The World Cup of chaos, as some have dubbed it, was plagued by controversy in the months leading up to its opening ceremony last week. Now that the tournament has finally kicked off, the focus will thankfully be on the football, rather than visa denials or exorbitant ticket prices. The tournament might just live up to its billing as the greatest show on earth.

The host nations have given the World Cup an early boost with encouraging performances fuelling the excitement of the home fans. The US and Mexico won their opening games and Canada, with a draw, scored their first ever point in the competition.

Gianni Infantino, president of Fifa, the sport’s governing body, promised the event will be “the greatest celebration of humanity”. Most fans would settle for a much more modest achievement: a thrilling exhibition of the world’s best football, without the politics or the pandering to US President Donald Trump.

The opening match saw Mexico beat South Africa in the iconic Azteca Stadium. South Korea, the first Asian team to play, then defeated the Czech Republic 2-1, enjoying strong support from the Mexican crowd.

Many empty seats were visible for that game, even though the official attendance was put at a near capacity 44,985. This suggests tickets were bought for resale by touts but remained unsold. The problem might be a lamentable feature of the group matches, despite Infantino’s claim of 500 million ticket requests for the tournament.

There are a record 48 teams competing in the expanded finals, including nine from Asia. But with only one nation eliminated from each group and with weaker teams ranking 82, 83 and 85 in the world, some fixtures look uninspiring.