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

[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

[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....

[NewYorkExpress]

If I was a gambler, I really would have a cheeky £10 on England not qualifying from the group stage. I know it is "only" The Nations League, but that defeat at home to Hungary (who were excellent, by the way, and fully deserved to win) was the worst I have seen us as a team since THAT game against Iceland in 2016.

It's long been a mystery as to why England routinely underperforms in World Cup when, on paper, they have one of the best squads perennially. A part of it, of course, is that England is terrible in penalty shootouts, a game deciding method which I think is an abomination, even though many fans love the masochism of watching it.

Seeing that La Liga teams tend to beat Premier League in Champions League, I may be overestimating the strength of English roster though.

England is very good at blowing their own trumpets. Look back at some of those squads from the past decade in retrospect - just terrible. This squad is better than those, but many of the players will be looked at rather poorly in 10 years' time. Tactical ineptitude from a manager who got the job because the last guy was an open sleazebag doesn't help.

Southgate's England of course profited from a mixture of luck and easy paths to the final four/two in 2018 and 2020. Their performances in the group stages of both contests were nothing special and in World Cup they almost got knocked out by known football titans Colombia (I remember watching that penalty shoot out in some seedy Birmingham pub, those were the days). In the Euros they essentially had one good performance against a (weak) German side and still managed to lose on home soil against a decidedly undercooked Italian side. We'll see whether Southgate can keep up the streak of bumbling his way into semis/finals, but it seems unlikely. He'll probably hang onto the job though (unless it's a truly abysmal outing), for lack of anyone more appealing and his ability to ride the media zeitgeist.

Pep Guardiola's expressed interest in coaching a national side after his contract at Manchester City expires. England could make a run at him (or possibly Wayne Rooney, who has done an amazing job with practically nothing at Derby).

[NewYorkExpress]

Embattled Wales Manager Ryan Giggs stepping down ahead of the World Cup.

[NewYorkExpress]

Just four months before the World Cup, Iran has fired head coach Dragan Skokic.

Got to wonder who Iran will hire for the World Cup.

[NewYorkExpress]

Qatar's opening match against Ecuador has been moved up one day, to November 20.

This change means, that as per tradition, the hosts will kick off the World Cup.

[NewYorkExpress]

These are the favs to win the cup according to the bookies (dutch translation tho, but who is who should be clear from the "context".)

However i don't always agree with every value.

The U.S and Mexico actually seem to have decent odds, at least according to that bookie.

Might be worth a flier.

[NewYorkExpress]

Would be fun if a team won for their country the 1st Title ever.

Would definitely be fun, but I don't see who.

Netherlands is a possibility because of the draw they have, which should bring them in the QF, obviousl you can still disappoint and matches still have to be played.

Belgium used to be better in the past, it's not what it once was. I think we're a good pick for the disappointment of the tournament. If we wanted our first title, we should have done it in 2018. Same applies to Croatia, which just like us has a hard draw, and there's a good chance one of us is eliminated in the group stage already.

Portugal has technically a good team, but the Cristiano Ronaldo soap might hurt them. I think their chances would improve if Ronaldo is left at home, since currently many other players just tend to play the ball to Ronaldo and not play based on their talent. That's why I believe Portugal will be more exciting to watch once Ronaldo retires (that being said, obviously Ronaldo is one of the best players of all-time, he's just not much of a team player).

I just don't see the scenario as very likely. The most likely thing IMO is England ending their 56 year drought of winning a world cup. And it would actually fit within the new pattern we see. France losing the European championship at home and than winning the world cup 2 years later. In 2020 England lost at home in the finals.

I'd say the most likely dark horses this year are the U.S (we've been playing really well lately) and probably England (given their past history at major tournaments, I don't think any outside of England is picking them to win).

[NewYorkExpress]

If you see the performance of all national teams in the World Cup, from 1930 to 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_team_appearances_in_the_FIFA_World_Cup#Overall_team_records, you can see that the results are closely related to income, population, and popularity of the soccer in the country. Brazil is a medium income country but compensates it by a very big population and very high popularity of soccer. Argentina and Uruguay overperform. The other superpowers in the men's soccer World Cup are upper income, medium or high population countries, in which soccer is popular: Germany, Italy, France, England, Spain, Netherlands.

