A bigger field alters the emotional maths of qualification.
That matters because the World Cup is not an annual event. Miss one chance and the absence lingers. Miss several in a row and the tournament can start to feel like somebody else’s celebration. For supporters in diaspora communities, that distance is often felt collectively, in bars, living rooms and neighbourhood gatherings.
In a city shaped by migration, football identity rarely stops at club level. New York lives the game through national teams as much as through domestic allegiances. When more countries qualify, more communities can see themselves in the bracket, in the shirts and in the pre-match rituals.
The report says that the expanded format has opened the door to debutants and to countries returning after a long absence. That changes the atmosphere in the five boroughs. It turns neutral viewing into personal investment. It replaces borrowed excitement with direct attachment.
There is also a broader point for . Expansion is often debated in terms of quality, congestion and tournament sprawl. Those concerns are real. But there is another side: representation. A bigger World Cup can look messier on paper while feeling more authentic in global cities where the sport is carried by many flags at once.
The next thing to watch is whether this renewed connection lasts beyond this tournament - into future qualification cycles, youth participation and the local watch-party culture that gives New York its own version of the World Cup.