2022 FIFA World Cup - Qatar, November 21-December 18 (user search)
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  2022 FIFA World Cup - Qatar, November 21-December 18 (search mode)
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Author Topic: 2022 FIFA World Cup - Qatar, November 21-December 18  (Read 13735 times)
buritobr
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« on: June 14, 2022, 03:25:52 PM »

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
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buritobr
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« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2022, 06:11:32 PM »

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
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buritobr
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« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2022, 06:57:22 PM »

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.
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buritobr
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« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2022, 07:04:43 PM »

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.
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buritobr
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« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2022, 07:07:24 PM »

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
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buritobr
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« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2022, 04:15:10 PM »

Tourists in the 2022 World Cup should pay attenction to the local law in Qatar in order not to go to the prison.

https://www.marca.com/en/world-cup/2022/06/21/62b1b8e446163f7e7a8b45af.html


Extramarital sexual encounter in Qatar is illegal, no matter the sexual orientation.

One-night stands will be illegal at the Qatar World Cup
Any extramarital sexual encounter that takes place in Qatar during the 2022 World Cup could result in a seven-year jail sentence.

It is the first time that a World Cup has been held in a Gulf state, which means there are some cultural differences that many spectators may struggle to adapt to.

Qatar's Supreme Committee said in a statement that "Qatar is a conservative country and public displays of affection are frowned upon regardless of sexual orientation".

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buritobr
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« Reply #6 on: June 24, 2022, 07:34:37 PM »


I've traditionally rated Germany quite well (like as far as I've been following football myself, which is like 16-17 years now), and Brazil's quite low, but I do think this is the first time in like 20 years that Brazil CLEARLY has a better team than Germany.

Brazil for me are favourites or joint favourites to win the World Cup this year, while I don't see Germany getting past the quarter finals.

I'd say Germany were similar to Brazil in terms of quality in 2006, Germany was clearly a league above Brazil in 2010-2018 (2018's failure was due to unrest in the dressing room, not due to lack of talent), but now Brazil are clearly the better team again. For the first time since 2002 imo.

And for the record, I've predicted the last 3 World Cup winners correctly along with 2 of the 3 losing finalists (I only got 2018 wrong where I thought Germany would lose to France instead of Croatia).

The 2006 Brazilian national team looked like fantastic if you looked only to the individuals. There were players who had spetacular moments in their career, but not in that tournment. Some starts like Ronaldo, Adriano, Cafu and Roberto Carlos were old and fat. Ronaldinho Gaucho had just won the European Champions League in Barcelona in May 2006, and so he was tired and not competitive (it's hard to keep very competitive only 1 month after a great achievement). So, that German national team was better than Brazil and performed better. The defeat of Brazil against France was horrible. The Brazilian team failed to have at least one great oportunity to score a goal.
In 2010, 2014, 2018 we knew before the tournment starts that Germany was better than Brazil.

In 2022, Brazil and Argentina have very good teams. But we should also remember the Conmebol qualifying was very easy for both because except Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, South American soccer is in a horrible shape. Peru, the Conmebol 5th, was not able to score a single goal in 120 minutes on Australia, the AFC 5th.
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buritobr
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« Reply #7 on: July 09, 2022, 05:32:29 PM »

Today, it is the 16th anniversary of the last game Italy played in the knockout stage of the World Cup, when defeated France in the final.
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buritobr
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« Reply #8 on: August 11, 2022, 06:50:23 PM »


Yes, until 2002, the winner of the previous cup kicked off the World Cup.
Since 2006, the host kicks of.
It was weird that Netherland and Senegal would kick off according to the old version of the table
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buritobr
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« Reply #9 on: August 14, 2022, 07:51:11 AM »

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.
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buritobr
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« Reply #10 on: August 15, 2022, 07:00:49 PM »

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.

Some countries in which men's soccer was strong didn't care too much for women's soccer at the beggining, and other countries that are not superpowers in men's soccer, built a very professional training infra-structure for women's soccer, like USA, Sweden, Norway, Japan, China.

In 2002, I believed that one day the USA, Japan and South Korea would reach the men's soccer world elite, due to their population and income. They performed well in that world cup. But in the last 20 years, they stagnated, or even moved back.
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buritobr
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« Reply #11 on: August 17, 2022, 07:58:54 PM »

https://worldfootballindex.com/2022/01/shinji-kagawa-joins-growing-japanese-influence-in-belgian-pro-league/

So why join a mid-table Belgian team?

Quote
Perhaps surprisingly, after Belgium and France, Japan has the third-highest number of players in the Belgian top-flight with 15 players plying their trade in the Pro League.

Japanese players, famously technically talented, target Belgium as the ideal introduction to the physical, cultural and tactical demands of European football before aspiring to move to one of the continent’s top five divisions.

