I've been trying to write about some different things here on my blog just to see what I can maybe focus on in the future and see how it feels to touch on different subjects I like. This time I'm covering sports for the first time, specifically Soccer and the upcoming World Cup in Qatar. The World Cup would not be starting at this time in normal circumstances, but it's a bit different this time around. Qatar is way too hot for players to be safely playing 90-minute games without serious risks to their health and to the fans who are going to attend as well. So instead it's going to start in late November, which is just days away. So I figured now that every team is officially getting ready for the World Cup, I would take a look at each team's chances of winning their groups and possibly winning the entire tournament.
So this is a pretty controversial World Cup to begin with, mainly because of where it takes place, but not just that. FIFA itself is known by most fans of soccer for its shady business deals and for pretty much being openly corrupt. So most weren't surprised when the deal was made for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup after Russia in 2018, which was pretty controversial too four years ago. Since the time of its announcement, thousands of workers have died working on the new stadiums and facilities for the upcoming World Cup because of poor working conditions. Things like having to stay in tiny "houses" cramped full of people to not being paid for a lot of their hours and overtime. On top of that, the country of Qatar is also far behind in human rights where it punishes homosexuality and free speech and turns a blind eye to things like domestic violence against women. Many players and coaches from other countries have stood against the decision to have the World Cup in Qatar. Even with it being so clearly corrupt and wrong, everything still looks set for this World Cup to go through. I forgot to mention that Qatar isn't even really known as a big soccer-playing country. This all seems like a big scheme for people to see Qatar as a destination to travel to and to try to hide all the problems within the country itself with a big sports event that will have tons of beautiful shots of the country during the broadcasts. Similar to what happened at the last World Cup in Russia. Then there's also the huge mess that was left behind after the empty World Cup stadiums in Brazil 8 years ago. All this to say that it's understandable to still watch the World Cup knowing this because it's the biggest sporting event known to man. Just that there's a desperate need for change in the way FIFA handles business and who it does business with. We shouldn't have to watch the World Cup thinking about how corrupt it is and the many lives it wrongfully took to make it happen. And that isn't even all of the problems with this year's World Cup, just the ones I felt the need to cover here.
That was a lot, I know. I knew I had to bring up the matter of Qatar being the host because it is important to know just how big of a problem it is that this country is hosting. But now for some more fun, I'd like to take a quick look at all the teams that qualified by going through their groups. There are 8 groups of 4 teams in the World Cup, with only the best two of each group moving on to the next round.
GROUP A
Qatar - Well I've spoken about the host country itself, but how is the team? Well, the team is... okay. I'd put them as one of the least favorites to win the World Cup and I don't think they'll even make it past the group stage. In fact, I see them most likely finishing dead last because of the competition they have to face in the first three matches. The country has been developing its players in a state-of-the-art facility with old pros showing the young players how it's done. Still, this country is decades away from being a true contender for this kind of international tournament, but it's definitely on the rise. I'd much rather talk about the other three teams though.
Ecuador - A team with a lot of momentum at the moment, seemed to come out of nowhere this time around. It's been a while since they have been to a world cup, but this time around they weren't messing about. They finished their continent's (CONMEBOL) qualifiers in third place ahead of countries like Uruguay, Peru, and even Colombia. Despite them having a strong showing in qualifiers, I don't see them making it out of the group stage and finishing third. Not so much a knock on this team, but the two other teams in this group are quite good. But I must admit I'm not fully convinced this team won't make it, because they do have talent.
Senegal - A team that just recently won the African Cup of Nations and beat a pretty strong Egypt team in order to qualify for the world cup. I'd say out of all the African teams, Senegal should go the farthest in this competition. A solid team with one of the most prolific strikers in the world right now in Sadio Mané. Their road to the World Cup was a bit controversial with a very strange win over Egypt to qualify. They've been very disappointing the last few months with lots of losses and draws, not looking very strong. But then again, Ecuador hasn't been looking too good either so there's that?
Netherlands - The clear favorite of Group A should top the group easily in my opinion. A team stacked with world-class players and a good manager needs to show all other teams right away that they are here to win. Now even though I think they will top the group, I still wouldn't consider them a favorite to win this whole tournament. I think they can potentially make it far, like top 4 at the most. If everything comes together for this team, maybe they can go even further than that. They've never won the competition, but have made it to a final recently where they lost to Spain in a close match. They have put on some good matches recently so I think if they bring their recent success into the competition they can really stand toe-to-toe with any team.
GROUP B
England - Going into this competition, I really thought England was going to be one of the favorites to win the whole thing. The past few months have made me think much less of them. They have been a mess right now, losing to Hungary twice and drawing the rest of their games to look pretty mediocre. They have a lot to figure out, but thankfully for them, the other teams in their group haven't been much better. We'll get to those other teams, but England really struggles at keeping the other teams from scoring and just lack cohesion. If they play anything like they have recently, they won't make it past the first knockout game. That being said, they should still be winning this group. They got plenty of great goal-scorers (Harry Kane is one of the best in the world), but they need to find a good defensive pair in the back to stop other teams from scoring on them so consistently.
