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

[buritobr]

In order to not overload the "Association Football 2021/2022" thread, the 22nd world's men national teams soccer championship deserves this special thread.
In this week, the last 2 national teams were decided: Australia, which defeated Peru, and Cost Rica, which defeated New Zealand.

The tournment will take place between November 21 and December 18.

The groups are the following

A
Qatar
Ecuador
Senegal
Netherlands

B
England
Iran
USA
Wales

C
Argentina
Saudi Arabia
Mexico
Poland

D
France
Australia
Denmark
Tunisia

E
Spain
Costa Rica
Germany
Japan

F
Belgium
Canada
Morocco
Croatia

G
Brazil
Serbia
Switzerland
Cameroon

H
Portugal
Ghana
Uruguay
South Korea

[Lechasseur]

My very early group stage predictions, will have a definitive prediction much nearer to the World Cup once definitive squads and all are announced (I doubt my predictions will change too much though):

A
Qatar 4
Ecuador 3
Senegal 2
Netherlands 1

B
England 1
Iran 4
USA 2
Wales 3

C
Argentina 1
Saudi Arabia 4
Mexico 3
Poland 2

D
France 1
Australia 3
Denmark 2
Tunisia 4

E
Spain 2
Costa Rica 3
Germany 1
Japan 4

F
Belgium 1
Canada 3
Morocco 4
Croatia 2

G
Brazil 1
Serbia 3
Switzerland 2
Cameroon 4

H
Portugal 1
Ghana 3
Uruguay 2
South Korea 4

[Lechasseur]

Also both odd and great to see that Wales have finally qualified for a World Cup

[Lechasseur]

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

[buritobr]

Also both odd and great to see that Wales have finally qualified for a World Cup

Yeah. The last time Wales played a World Cup was 1958, when they qualified to the Round of 8, but they lost 1:0 to Brazil. A 17 year old boy whose nickname was Pelé scored his first goal in World Cups https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzyApnVJLyE&t=69s

Fun fact: only 16 national teams played the 1958 World Cup. All the 4 UK teams were there: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland. 25% of the national teams in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden were british

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_FIFA_World_Cup

[NewYorkExpress]

My Predictions:

Group A

1. Netherlands
2. Senegal
3. Ecuador
4. Qatar

Group B

1. England
2. United States
3. Wales
4. Iran

Group C

1. Argentina
2. Mexico
3. Poland
4. Saudi Arabia

Group D

1. France
2. Denmark
3. Tunisia
4. Australia

Group E

1. Spain
2. Germany
3. Japan
4. Costa Rica

Group F

1. Belguim
2. Croatia
3. Canada
4. Morocco

Group G

1. Brazil
2. Switzerland
3. Serbia
4. Cameroon

Group H

1. Portugal
2. Uruguay
3. Ghana
4. South Korea


Second Round

United States defeats the Netherlands
Argentina defeats Denmark
Spain defeats Croatia
Brazil defeats Uruguay
England defeats Senegal
France defeats Mexico
Germany defeats Belgium
Portugal defeats Switzerland

Quarterfinals

Argentina defeats The United States
Brazil defeats Spain
England defeats France
Portugal defeats Germany

Semifinals

Argentina defeats Brazil
Portugal defeats England

Third Place

Brazil defeats England

Final

Argentina defeats Portugal

[Illiniwek]

Italy not qualifying is just bonkers. Yes, the shouldn't have lost to North Macedonia. But it has to say something about the qualifying system that the defending European champions who are ranked #6 in the world can get left out with one bad game.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Italy not qualifying is just bonkers. Yes, the shouldn't have lost to North Macedonia. But it has to say something about the qualifying system that the defending European champions who are ranked #6 in the world can get left out with one bad game.

Back-to-back(-to-back) bad games. We had an easy group, led the whole way, and didn't close it out when we had a pair of draws with Switzerland and couldn't score against Northern Ireland who was playing for nothing. And even beating North Macedonia wouldn't have been enough with Portugal waiting for us.

At least we won't be able to miss when they expand to 48 teams. Right? Right?

[Santander]

Italy not qualifying is just bonkers. Yes, the shouldn't have lost to North Macedonia. But it has to say something about the qualifying system that the defending European champions who are ranked #6 in the world can get left out with one bad game.

It was a complete bottle job, not anything wrong with the qualification system. They missed two penalties and an open goal in qualifying against a weak group and the weakest team in the playoffs.

