2022 FIFA World Cup - Qatar, November 21-December 18

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Draw for euro qualifiers

Have to play against tender branson lol.

Group F looks brutal.

Group C could be ugly too if Ukraine is able to compete.

Our group???

Our media has headed the article with "easy group for Belgians", and while we should never underestimate our opponents, this is indeed a group we normally should easily qualify in.

Ukraine is able to compete and group C is indeed a difficult one. Even North Macedonia, one should not underestimate. They were the reason why Italy isn't on the world cup in the first place.

I don't know. I must have a higher opinion of Austria and Sweden than you do.

Chances for qualifying according to mathematical models.

Luxembourg having a better chance to qualify than Ireland or Bulgaria is also LOL. Although i wouldn't underestimate Luxembourg. Ireland should be higher. Greece is overrated in the model. Greece has no 40% chance to qualify if Ireland only has 2.5% chance.

Also surprising that neither Italy, England, France, Netherlands and Spain are among top 8 likeliest teams to qualify.

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Doesn't look like, but... only 1 week to start.

Almost forgotten in Brazil in the last months, due to this election

There isn't much hype here, because of the controversy associated with Qatar and likely also the fact that it happens in november. A lot of events outside were cancelled because there is way less enthusiasm before, like events that anticipated 5000 people to watch a football match live outside, and only 100 to 200 already like going, which is why these events had to be cancelled i saw in the newspaper and it's all over the country.

That also has something to do with it being cold already outside, while in june this isn't the case. I've never seen so little enthusiasm for a football tournament. Doesn't help that Belgium probably also is entering some "success fatigue" when it comes to the national football team, and that expectations are already a bit lower. The national football team isn't playing well, some top players are out of form or are unsure because of injuries, and we have a relatively hard draw esp. getting into knock out phase since that likely will be Germany and Spain (if we even get there). Canada and Morocco should not be underestimated.

Some people have been treating our n°1 (now n°2) position on world ranking as very normal, and after a while even winning a match is tiring because than you got the criticism how we won with luck or on "safe mode" by people or journalists. Some even would argue for the manager to be fired after we won a match, since it was expected we would win the match but the way we won it wasn't great. There has been a kind of campaign to lower expectations, even by our star players like Kevin De Bruyne (the famous: "we're only Belgium") and the results of the last 2 years esp. our disappointing performances in Nations League seemed to have lower expectations as well. The manager has been criticized for not giving new or other younger players enough chances, which is why we will have one of the oldest national teams on the world cup on average.

And there has been a lot of talk about controversies about Qatar when it comes to human rights, corruption, labour rights of guest labor workers with documentaires and articles about that, but I personally have something like: "it's 2022, the world cup was given to Qatar in 2010". Maybe it would have been more appropriate if we started criticize FIFA and this corrupt allocation in 2010 and should have boycotted FIFA.

Now it's empty talk and simply too late. Where was everyone 12 yrs ago?

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I expect Canada to win against us. Our top striker will not be ready for the first match against Canada. And our other strikers are not as great as Lukaku.

Canada was lucky to draw us. We were one of the weakest pot A teams. We're overestimated a lot. Qatar was obviously a better pick than us. But we were one of the weakest 2-3 teams you could've drawn, however Croatia and Morocco aren't easy too, but are both teams have with lots of "question marks". Croatia has similar problems to us, it being a very old (veteran) team that is on the decline. And Morocco has a lot of individual talent, but hasn't always been able to forge a team between those players, often having a team of players that grew up in highly different environments, some even grown up in Europe and not being able to speak Arabian or Berber.

I expect Canada to be highly enthusiastic in their first world cup tournament in 30 years. Also they have fast wingers, and we have trouble with fast wingers and teams that are offensive on the wings. Also since we have only 1 player on each wing instead of 2 usually (due to having 3 central backs). The wingplayer has to do both the defensive and offensive work.

And what does Canada have.

YES.

we're doomed.

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https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2022/11/16/wk-dorp-annulatie/

News of the day: "the world cup town - a themed event where a location would be thematically temporarily changed in a hub where you can follow the "belgian red devils", our national football team, also got cancelled today.

They announced that they sold way less tickets than they anticipated to, and decided to cancel the event to prevent losses from being made. A lot of similar places where you could follow the events of the red devils in a big screen were already massively being cancelled all over the country, due to lack of interest.

3 explanations are given:

1. It being during winter time (end november / early december) meaning it is cold outside
2. reduced expectations of the ability for belgians to shine on the tournament
3. increased dissatisfaction that the tournament is held by Qatar who violates basic human rights.

