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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

About average

Their draw isn't too bad, USA has a relative easy group (doesn't mean they're guaranteed to qualify, but it isn't the worst group).

And for the second round they'll encounter a team from the first group which is still a do-able draw (since the hardest team on paper would be Netherlands, otherwise possibly Senegal, maybe Ecuador or Qatar if they surprise). If they win both, they are in the quarter finals, from that point a lot can happen.

Mexico depends, the draw is average, beat Poland and you are likely second. If they win group stage, they would be favoured to get in QF if France wins their group too. Otherwise they might encounter each other, but it is a do-able draw that maybe will require some luck.

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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).

I agree with Brazil, England, France being the favourites while also agreeing Spain, Argentina (and than Germany) in that order. But yes England has not been mentioned enough compared to others.

US might do well, just don't think they would win the cup, but they have a good draw to get quite far and as i've said a lot can happen if luck is on your side, and if of course the team plays well.

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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.

In some countries, women doing sports isn't all that promoted, which i think definitely plays a role in for example eastern Europe, Latin America and even the Romance-speaking countries are behind on the Germanic speaking countries.

The Netherlands is a country where in its education sports play a large and essential role. That's why they have often been in the top 10 countries when it comes to medals in the olympic games, both winter games (ice skating) and summer games.

Our women's football team is almost solely 95% dutch-speaking players, that indicates that something isn't normal. Together with Spain, Italy and France all being much weaker than England, Germany, Netherlands and Scandinavian countries. Even Iceland is quite good despite their population of only 300.000 people.

Women rights or promotion of women playing sports just isn't great overall. In the US it obviously is good, but the US simply has also the population benefit with having as many people as Europe together. While in Europe every boy plays football, that isn't the case for females who are often looked down onto because it is being seen as a sport for boys.

In the US not every boy plays football, because it isn't the sport most Americans exercise, since more typical american sports are NHL, american football, NBA and so on. Football is relatively new in the USA with perhaps only 5 to 10% following it? That's why it's so different to start with, because of there being relatively few boys playing it, it will be seen less as a masculin sport, and I think females simply are promoted more to do sports? There is also less professionalism when it comes to women's football in Europe. Maybe it is definitely getting better lately, but it isn't on the same level yet (and i don't mean the player theirselves, but the entourage).

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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.

For Belgium, the world cup of 1986 is being glorified where we ended fourth, everyone keeps talking about 1986. Apparently the match against the USSR is legendary, as well as the match against Argentina we lost with Diego Maradona as the star for Argentina.

They also continuously we say we were robbed against Brazil in 2002.

In 2018 the matches against both Japan and Brazil are becoming legendary, as well as the match against the USA in 2014 which is one of the most fun matches i've ever seen with an outstanding US goalkeeper Tim Howard.

If you type Tim Howard on YouTube you get immediately suggestions Tim Howard vs Belgium

Apparently that's even a record on a world cup, the amount of saves he made that match.

this is against the USSR when they were one of the favourites and played impressive in the group stage. 2 years later they would reach the euro finals, to be beaten by another low countries team, the Netherlands.

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In the US not every boy plays football, because it isn't the sport most Americans exercise, since more typical american sports are NHL, american football, NBA and so on. Football is relatively new in the USA with perhaps only 5 to 10% following it?

lol, no, soccer is probably the most widely-played sport in the US. The number of American kids who play American football or ice hockey is pretty miniscule. There is a reason the term "soccer mom" exists. The difference is that soccer has not, until perhaps recently, been seen as a viable sports career, so getting a college scholarship and then moving on to "civilian life" after their college career is the norm.

Women's sports tend to be dominated by high-income countries, and the US in particular subsidizes high-level women's sports heavily.

Well the first thing i didn't know, but what I do know is that ratings or views for soccer are quite low. They've been rising, but it's nowhere near the popularity like in Europe.

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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.