If you want a cruel qualification system, in Africa, everyone has to win the group and then win a playoff. Algeria only had to blink once in a playoff match they dominated to not qualify for the World Cup.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

A
Qatar
Ecuador
Senegal - 2
Netherlands - 1

B
England - 1
Iran - 2
USA
Wales

C
Argentina - 1
Saudi Arabia
Mexico - 2
Poland

D
France - 2
Australia
Denmark - 1
Tunisia

E
Spain - 1
Costa Rica
Germany
Japan - 2

F
Belgium
Canada - 2
Morocco
Croatia - 1

G
Brazil - 2
Serbia - 1
Switzerland
Cameroon

H
Portugal
Ghana
Uruguay - 2
South Korea - 1

Netherlands - Iran
Argentina - France
Spain - Canada
Serbia - Uruguay
Senegal - England
Denmark - Mexico
Croatia - Japan
South Korea - Brazil

Netherlands - Argentina
Spain - Serbia
England - Denmark
Japan - South Korea

Argentina - Spain
Denmark - Japan

FINALS:
Argentina - Denmark

BATTLE FOR THIRD PLACE:
Spain - Japan

[Asta]

A
Qatar
Ecuador
Senegal 2
Netherlands 1

B
England 1
Iran
USA 2
Wales

C
Argentina 1
Saudi Arabia
Mexico 2
Poland

D
France 1
Australia
Denmark 2
Tunisia

E
Spain 1
Costa Rica
Germany 2
Japan

F
Belgium 1
Canada
Morocco
Croatia 2

G
Brazil 1
Serbia
Switzerland 2
Cameroon

H
Portugal 2
Ghana
Uruguay 1
South Korea

[LAKISYLVANIA]

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.

[Lechasseur]

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.

I agree the Golden Generation is over. Maybe switch Belgium with Portugal. But Belgium simply has the weakest branch of the draw. I can't see Canada or some country like that making the semi finals.

Really I feel the only good teams now are France, Brazil and Argentina. I feel this will be a very underwhelming World Cup and probably the worst won in my lifetime.

[Santander]

Portugal is massively overrated because of Ronaldo and winning Euro 2016 after winning literally one game. They limped through qualification (normal for Portugal) and their squad is filled with questionable ancient players. They'll make it through to the knockouts because the rest of the group are even weaker paper tigers, but they will get exposed by the real teams in the knockouts. If they play Brazil in the first knockout round, they will lose, and I would favor Serbia in a matchup, too.

[Santander]

Bold predictions:

A
Qatar - 4
Ecuador - 3
Senegal - 1
Netherlands - 2

B
England - 1
Iran - 2
USA - 4
Wales - 3

C
Argentina - 1
Saudi Arabia - 4
Mexico - 3
Poland - 2

D
France - 2
Australia - 4
Denmark - 1
Tunisia - 3

E
Spain - 1
Costa Rica - 3
Germany - 2
Japan - 4

F
Belgium - 1
Canada - 4
Morocco - 3
Croatia - 2

G
Brazil - 1
Serbia - 2
Switzerland - 3
Cameroon - 4

H
Portugal - 2
Ghana - 4
Uruguay - 1
South Korea - 3

Round of 16:
Senegal vs Iran
Argentina vs France
Spain vs Croatia
Brazil vs Portugal
England vs Netherlands
Denmark vs Poland
Belgium vs Germany
Uruguay vs Serbia

Quarterfinals
Senegal vs Argentina
Spain vs Brazil
England vs Denmark
Germany vs Serbia

Semifinals
Argentina vs Spain
Denmark vs Serbia

Final
Spain vs Serbia

[Asta]

Everyone picked France to advance past the group stage so far, but deep down I don't feel that good about France's chance.

Four of the last five World Cup winners failed to advance past the group stage in the next World Cup. I remember how Germany thought their 2018 squad is even better than their 2014 squad and then they ended up somehow losing to my lowly South Korea.

[Santander]

Everyone picked France to advance past the group stage so far, but deep down I don't feel that good about France's chance.

Four of the last five World Cup winners failed to advance past the group stage in the next World Cup. I remember how Germany thought their 2018 squad is even better than their 2014 squad and then they ended up somehow losing to my lowly South Korea.

Well, obviously France is not guaranteed to get out of the group stage, but you have to say they are more likely than not to. Morocco is actually better than most people give them credit for (they scored 20 goals and conceded 1 in the hardest African qualifying group) but much of their team is playing for Morocco because they couldn't make it for France...

[Asta]

Everyone picked France to advance past the group stage so far, but deep down I don't feel that good about France's chance.

Four of the last five World Cup winners failed to advance past the group stage in the next World Cup. I remember how Germany thought their 2018 squad is even better than their 2014 squad and then they ended up somehow losing to my lowly South Korea.

Well, obviously France is not guaranteed to get out of the group stage, but you have to say they are more likely than not to. Morocco is actually better than most people give them credit for (they scored 20 goals and conceded 1 in the hardest African qualifying group) but much of their team is playing for Morocco because they couldn't make it for France...

Everyone who watched 2018 World Cup realized how good Morocco is after drawing with Spain and outplaying Portugal in terms of goal opportunities.