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Also, a poll was being held based on expectations of Belgians



47% believes our end stage will be the second round where we will likely encounter Germany or Spain. 21% believes our adventure end in the quarter finals. 20% believes we will be eliminated in the group stage. Only 11% believes we will end among the last four.



80% believes the defence is our weakest point. Over 50% believes our goalkeepers are the best players.



KDB and Courtois (our goalkeeper) are tied to be expected to be the best players of the tournament. Leandro Trossard (Brighton), Amadou Onana (Everton), Youri Tielemans (Leicester), Goalkeeper sub Simon Mignolet (Bruges) and defender Wout Faes (Leicester) are named in the top 7.





Who will be world champion according to Belgians

34% believes it's going to be Argentina. 21% believes in Brazil. Defenders of the title France and Germany (2014 champion) are considered shadow favorites. After that Spain (6%), the Netherlands (6%), Belgium (4%) and England (4%) are named. With less votes but also over zero procent are Portugal, Denmark, Qatar and Japan, all given 1% to win the world cup.

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In Belgium i would say cycling is 1 and football is 2. Outside of that gymnastics, athletics, tennis, eastern fighting sports like judo & karate and skateboarding are pretty popular too.

All cycling sports are pretty popular: mountainbike, dirt cycling, gravel cycling, road cycling, time trial, track cycling.

The french speaking belgians like say cycling is our religion.



world champion road cycling is now belgian



world champion gravel cycling is also belgian now



for dirt cycling most world champions are either beloian or dutch, sometimes czechia and lately UK do well where the sport is getting more popular.

USA also traditionally also often has some dirt cycling races in early season, usually 2 or 3 top tier level in Iowa and somewhere in North Carolina or Kentucky.

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This year there were cyclocrosses in Fayetteville in Arkansas and in Waterloo in Wisconsin. Both were won by a Belgian.



Usually since a lot of Belgian sponsors already signed to sponsor the organisation, they will usually promote their products in those cyclocrosses.

A lot of those sponsors are belgian beer producers, so if you like want to drink real belgian beer, this is probably the best place you should go to, when there is such a sports event.

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The Arabs were playing like Allah himself was on the field.

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Meanwhile FIFA has demanded that the Belgium team remove the word "love" from the collar of their away shirt, sources have told ESPN. A source told ESPN that FIFA was not even open to negotiation and categorically refused to discuss the matter with the Belgian federation.

we should just go home.

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Well, there go our chances of getting out of this group.

We needed to pick up three points against Wales, knowing we won't get any points against England, to even get second (I can't see Wales losing to or drawing against Iran after Iran's horrible performance against England).

Wales isn't a bad team, and it was always going to be like 50/50 odds compared to them. Also Iran might surprise, they lost to England. You don't know what they'll do against USA and Wales. The tournament isn't over yet.

1-1 isn't a bad result. It would have been way worse if you lost to Wales. USA also played quite well, defence is a bit weaker than their offensive qualities tho, just like Wales whose offence is also better.

Wales isn't a bad team, we had difficult times against them as Belgium. They're on the world cup for a reason. Teams like Italy had to stay home while Wales were able to qualify, so it isn't like they cannot play football... .

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The captains of European teams won't wear their - much maligned, because already watered-downed - diversity arm bands. The players of the Iranian national team won't sing their own national anthem. Seems the European players were afraid of the consequences... the consequences being not imprisonment or house arrest, but to lose multi-million Euro contracts or something. Congrats.

Accumulation of yellow cards in past tournaments resulted in some of our best players not being able to play in key matches, so yellow cards do matter.

If you would want to protest against such a decision, the team would have to decide to go home and not play.

We don't have great width in our selection so we cannot like freely take yellow cards just out of a matter of protest, when the entire nation expects you to at least be in the QF and to be a shadow favourites of winning the tournament. That would be very unprofessional.

If they want to protest, they should just go home and not participate at all. Yellow cards are too much of a disadvantage that it simply would not be worth participating if you want to make the gesture.

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I'm angry and furious.

First of all, congratulations to Canada for such a great match.





our analists say you should have gotten 2 penalties more. the referee didn't do his job. It is the same referee who rigged Ghana vs South Africa. We should also have gotten a red card, however one of the canadian players also should've gotten red and only got yellow.

What we did was a bad match, embarrassing, a lot of things didn't work. We played too horizontally, instead of vertically, despite having one more player in the midfield. The midfielders didn't even ask for the ball. Our assist was a from a defender who gave the ball to the striker, who made the goal. Also, very static play. Extremely weird.



Our newspaper:

Devils below their level, survive Canadian storm and open world cup with a victory!