Although USA, Japan, South Korea and Australia are rich countries and their populations are big, I don't believe that one day they will become super powers in the men's soccer, because soccer is not the most popular sport in these countries, and it matters a lot. The most skilled boys for sports in a country usually become professional athletes in the most popular sports of the country.

I'm not sure how you'd explain the U.S woman's national team having been the best in the world for almost thirty years then.

[NewYorkExpress]

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.

[NewYorkExpress]

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.

[NewYorkExpress]

First goal of the World Cup goes to Ecuador on an Enner Valencia penalty conversion.

[NewYorkExpress]

Qatar is playing a very physical game right now.

Almost twenty-five minutes in, and Qatar has already been shown yellow twice.

[NewYorkExpress]

Ecuador destroys Qatar 2-0, as the hosts become the first host team to lose the opening match of a World Cup. (Even South Africa didn't lose their opening match to Mexico in 2010).

[NewYorkExpress]

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).

[NewYorkExpress]

American commentary calls England vs. USA "the big one". 🤦‍♀️

Well, given we're not going to advance out the group if we don't pick up a point against England, I can kind of see the argument.

[NewYorkExpress]

I feel like we did well to get a draw with England, a far superior team than us.

I'm still not 100% certain we beat Iran, given their result against Wales, but I now have more optimism than I did after our game against Wales.

[NewYorkExpress]

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.

This honestly reminds me of the 2010 French squad, and that team horrifically underperfomed in South Africa that year, not winning a single match and only getting a draw against Uruguay. I mean, for God's sake, they lost to South Africa, the second-lowest ranked team in that World Cup (only North Korea had a worse World Ranking at the time).

[NewYorkExpress]

It's over! USA has won and advances to the round of 16. Congratulations!

That's the good news. The bad news is we might not have Christian Pulisic for that game.

[NewYorkExpress]

We will be facing the Netherlands in the Round of Sixteen.

Given how well we did against England, I think we do well against the Netherlands, maybe take this one to penalty kicks, but ultimately, the Dutch are just too strong for us.

Predicting, Netherlands 2, United States, 1 AET.

[NewYorkExpress]

Infidels played like crap and will be torn apart by the first real team they meet.

Which won't be The Netherlands. Fully expecting the U.S. to advance to the quarter finals against us. The Dutch squad isn't lacking creativity - the problem is Van Gaal refuses to give creative players (Berghuis, Lang, Simons, Frimpong) playing time and prefers mediocre players who play it safe (De Roon, Klaassen, Koopmeiners). As a result, our football is un-Dutch and completely unwatchable. Lazy, defensive, result-oriented football, only successful because of glimpses of the class De Jong and Gakpo have. By contrast, the U.S. squad seems young, eager and energetic, and the squad looks coherent. One of the biggest surprises of the World Cup to me so far.

The Netherlands game reminds me of the England game in the group stage. The U.S can put in a great performance, maybe take it to extra time or even penalties, but ultimately the Netherlands just have too much talent on the pitch for the U.S to actually win (especially if Pulisic can't go).

[NewYorkExpress]

Also, American 🤡 commentary - "only one team left from CONCACAF" - while Costa Rica can still qualify with as little as a point.

You actually think Costa Rica is going to do anything other than lose to Germany?

[NewYorkExpress]

Following an early World Cup exit, Roberto Martinez is out as Belguim Manager.

There's going to be a decent number of clubs interested in Martinez. Maybe an Atletico Madrid, which probably should let go of Diego Simeone if they want to improve on fifth in La Liga in the  New Year?

[NewYorkExpress]

Lukaku 🤡

he was injured. he has no rhythm

No excuse for some of the misses - otherwise it's the coach who has to bring on Openda who would have put those away.

Anaway the end of the Martinez era. I hope we hire a meme like Hein Vanhaezebrouck.

I've lived in the same town Hein was born in, yeah i hope he becomes our manager lol.

If they hold off until the end of the EPL season, Jurgen Klopp could be available (assuming he isn't offered the Germany job instead.).

[NewYorkExpress]

Round of Sixteen Picks:

Netherlands defeat USA 2-1 AET

Argentina defeat Australia 5-0

Croatia defeat Japan 1-0

Brazil defeat South Korea 3-1

England defeat Senegal 4-1

France defeat Poland 3-0

Spain defeat Morocco 5-0

Portugal defeat Switzerland 0-0 on Penalty Kicks.