I could easily see Morocco getting in over Croatia.

[buritobr]

Italy not qualifying is just bonkers. Yes, the shouldn't have lost to North Macedonia. But it has to say something about the qualifying system that the defending European champions who are ranked #6 in the world can get left out with one bad game.

The European qualification is dangerous because of a possible bad luck in the group draw. France 1990/1994, England 1994, Netherlands 2002/2018, Italy 2018/2022 failed to qualify. But 2022 was not so hard for Italy. Switzerland is not a world soccer superpower.

There are other motives to make harder for European national teams. There are 13 European national teams and 5 Africans in the World Cup. Probably, the 14th European national team is better than the 5th African one. But it's correct to have other criteria than just selecting the best 32. The World Cup is an international event, so, it's fair to have a balance of all continents, in order to have audience in the whole world.

[buritobr]

If you consider that people can have memories of a World Cup only since they are 5 year old, a Italian boy born in 2010 doesn't remember 2014 and he will see his national team playing in a World Cup for the first time only in 2026, when he already becomes 16.
Only people born until 2001 remember Italy playing in the Knockout Stage of a World Cup in 2006, when Italy won. They will be 25 in 2026.

[NewYorkExpress]

Everyone picked France to advance past the group stage so far, but deep down I don't feel that good about France's chance.

Four of the last five World Cup winners failed to advance past the group stage in the next World Cup. I remember how Germany thought their 2018 squad is even better than their 2014 squad and then they ended up somehow losing to my lowly South Korea.

Well, obviously France is not guaranteed to get out of the group stage, but you have to say they are more likely than not to. Morocco is actually better than most people give them credit for (they scored 20 goals and conceded 1 in the hardest African qualifying group) but much of their team is playing for Morocco because they couldn't make it for France...

Everyone who watched 2018 World Cup realized how good Morocco is after drawing with Spain and outplaying Portugal in terms of goal opportunities.

I could easily see Morocco getting in over Croatia.

I don't know. The United States just destroyed Morocco 3-0 earlier this month....

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Morocco is overrated, and in 2018 Iran made a better impression in that group than Morocco.

The best african team (on paper) participating in the world cup is Senegal by far.

[Santander]

Everyone picked France to advance past the group stage so far, but deep down I don't feel that good about France's chance.

Four of the last five World Cup winners failed to advance past the group stage in the next World Cup. I remember how Germany thought their 2018 squad is even better than their 2014 squad and then they ended up somehow losing to my lowly South Korea.

Well, obviously France is not guaranteed to get out of the group stage, but you have to say they are more likely than not to. Morocco is actually better than most people give them credit for (they scored 20 goals and concedeId 1 in the hardest African qualifying group) but much of their team is playing for Morocco because they couldn't make it for France...

Everyone who watched 2018 World Cup realized how good Morocco is after drawing with Spain and outplaying Portugal in terms of goal opportunities.

I could easily see Morocco getting in over Croatia.

I actually meant to talk about Tunisia but somehow I got distracted and forgot, and ended up making a bit of a non-sequitur about Morocco. But yes, Group F is actually quite juicy.

[DavidB.]

Sucks that Wales qualified. Not even a country. The UK should have exactly one team. Was really rooting for Ukraine.

My bold guess:

A
Qatar - 4
Ecuador - 3
Senegal - 2
Netherlands - 1

B
England - 1
Iran - 4
USA - 3
Wales - 2

C
Argentina - 1
Saudi Arabia - 4
Mexico - 2
Poland - 3

D
France - 2
Australia - 3
Denmark - 1
Tunisia - 4

E
Spain - 2
Costa Rica - 3
Germany - 1
Japan - 4

F
Belgium - 2
Canada - 4
Morocco - 3
Croatia - 1

G
Brazil - 2
Serbia - 4
Switzerland - 1
Cameroon - 3

H
Portugal - 1
Ghana - 3
Uruguay - 2
South Korea - 4

But yes, Group F is actually quite juicy.

Together with G the most fun group. I could easily see Morocco take a top 2 spot over either Croatia or Belgium, especially the latter.

[buritobr]

My forecast

Round of 16
Netherlands defeats Wales
Argentina defeats Denmark
Germany defeats Croatia
Brazil defeats Uruguay
England defeats Ecuador
France defeats Poland
Belgium defeats Spain
Portugal defeats Switzerland

Round of 8
Netherlands defeats Argentina
Brazil defeats Germany
England defeats France
Belgium defeats Portugal

Semifinals
Brazil defeats Netherland
England defeats Belgium

Final
Brazil defeats England


I expect to happen what is usual: no national team wins 2 world cups in a sequence, so, I think France won't win. There were only 2 exceptions: Italy 1934-38 and Brazil 1958-62