IR Iran - Iran feels like a bit of a wild card in this group. They dominated their qualifiers in Asia only losing one of ten games. The competition wasn't exactly top-level, but it's still impressive for them to do that. They topped their group, which included South Korea. I feel like this team will cause problems for one of the big teams in this group (England or USA) because they can be feisty and if the other teams underestimate them it will bite them in the butt. All that to say this team will most likely not make it out of the group stage. At the moment Ukraine and others around Europe and the world are trying to get Iran removed from the World Cup for how they treat women. Mainly the fact that women have not been allowed to attend sporting events in the country for decades.
USA - Much like England I have no clue just how far this team can really make it this year. With one of the youngest teams coming into the World Cup, there's a lot of energy and hope building around the future of the US men's team. The team has had moments of glory recently winning the Gold Cup and Nation's League. Then they struggled to stay consistent in the qualifiers for this competition. The team struggles hard when they aren't playing at home, especially when they have to play in Central America against teams like Costa Rica and Panama. I still have lots of hope for this team to really make an impact this year and make it out of the group stage, possibly even finishing ahead of England? It's all about building momentum for the next World Cup in 4 years, which will take place here in North America. I really don't see them winning it this year barring some miracle run. In their last two matches before the world cup, they were dominated by Japan and struggled to create anything against Saudi Arabia. This team looked lost and totally not ready for the tournament in November. The fact that most of the teams in this group look like that is the only hope I have right now.
Wales - It's been a long time since Wales made it to the World Cup. Not since the 1950s has this team been to the grandest stage of soccer. This time around it felt like the perfect time as it will be the last time legendary player Gareth Bale will be playing for his home country. A little bittersweet to see them qualify as they had to knock out Ukraine to get here and we know they could've had a very inspiring run in this year's World Cup. I question just how far Gareth Bale can really take this team though. Not to take away from the great players around him, but he is going to be carrying this team on his back unless someone truly steps up. He's not the player he used to be, but still has enough left to have some big moments. I still don't think it will be enough to stop the USA and England from moving forward, but I'm not counting them out completely. (They did not win a single Nation's League match this summer, so that hurts)
GROUP C
Argentina - The first big powerhouse team in this year's WC (I'm going to shorten World Cup to WC from now on). Many people, including myself, see Argentina as a favorite to win this whole thing. It's hard not to see why with how dominant they have been recently. Winning Copa America and not losing a single game during the qualifiers is a big deal. Having a strong team of veterans and younger rising stars is great. Then there's the fact that this is the last world cup Messi will be playing in to really motivate the team to get him that trophy as a perfect send-off. Mind you Messi isn't the only legend playing his last WC this year, as a certain rival is also in that same boat. But, Argentina should easily dominate this group and move on to the knock-outs where they will face their first true test. A meeting with France or Denmark could be in the cards there and that will be a tough match either way.
Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia had a surprisingly strong showing in the qualifiers. They got through with relative ease in a group with Japan and Australia, two of the stronger teams in Asia. With Argentina most likely winning this group, there is an opening for a team like this to make it through but I just don't think this team has everything you need to move on. I still see them finishing last in the group.
Mexico - A team that always plays with heart in the WC, but is always knocked out by one of the big favorites. I'm hoping to see more from this team as they are fully capable of making it out of this group in second place. I think Poland will be a threat though, a team with one of the best goal-scorers in the world. Mexico also struggled a lot through the qualifiers but found quality at just the right time to finish strong. This team can be incredibly feisty and incredibly disappointing at times. In their last game before the WC they put up a great game against Colombia, only to completely fall apart and lose the game in the second half. I still believe that this team is going to show a lot of fire and do enough to get through this group stage.
Poland - Another team whose best player is most likely playing in his last WC. Lewandowski is the kind of player who can take a pretty good team into some big wins. That being said, one amazing player can't win the whole tournament. I think Mexico will have just enough to beat this team out in the group, but it's going to be a good matchup. Poland can hang with most teams but has struggled against the heavyweights like Netherlands and Belgium recently. So it's almost a coinflip for me trying to decide between Mexico and Poland to join Argentina in the knockout rounds. I'll stick with Mexico.
GROUP D
France - The last few WC tournaments have not been kind to defending champions. This year France goes in with hopes of repeating its success four years ago. Spain, Germany, and Italy learned the hard way that you have to be completely focused from the start or you'll find yourself out of the competition early. This group seems like an easy win for France and Denmark, but for France, you want to show your dominance early. The past few months have shown that France can struggle against quality opponents as they failed to win five out of six matches. I can't see the same thing that happened to Spain, Italy, and Germany (not making it past the group stage) in the last three World Cups happen here... but anything is possible? France has so many world-class players that they had to leave out some pretty amazing players from this year's WC. Hopefully, they made the right player choices because repeating won't be easy. With a front three of Mbappe, Giroud, and Benzema you can't really go wrong though.