Sint-Truiden (often known as STVV) is the heartland of this colony and Kagawa becomes the seventh Japanese player in their squad. The club has been owned by the Japanese company Digital Media Market since 2017 and already has a track record of importing Japanese players. Arsenal’s Takehiro Tomiyasu and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Daichi Kamada were key in their excellent 2018–19 season.

Elsewhere, Genk’s winger Junya Ito is one of the best players in the Pro League and scored as they won the 2021 cup final.

Another winger, Kaoru Mitoma has been excellent for current league leaders Union Saint-Gilloise and parent club Brighton & Hove Albion will be watching closely.

Quote
A Japanese journalist based in Sint-Truiden relays news about all of the nation’s players in Belgium and Kagawa’s arrival will add another level of exposure.

STVV’s Japanese Twitter profile has more followers than its official counterpart. If he rediscovers a hint of former self, it won’t go unnoticed.

In return, Kagawa can be a vital role model to his six compatriots in the STVV squad and provide a useful bridge for the management and senior players, smoothing out communication problems.

This added support structure and responsibility may help bring out his best. If STVV build their game around him, his quality on the ball, capacity to unlock defences and experience could add an extra dimension to his new team.

So whilst a curious move, Sint-Truiden may just prove the perfect destination to reignite the career of the popular playmaker.

https://twitter.com/STVV_JP

Japan almost defeated Belgium in 2018. When Belgium scored the 3rd goal in the 90th minute, I though "oh sh**t". If the game went to the extra time, Belgium would have played more tired against Brazil.


Related to Japan: in the 1990s, when the Japanese League was richer, many Brazilian top players used to play in Japan. Nowadays, Brazilian players of intermediate level play in the Japanese League.
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buritobr
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« Reply #12 on: August 22, 2022, 04:24:18 PM »

Fun facts
The 1998 World Cup in France was the first one to have 32 national teams and the last one to have Scotland, Austria, Romania and Bulgaria. These 4 national teams used to participate often until 1998. On the other hand, 1998 was the last one in which Portugal didn't go. Porgutal seldom went to World Cups in the 20th century.
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buritobr
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« Reply #13 on: August 22, 2022, 06:51:31 PM »

It's hard to imagine a world where Austria is good at sport.

Skiing?

Fun facts
The 1998 World Cup in France was the first one to have 32 national teams and the last one to have Scotland, Austria, Romania and Bulgaria. These 4 national teams used to participate often until 1998. On the other hand, 1998 was the last one in which Portugal didn't go. Porgutal seldom went to World Cups in the 20th century.

Another fun fact: There is one team that won the World Cup twice despite winning one final only.

Uruguay

Although the Maracanazzo in 1950 is a tragedy remembered by many Brazilians even the ones who weren't born yet, it was not exactly a final. There was a final stage in which Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden, Spain played in the round-robin system. It was only a coincidence that the last game was played by Brazil and Uruguay, the 2 best performing national teams, and that's why this game was like a final, but not exactly a final.
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buritobr
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« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2022, 01:11:30 PM »

In 1974, the Federal Republic of Germany played against the German Democratic Republic in the first round, in Hamburg.

But it was not the first time germans played against germans. In the qualifier for the 1954 World Cup, in 1953, the national team of the Federal Republic of Germany played against the national team of Saarland. In that time, Saarland was not part of Germany yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6myyzqUe1NI
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buritobr
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« Reply #15 on: September 14, 2022, 07:35:59 PM »

When the World Cup had 16 national teams, there were between 10 and 12 European national teams. When the World Cup had 16 national teams, there were 13 European national teams. Now, the World Cup has 32 national teams, and 13 are European. The World Cup was expanded through the increase of number of North American, African and Asian national teams. Fair. It's the World Cup and not the European Cup.
But the qualifier became harder for European, as you mentioned, due to the split of the USSR, Yugoslavia and Checzlovachia.
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buritobr
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« Reply #16 on: September 14, 2022, 07:39:14 PM »

Austria had already qualified to quarter finals and even to semifinals in the past. The Austrians played many World Cups in the 20th century, but none in the 21st century.
Portugal played only 2 World Cups in the 20th century, and all of them of the 21st century.

Portugal and Austria have similar potential for soccer, since both are European, both have similar population. But it depends on generations. Portugal has a very good generation now: generation of players and coaches.
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buritobr
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« Reply #17 on: September 21, 2022, 07:42:10 PM »

There is a shortage of stickers in Argentina https://apnews.com/article/soccer-sports-south-america-world-cup-argentina-ddd61243d9b234257240737a162da6a3
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buritobr
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« Reply #18 on: November 13, 2022, 07:49:45 AM »

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

Almost forgotten in Brazil in the last months, due to this election
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buritobr
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« Reply #19 on: November 17, 2022, 05:48:27 PM »

European countries are better to host the World Cup because they have good soccer teams, they can be reached by bus or train by citizens of other European countries which have also good soccer teams, they have good infra-structure for tourism, they don't have the same kind of human rights violations and restrictions of alkohol and some kind of clothes, like Middle Eastern countries do, and they don't have the same problem of crime like Latin American countries do. Besides, Europe has a better time zone for the TV audience for the whole world.