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I hope from the deepest of my heart Canada wins from Morocco and Croatia. And I hope we do the same thing. Feels just so unjust towards Canada, and I hope we can show once again who we really are.

I've told my mom before the match that Canada is underestimated, named all pain points before the match, and i said: believe me if i say this. This is going to be our most difficult match, even in the event we become world champions, this is the toughest game.

The thing is it felt like a M9.0 earthquake and that it turns out everyone did survive, like there's a lot of work, not just physically but also mentally, because despite the win we're even way more uncertain than ever before, and not confident.

The win itself was a steal. Canada could've won if they were more efficient. Alderweireld (our defender) did an amazing long pass, something he has proven he can do. Our goalkeeper Courtois kept us in the game. I saw a very good Onana as defensive midfielder who came in the second half.

De Bruyne today was also horrible, absolutely horrible, so i hope that he'll get better because we will need him.

Also Canada needs some mental fixing, but they've shown they can win. Davies will need most fixing since he might not be confident after missing the penalty. I hope he'll get back and that Canada can show something the next 2 games.

It's a good thing Croatia drawed, but Canada needs to at least have a draw against Croatia or the tournament is over for them. Croatia was second last time, but I think Canada can draw or even defeat them next time. Croatia also share some weaknesses we had, and the strength of Croatia is also their midfield. The weakness is also their wings which they can exploit with speed.

Canada was the best North American team i've seen so far. USA i would rate above Mexico though. Mexico was not impressive, even if the will was there and if Poland is an incredible annoying team to play against. Next match they basically have to not lose against Argentina at the very least, otherwise chances will be very small.

USA might be able to do something against England and Iran. Even if they lose against England, i still believe they would be in the game. Goal difference might matter for them (if they both win against iran and both lose to England).

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Genuinely the most frustrating match I've ever watched, because Canada played much better than I thought we would...we just couldn't score a damn goal!

Our analists admitted that as a Canadian fan, this would have to be frustrating. It was also frustrating for me, yes. I felt like we stole this one. Sorry. I will do everything to mentally support the Canadians in their following matches, i promise that.

Usually, i'm used to being on the other side. This is some situation i've rarely been in. 2002 against Brazil for example, was also like that where Brazil stole it (with a bad referree). This was it in reverse (even if the referee wasn't as bad as back than, but they still didn't give a penalty that should have been one, and possibly/arguably 2 more). Our analists said Canada should have had 3 penalties, not 1.

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The Germans might as well boycott the Cup if they're going to play like that lol. So little desire and not much teamwork in the squad.

Germans are in trouble, because if they lose against Spain and Japan doesn't lose to Costa Rica (win or draw), they're out. Even if Germany draws with Spain and Japan wins, they are still out unless Spain loses against Japan in the third match as well, but Japan in that case would be qualified and can give rest to some players to prepare for the following match (however first place or second place in that group would / could matter), while the goal difference of Spain would ensure that a miracle in that case already needs to happen.

Even if Germany wins from Spain, goal difference would still be an issue since Spain has won 7-0 against Costa Rica, but they could still overtake Japan (or Spain if Spain loses against both Germany and Japan or draw against the latter).

Spain can basically already eliminate Germany next round with just a draw (if Japan does what it needs to do). So for Germany, there's a lot up for stakes.

The last match against Costa Rica which they probably easily win would in that case not even matter anymore and be just there for statistics.

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Wales lost to Iran, so chances of Wales advancing has plummeted, since they only have 1 point with a game against England still awaiting them.

If USA doesn't win against England, they'll have to win against Iran to advance (even if they draw against England, they have to win against Iran).

Wales has to win against England otherwise they're out, however England already could be qualified at that point, if they win against the USA tonight.

If they win against England, a draw would be enough against Iran to advance.

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It was clear during second half that Southgate was playing for a draw.

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I've told it that we weren't as great as we used to be, and i turned out to be right.

And my very premature knockout stage predictions (obviously subject to change):

Second Round:
Netherlands vs USA
Argentina vs Denmark
Germany vs Croatia
Brazil vs Uruguay
England vs Senegal
France vs Poland
Belgium vs Spain
Portugal vs Switzerland

Quarter Finals:
Netherlands vs Argentina
Germany vs Brazil
England vs France
Belgium vs Portugal

Semi Finals:
Argentina vs Brazil
France vs Belgium

Match for Third Place:
Argentina vs Belgium

Final:
Brazil vs France

I can't see how we would get fourth place. Our golden generation is over. Many players aren't in great shape and especially defensively we're doing horrible, lacking some pace and only having 3 players. Someone like Jonathan David (Canada) is gonna laugh with our flank players. I think 2022 will be the realization that we're done being a top tier team or even sub top tier team.