Australia - A team that struggled through the qualifiers and just narrowly found a way to qualify through play-offs. Stuck in a group here that has two heavy hitters in France and Denmark. The most I can see this team doing right now is maybe putting up a fight against France and stealing a draw. Besides that, I think this team has the potential to at least finish third. They just narrowly beat Peru to take the final playoff spot in the World Cup from the Asia region. The only two games they've played since June was against New Zealand, in which they won both. I'll be rooting for this underdog, but I'm not exactly hopeful they can make it out of a tough group.
Denmark - You want to see a team that plays with heart, you look at Denmark. I feel like this team always plays with a chip on their shoulder wanting to prove they can stand toe to toe with giants. I'm not so sure they aren't giants themselves at this point. I really think this team can make it far in this competition as they've proven that they can beat pretty much any team recently. I wouldn't put them as favorites, but I think they are the team that should be feared. They've already proven they can beat France, as they've done that twice during the summer. If you're looking for a good underdog team to root for that actually has a good chance to win this, here they are.
Tunisia - Not much to say about this team. They found themselves against Mali to qualify for the WC, but barely beat them to get in. Kinda bummed not to see a team like Egypt or Ivory Coast here as I think they would have a better chance in this group. Still, they earned a spot and have a chance to prove that they belong amongst the stars here. They recently got destroyed by Brazil but did manage to get a dominant victory over Japan.
GROUP E
Spain - It's weird to call a powerhouse like Spain an underdog, but I think that's what they are at this moment. Lots of their stars and veterans left and now new players are bringing up this team. I think the future is very bright for Spain and they are favored to get out of this group. I can see them getting pretty far in the competition, but I don't think they will win it all. By the time the next WC comes around though this could be a team ready to win another trophy.
Costa Rica - A team that struggled through qualifiers early, but fixed a lot of issues for the later games in order to bring themselves back to the WC. They even humbled the USA in the final game to finish off strong. There's one factor in this team that keeps them in games, and that's their world-class goalkeeper Keylor Navas. He keeps busy in the goal since Costa Rica doesn't usually hold on to the ball for very long. They focus on counterattacks and speed to get the goals. Sadly this is probably the worst group they could have gotten and it's going to be tough to beat out two European giants and a very capable Japanese team.
Germany - After a huge disappointment 4 years ago, Germany is back to prove that their previous run was just a one-time thing. Right now Germany has a very strong team of veterans and rising stars that could really take this team back to another final. They still have some things to fix defensively, but their goal-scorers all look in form and ready to take Germany far in this competition. I believe this team is one of the favorites to win, but first they need to make it out of this tough group. They've been pretty uneven lately, getting lots of draws against other European giants. They have the talent to win this world cup, but there's definitely something lacking in this team to make them a finals contender. Plenty of time to figure it out in the last few months, but they're going to need to start strong to show everyone that the Germany of old is back again.
Japan - Just like Costa Rica this team struggled early on in the qualifiers but bounced back in the second half of the schedule to secure a place in the WC. Four years ago this team really showed that they can cause any team trouble if underestimated. This time around, I just can't see them making it past Germany and Spain. Unless both of those teams manage to underperform again, it's likely Japan won't be able to make it out of the group. They recently beat the USA in a dominant fashion. They even put up a good fight against Brazil, still losing by a single goal. If they bring that energy to this WC, then I don't see why they can't make something happen in this group.
GROUP F
Belgium - A team that can never seem to truly live up to their potential. A lot of their world-class players are not going to be playing on this team for much longer, so the window for success is closing in on them. This group isn't going to be easy for them to get through either. With three other teams that have been playing very well recently, it's not guaranteed for them to move on to the next round. I am going to make a bold but probably wrong prediction and say that Belgium doesn't make it past the group stage this year.
Canada - Nobody could have predicted that Canada would completely dominate the CONCACAF qualifiers and finish in from of both the USA and Mexico. Not only that but they managed to beat both teams very convincingly when they faced off in the cold at home. Now heading to the opposite type of games in the desert, can they repeat that success? I think they really can! I believe this team is capable of upsetting some of the teams in this group. This is a really tough group overall though and if I had to make a prediction I think Canada will do just enough to make it through, just narrowly beating out Belgium for the second-place spot.
Morocco - The only team in the African qualifiers to win every game and qualify for the WC. To be fair though, they did face a lot of smaller countries that they were heavily favored to beat. But you can only beat the opponents in front of you and they did just that. One big news story for them is that Ziyech, one of their stronger players, is coming back to join the team for the WC. This could be a nice boost for them, it never hurts to bring in a great player. The problem is they are in a very tough group with two strong European teams and a solid Canadian team. I can't see them making it out of this group, but it's not completely out of reach for them. A lot of people would favor them ahead of Canada, but I still believe that the Canadien team will really push hard in these games.
Croatia - Croatia is a team with a lot of older players who are just past their peak, but still fully capable of playing some great football. One of the best mid-fielders around Modric is still able to play smart football and create some good chances at goal. Alongside him are plenty of veterans who know the game very well. They came close to winning their first WC four years ago and this time they are looking for one last shot at glory for a lot of their squad. Recently they've beaten teams like France and Denmark proving they can still hang with some of the European greats. I see them winning this group and making it at least past the first knockout game, but not making the final again.
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