analysts are getting better and the coaching is getting better. You then have to rely on someone who has something different, a bit of an x-factor, and that becomes invaluable.

(Excerpts from a longer interview)

The interaction was organized by Zee5, the official broadcaster of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in India.

Published on July 3, 2026