Japanese players use Belgian football competition as a step up to other competitions in Europe. Our competition is well regarded in Japan because of the playstyle fitting the Japanese players very often, it an easy country to adapt to, Japanese players having a good reputation among our clubs theirselves as well, some Belgian clubs having Japanese ownership

I think after Belgian players and French players, our competition has the most Japanese players out of all other nationalities, even more Japanese football players than Dutch players.

I think we also have a good reputation in Canada since some Canadian players have been using Belgium as an introduction to European football as well.

From what I know the Belgian competition is being followed by some Japanese football fans due to the amount of Japanese players here (this is also the case for some Canadians, i've met Canadians online who follow our competition).



for last season

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

So why join a mid-table Belgian team?

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.

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

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

So why join a mid-table Belgian team?

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.

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.

It's true..

You know while being glad we won, i was also disappointed Japan didn't win. I really hope they can have a good tournament once (QF) because I feel they deserve it. I really like the nation. Unfortunately, just like us, they have a very rough draw. Basically almost impossible (for us it is possible, but i don't see it as likely we will win against Spain or Germany).

Winning against Brazil was fun, could've gone both ways definitely. Just Neymar - as he did the entire tournament - was behaving obnoxious, and actually he was behaving so obnoxious that he actually didn't even play great. He probably was the worst player on the field that day. Otherwise, i like Brazil or any other South American team, just prefer the underdogs even more, simply because they're underdogs while Brazil already won the world cup five times (!). I really want a new nation to win it, but it won't be this year i think (Netherlands, Portugal & we, Belgium probably have the best odds).

Losing against France was sad, because the match was very boring and it didn't feel like France was playing great either, maybe defending great, but it was a boring match to watch.

Losing against Italy on Euros 2020 (last year maybe) was okay. It's never fun to lose, but I really was glad with the performance of Doku that night, and Italy played so well against us, completely outclassing us in any way you can imagine. It was a great game to watch, and it made the loss actually a very honourable one. Italy deserved to win that championship. Very impressive play and squad. And i was glad to see Doku play that well, who is my favourite player (and Italy was basically his breakthrough match). Unfortunately he is injured quite often, we probably won't see him play on the world cup because of injuries. Very unfortunate, because he has a lot of talent.

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I definitely like our group, as I see it as one of the more open ones, not the most open, that is the last group but one of the more open ones. I do think Belgium and Croatia are favoured, but both have their weaknesses and Belgium was one of the objectively better teams to draw in pot 1 (except for Qatar & maybe Denmark, but it is easy to underestimate Denmark. And Portugal would be about the same level as us. Other teams are simply all qualitatively better teams, but on a good day we can definitely win from one of those).

But I do think we have our weaknesses, and both Morocco and Canada were tough draws, but we had easy group draws in 2014 and 2018, and they'll be interesting. I also like Morocco because of a lot of Moroccan-Belgians living here, so that match will be closely followed here. And Canada because of having a lot of Canadian friends over the internet, as well as for example having Canadian users here like King T'Chenka. It would be a game that i will be thrilled for.

I hope Canada can qualify, and i think they have a shot to be the surprise of the tournament, but their draw is though because the winner and second will have to play likely Germany or Spain (unless Japan can surprise). Regardless of that, Canada will build some experience for 2026 where they will be co-hosts with Mexico and the USA. And they can definitely win from us, they're the underdog but they can win. We have our weaknesses, especially in the defense and due to our way of playing also the flanks, and Jonathan David can abuse that with his speed. If Canada plays offensively on the sides, or is able to counter, than they can surprise. And Croatia is starting to get an older team, and is not on the level as four years ago. I think everyone can win from everyone, but everyone can also lose from everyone. It's just Belgium and Croatia will be favoured. Would say 75% of us qualifying, 70% of Croatia qualifying, 30% of Morocco qualifying and 25% of Canada qualifying i would say. Maybe that should be more like 80% for us and Croatia, but Canada & Morocco still would have 20% chance. I think it is possible but it would be hard and still quite an achievement.

I'm awaiting the laki vs king t'chenka (and other canadian users game) or the tack50 vs me or President Johnson vs me games (if we can qualify). I don't know of any Moroccan or Croatian atlas users.

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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.