Perhaps with some luck we survive group stage, but we're gonna likely face a strong competitor in the second round and i don't see how we can win from Spain or Germany. And even like a team with Japan we're gonna have trouble.

Hazard is done. Lukaku misses confidence. We don't have great subs in many positions and our defence is way too weak. We miss flair. We miss the ability to change strategy and tactics. It's not going to be us.

Some people have been treating our n°1 (now n°2) position on world ranking as very normal, and after a while even winning a match is tiring because than you got the criticism how we won with luck or on "safe mode" by people or journalists. Some even would argue for the manager to be fired after we won a match, since it was expected we would win the match but the way we won it wasn't great. There has been a kind of campaign to lower expectations, even by our star players like Kevin De Bruyne (the famous: "we're only Belgium") and the results of the last 2 years esp. our disappointing performances in Nations League seemed to have lower expectations as well. The manager has been criticized for not giving new or other younger players enough chances, which is why we will have one of the oldest national teams on the world cup on average.

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Germany vs. Spain ended 1:1 was actually a pretty good, high-energy match. Didn't expect us to do that well, especially towards the end. So Germany needs Spain to beat Japan now and win against Costa Rica in order to stay on.

Japan is gonna regret not winning their match against Costa Rica, just like Canada is regretting not winning the match against us.

They should've won, they would've had a chance defeating Morocco.

With hindsight, we were the weakest team of our group. We didn't deserve the win against Canada (i mean, we made the goal), but it didn't reflect the match.

I hear a lot of talk also about team spirit being absolutely at an all-time low or major disagreements among players. All of them are not getting the level they normally get at their club teams. The manager probably will be highly criticized and sacked which the fans of Belgium are already demanding for months, but given criticism among journalists and even players theirselves is growing, his fate probably has been sealed.

Since we have an old team, people are now being loud about moving on to a new younger and next generation and a more energetic and dynamic gameplay.

Hazard, Witsel, all examples of players that are done and IMO should no longer be selected for national team. Vertonghen didn't play a horrible tournament, but is also an example of an older player that need to be replaced with a younger defender like Faes or Theate.

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england could choke to senegal as well. And croatia isn't over the finish line yet either, depending on who they have to play against.

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Belgium has been the most disappointing team so far, together with germany if they don't qualify but i think germany will qualify. For us it's a long shot. If we play a great match against Croatia, than perhaps... we theoretically in that case could even eliminate croatia if morocco wins their match against Canada.

But i don't think the quality is there, we even have 3 points that we didn't deserve (i mean we made the goal), but like it didn't reflect spirit of that match.

And even than, no chance we defeat Spain (and than Brazil). Nah, not gonna happen.

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US leading 1:0 against Iran now. USA! USA!

are you fan of germany or USA.

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Meanwhile, the Belgian squad have had a crisis meeting because the players apparently hate each other. Juicy details are being leaked. Kevin De Bruyne and Thibaut Courtois "haven't spoken for years", strikers Romelu Lukaku and Michy Batshuayi are "not best friends" and Eden Hazard and Leandro Trossard ("everyone in Belgium thinks I should play" but Hazard is actually playing) also don't talk. In an interview, Hazard had apparently blamed the bad results on the old, slow center backs; after the Morocco game, center back Jan Vertonghen implicitly hit back by saying the lack of chances created "was also our fault, or not?" 🍿🍿🍿🍿 I expect this chapter to close after the Croatia game.

https://twitter.com/rtlinfo/status/1597287227008045056

Oh dear.

Yeah, they'll be lucky to get a result out of Croatia after a lucky escape against Canada and an underwhelming loss to Morocco, if this is what's going on behind the scenes.

And the fans hate the manager.

i have said what needs to be done and it's to get rid of half of our current players and basically the entire staff.

Our defenders actually didn't do bad, but they're getting too old and we need new players to build experience, they're not the best belgian defenders and still play...

Witsel needs to leave. Hazard needs to leave. We need different tactics than always that same 3-2-4-1 formation that doesn't fit the team. It's time for new people to be given chances, we have great young players and they get barely chances...

Like Onana played a good tournament (and he was literally the most inexperienced player to play), basically the only one (and aside of Courtois mistakes in last match, he did well as well). But all others sucked or were below their usual level.

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We're out but we kept Croatia at 0-0 which means Morocco won the group and Croatia likely has to play Spain now.

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Lukaku 🤡

he was injured. he has no rhythm