By Mohamad Abadi | Staff Writer
2022 Qatar World Cup Draw
The year every football fan has been waiting for is finally here. Every four years, the whole footballing world is united to watch the world cup, and this year it is even more special because it is the first time in history that the world cup is held in winter instead of summer. Qatar will become the first Arab country to host a world cup after successfully winning their bid in 2010; however, it is not without controversy. It is known that FIFA accepted a bribe to award Qatar the world cup. With the world cup scheduled to kick off on November 21, 2022, let’s take a look at the groups and potential storylines.
– Group A:
– This group contains the hosts, Qatar, the African Champions in Senegal, the Netherlands, and Ecuador. Qatar will be on a mission to prove to the world that they deserve to compete in the world cup. As for Netherlands, they will be keen to win their first ever world cup, while Senegal and Ecuador want to prove that they can compete with a European nation.
– Group B:
– The most controversial group as it contains Iran, USA, England, and either Wales/Ukraine/Scotland. Putting politics aside, it will be interesting to see how the USA will fare against England and Iran as they have not been tested by any big nation yet. The fourth nation in this group will be known after Ukraine plays Scotland in June with the winner facing a Wales team led by an ambitious Gareth Bale.
– Group C:
– All eyes will be on the South American champions and especially Lionel Messi as this could potentially be his last chance to win a world cup and if he does reach the final he will join Lothar Matthaus for joint most appearances with 26. Alongside Argentina, this group has Saudi Arabia, Poland, and Mexico. Robert Lewandowski will be aiming to show the world that he does deserve to win a Ballon D’or.
– Group D:
– France are hoping they can break the winner’s curse where the previous world cup winner crashes out in the group stages as we saw it happen to Italy, Spain, and Germany in the three previous editions. Denmark and Tunisia are the dark horses of this group with their match up being the potential decider for whoever goes through. The fourth team will be the winner from Peru and UAE/Australia.
– Group E:
– This group contains a classic fixture with Spain and Germany battling for first place. The rest of the group is composed of Japan and the winner from the game between New Zealand and Costa Rica.
– Group F:
– A very balanced group that has Belgium, who are looking to redeem themselves after underachieving in their last three major tournaments, and Croatia, the finalists from the previous world cup. Also, for the first time since 1986 Canada have qualified with their young ambitious squad. Morocco completes this group as they set sights on causing an upset and qualifying from this group.
– Group G:
– A group very similar to the 2018 one as Brazil, Serbia, and Switzerland face each again, with the only difference being Cameroon instead of Costa Rica. Brazil are heavy favourites so it will be interesting to see how they perform against nations from outside South America.
– Group H:
– The last group sees a rematch between Uruguay and Ghana after their famous matchup in the quarter finals in 2010 with Ghana seeking revenge on Luis Suarez. This group is the group of death with Portugal and South Korea joining Ghana and Uruguay in the race for the precious qualification spots. Currently, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in four different world cups and he shares this record with Pele, Uwe Seeler, and Mirsolav Klose. If he scores, he will become the first player to score in five different world cups.