I think the time when 1 in every 2 World Cups took place in Europe was better.
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buritobr
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« Reply #20 on: November 18, 2022, 03:34:54 PM »

My forecasts

Group A
Qatar 0 Ecuador 1
Senegal 0 Netherlands 3
Qatar 1 Senegal 2
Netherlands 2 Ecuador 1
Netherlands 4 Qatar 0
Ecuardor 2 Senegal 1
1. Netherlands, 2. Ecuador, 3. Senegal, 4. Qatar

Group B
England 2 Iran 0
USA 0 Wales 0
Wales 1 Iran 0
England 1 USA 1
Wales 0 England 1
Iran 1 USA 1
1. England, 2. Wales, 3. USA, 4. Iran

Group C
Argentina 4 Saudi Arabia 0
Mexico 1 Poland 1
Poland 2 Saudi Arabia 0
Argentina 2 Mexico 1
Poland 1 Argentina 1
Saudi Arabia 0 Mexico 1
1. Argentina, 2. Poland, 3. Mexico, 4. Saudi Arabia

Groupd D
Denmark 1 Tunisia 0
France 2 Australia 0
Tunisia 0 Australia 1
France 1 Denmark 1
Tunisia 0 France 3
Australia 0 Denmark 0
1. France, 2. Denmark, 3. Australia, 4. Tunisia

Group E
Germany 3 Japan 0
Spain 2 Costa Rica 0
Japan 0 Costa Rica 1
Spain 1 Germany 1
Japan 0 Spain 1
Costa Rica 0 Germany 2
1. Germany, 2. Spain, 3. Costa Rica, 4. Japan

Group F
Morocco 1 Croatia 2
Belgium 2 Canada 0
Belgium 3 Morocco 0
Croatia 2 Canada 0
Croatia 1 Belgium 1
Canada 1 Morocco 0
1. Belgium, 2. Croatia, 3. Canada, 4. Morocco

Group G
Switzerland 2 Cameroon 0
Brazil 2 Serbia 1
Cameroon 2 Serbia 1
Brazil 1 Switzerland 0
Cameroon 0 Brazil 3
Serbia 0 Switzerland 0
1. Brazil, 2. Switzerland, 3. Serbia, 4. Cameroon

Group H
Uruguay 1 South Korea 0
Portugal 2 Ghana 0
South Korea 1 Ghana 1
Portugal 1 Uruguay 1
South Korea 0 Portugal 3
Ghana 0 Uruguay 2
1. Portugal, 2. Uruguay, 3. South Korea, 4. Ghana

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buritobr
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« Reply #21 on: November 18, 2022, 09:12:59 PM »

Brazil is a very free country to buy alkoholic drinks in most places, but the sell of alkoholic drinks inside sport venues in Brazil is forbidden. The prohibition was set in order to reduce hooligan activities.

But 2 years before the 2014 World Cup, the Congress approved the "General World Cup Law", in order to create an exception for the 2014 World Cup, after FIFA's request. So, the sell of Budweiser inside venues was allowed during the 2014 World Cup.
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buritobr
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« Reply #22 on: November 19, 2022, 03:34:32 PM »

I will be watching the World Cup to see how far US men go in soccer.

American men in general don't care for soccer, looking at the way American sports personalities like Mike Francesa, Craig Carton, etc. have been making fun of the sport.

Look at how US women's soccer gets made fun of.

American men like football, baseball, basketball, hockey, NASCAR.

Shows how exceptional America is, because we ARE different than the world.

Like how baseball is the Dominican Republic's sport, hockey is Canada's sport, soccer is the rest of the world's sport.

When you have rightwingers like Alexi Lalas pushing for his fellow rightwingers to get into the sport, shows how far US men's soccer has to go..


You have very political competitors in your group

One of them is a geopolitical enemy of yours, member of the "Axis of Evil"
The other is a former imperialist superpower which colonized you
And the other is... a neighbor of this former imperialist superpower which according to UN and not FIFA belongs to the same nation state

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buritobr
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« Reply #23 on: November 20, 2022, 07:04:51 AM »

No offense to either of the two nations, and it may turn out to be a great match, but has there ever been, on the surface, a less compelling opener than Qatar vs Ecuador? Of course this partly because the World Cup is usually held in a country with a strong football pedigree and history.

South Africa vs Mexico in 2010 was close

In 1994, the host was USA, a country which doesn't have a strong men's football pedigree. But at that time, the opener match wasn't of the host, but of the winner of the previous edition. So, the opener match in 1994 was Germany vs Bolivia.
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buritobr
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« Reply #24 on: November 20, 2022, 01:02:30 PM »

Ecuador made a blietzkrieg in the early 20 minutes and then slowed down. Enough to win easily and don't spend to much energy.
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