5 things we learned from the World Cup group stage

The 2018 World Cup group stage is in the books and, with Friday marking the first day since the start of the tournament on which no football will be played, this is the perfect time to recap the lessons we've learned so far.

VAR is a balancing act

After that fortnight of action, many a thesis could be dedicated to dissecting the role played by the Video Assistant Referees in Russia. While it will sound like a hedging of bets, the key lesson to draw is that the idea of such a system remains a good one, but the execution is, on occasion, still leaving much to be desired.

What makes this so frustrating is that there have been several instances of the technology being used almost to perfection. The overturning of Neymar's penalty vs. Costa Rica and the ruling out of Iran's late equaliser vs. Spain were both instances in which, though there was still grumbling about the delays involved, VAR spotted definitive errors and corrected them. On the flip side, it is still sporadically being used to decide utterly subjective handball calls, which is a big no-no.

The entire point of VAR is to right blatant and definitive wrongs, and there have been several of those at this summer's tournament. Where improvement is needed is in defining what classifies as a "clear and obvious" error, and communicating what is happening and the reasoning for decisions. Harry Kane, for instance, would love to know why two penalty appeals that were reviewed vs. Tunisia were turned down despite multiple replays showing the striker being dragged to the turf.

Russia's disguise is transparent

Kindly chucked in with Uruguay, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia at the draw back in December, and even more kindly spared meeting the South American nation until the final matchday, Russia flattered to deceive in Group A.

The host nation stuck five past Saudi Arabia in the opener - even in that game, two goals in injury time added gloss to the scoreline - and then beat an Egypt team which may have already been broken by conceding an 89th-minute winner in its opening game.

Though players such as Aleksandr Golovin and Denis Cheryshev genuinely impressed, the fact Russia qualified from its group after just two games is indicative, frankly, of very little, even if it did score eight times in 180 minutes. To absolutely nobody's surprise, Uruguay's effortless 3-0 canter in Samara in the final group game brought the host back to earth. Spain in the last-16 next up? Do svidaniya, Golden Eagles.

African teams have the worst luck

Man, what a brutal tournament for African nations.

Egypt was shorn of Mo Salah for the opening defeat to Uruguay and never recovered from its late concession; Morocco was bounced despite impressing both statistically and aesthetically; Nigeria - excellent against Iceland - was sent packing by Marcos Rojo's 86th-minute volley; Kane's 91st-minute winner cost Tunisia dearly; and Senegal - poor, undeserving Senegal - had its collective heart broken by, of all things, an unprecedented fair-play tiebreaker.

Related - Belated backbreakers: Late goals derail African World Cup hopes

"It's a big step back," continental icon Didier Drogba said after Senegal's elimination confirmed there would be no African teams in the knockout round. "What do we want to do in the next World Cup? We have the potential, we have the money to develop, but we need more than that. We need to have the consistency and the structure of the European teams and the South American teams."

This is even sadder because most of the five teams in question had shown they were capable of progressing. Hindsight is a dangerous thing, but had the bounce of the ball fallen differently, or had a yellow card stayed in the referee's pocket on a couple of occasions, things could be very different.

Adding more teams will dilute, not amplify

Sure, a 48-team World Cup sounds great. More teams, more games, more varied participants - what's not to love? Well, if you watched England vs. Panama or Denmark vs. France, you've seen a hint.

While increasing the number of teams by 50 per cent gives more countries a chance to participate, it also necessitates a change of format from eight groups of four teams to 16 groups of three, from which the top two in each group progress to a 32-team knockout stage. That is likely to open up the gap between those nations that are in it to win it and those that are just happy to be there. The Three Lions' 6-1 demolition of Panama wasn't particularly engrossing, even for English spectators, as the difference in quality was just too big, and more of that sort of disparity is likely to be on the horizon.

Meanwhile, Denmark and France came into the final group fixture needing just a point against each other for both teams to qualify peacefully. Amazingly, it was the tournament's first 0-0 scoreline. It doesn't require too much cynicism to foresee numerous similar dead rubbers in the final cycle of group games in the future, particularly as, given the three-team groups, 16 countries will start their campaigns against a team which has already played and therefore, in many cases, will need just a draw to progress. Yawn.

Croatia can win the whole thing (seriously)

Defending world champion Germany is out, so who wants some glory? Naturally, teams such as France, Brazil, and Spain were touted, alongside Die Mannschaft, as favourites to hoist the trophy before the tournament kicked off.

Well, move over, because there's a new challenger in town. Croatia's best-ever finish at the World Cup was a Davor Suker-inspired run to third place in France in 1998. That does not necessarily have to be the case by the second half of July. Zlatko Dalic's side produced the best team performance seen so far in blowing Argentina away with a 3-0 win in Game 2, and is one of only three teams boasting a 100 percent record at the tournament thus far.

With a stingy defence, the ability to find goals from anywhere on the pitch, and a midfield core made up of top-class talents in Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Ivan Perisic, and Mateo Kovacic, this team can beat any rival on its day. Facing Denmark in the last-16, Spain or Russia in the quarter-final, and one of England, Colombia, Sweden, or Switzerland in a potential semi-final to get to a maiden final, this team should believe it can surpass the nation's late-1990s "Golden Generation" and win the whole thing. It's that good.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)