Part of it is because there are now more European nations than before the nineties. Yugoslavia for example was split up, and the USSR fell apart, which enabled countries like Ukraine or the Baltic countries to participate as well. Czechia and Slovakia also split.

Another reason is increased immigration in western Europe and football especially being popular in those communities as well.

Romania had their golden generation in the 1990s, since than they haven't been great.

Bulgaria is kind of a weak nation in terms of football now.

Scotland is a victim of football being more popular in more European countries, as well as more nations existing today. They've never advanced to a second round on any world cup.

Austria really isn't a nation with a big football tradition either in modern football.

Norway also has been a while ago they were able to qualify, specifically in 1998. But they have Haaland now and a much better generation now (Odegaard too) and will probably qualify next time. Norway today is basically Belgium in 2010/2012 (the end of a weak generation and the promising start of a new one, although much of Norways playstyle will center around Haaland). Back than we also had tough groups because of our weak position on the world ranking but were able to dominate our 2014 qualifying group.

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Like we even lost to Armenia, couldn't win from Luxembourg, were destroyed by Japan, lost twice to Bosnia. It was so embarrassing.

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I've said earlier this thread that our golden generation is over, but there is actually happening more in young & new players making a breaktrough, the problem is that a lot of them have little experience, but i'm more optimistic again about future generations. Although we will never "dominate" the world rankings anymore.

This summer window was quite good.



And on the field some young players did quite well.

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Eusebio, one of the all-time best football players was Portuguese, yet, they only qualified once and became third in '66 which was the year of England.

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https://twitter.com/We_Global/status/1572980240997023751



Lol, russia.





And lol england and france. How is Hungary even winning a group with Italy, Germany & England?

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In his penultimate game for his country, Ádám Szalai ended an eight-game international scoring drought to help Hungary earn just a second win over Germany since 1985. Marco Rossi’s men lead UEFA Nations League (UNL) Group A3 by two points ahead of a winner-take-all clash with Italy in their next outing.

A top of the table clash in Leipzig would prove decisive, with Hungary sensing the importance of the occasion. Germany’s threat was minimal from the outset, with Antonio Rüdiger’s long passing into the forwards their only attacking avenue, and that was proving ineffective. The Magyars took full advantage and took a deserved lead through a piece of brilliance from their captain. Dominik Szoboszlai’s corner to the near post was delightfully flicked on by Szalai, nestling inside the far post.

Die Mannschaft were made to wait until the 39th minute for their maiden shot on target, as Thomas Müller’s header was comfortably denied by Péter Gulácsi. A desperately needed HT tactical tweak from Hansi Flick brought the hosts back into the contest, with Leroy Sané finding space on the inside left, forcing the Hungary shot-stopper into his most strenuous piece of work of the night to deny him.

Joshua Kimmich, who has directly contributed to a goal in three of his previous four internationals, was proving threatening, firing into the side-netting from range before a well-struck volley was crucially blocked. Hungary have the best defence in the group, conceding just three from their opening four games, and that stubborn rearguard was displaying why as they held the Germans at bay in the closing stages.

The Magyars are just 90 minutes away from potential history, with a draw against Italy securing their place in the UNL semi-finals, which would be the first time they’ve reached the last four of an international competition in 50 years. Meanwhile, Germany are now out of contention, as they lost for the first time in 14 matches.

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https://twitter.com/We_Global/status/1573414974869086213

All group B teams lost except for Iran in this window.

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Draw for euro qualifiers

Have to play against tender branson lol.

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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.

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Wow, Switzerland A and Switzerland B in the same group. Going to be a party!

Because of Kosovo? I know Switzerland has a lot of Kosovarian players, like Shaqiri. Kosovo had a good draw, they might actually be able to qualify (since 2 teams directly qualify), and Israël and Romania are doable to defeat. Even ending third still gives you a shot to qualify (but there are also Nation League qualifying spots).

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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.

I don't have a bad opinion on them, i love these teams and i liked the draw but a Belgium on a decent, good level, should be able to defeat them. But yes, we can still lose, it can happen. But that applies for every group basically.