Board 8 > Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022

(+) Yeah! (+)

Poll options are just the top ranked teams by FIFA rankings that are in (Italy would be there instead of Denmark had they made it in). Germany feels like the biggest snub, also would be the next.

With leagues now being on break and almost all squads released, I'm starting to be hyped, even with all the downsides of it being held in Qatar. Interest is usually big enough around here to warrant a topic so here we go. Only 6 days left!

Good call. Looking forward to it.

I hope Wales can make a semi-decent run.

I personally think the two South American teams in the poll look best. Most top European teams have looked pretty vulnerable recently even if the names overall look stronger on paper. I'm also pretty sure Argentina just needs to not lose a match in the group stage to beat the all time record for longest unbeaten run by a national team ever.

As for my own country, Denmark's chances of making it out of the group are great. It's a bit sad out group is almost identical to last time. We beat France twice this year in Nations Legaue, which isn't the same but still shows that we can compete with them, which I hope, since finishing second most likely means running into Argentina, which is a tough round of 16 match. A dream run like in the Euros is unlikely, but I do believe we have some dark horse chance of making it far.

I just hope Argentina don't win it as i'm sick of all this 'Messi deserves it' crap. Just because you're a good player doesn't mean you should be given a trophy.

Anyway i honestly have no idea. The biggest potential 'upset' in the group stage is probably Denmark winning their group which could potentially setup an England quarter final. Could also see the runner up of group E (Spain/Germany) going on a run to the final. Other than that the runner up of group G (Switzerland/Serbia) have a good shot at making the quarters.

The Argentina team is fascinating to me because Messi aside it's not really a bunch of high profile names, like they're obviously good, but it's a team that just really functions together compared to something like England or France that have plenty high profile players playing for the very best teams.

Most European teams have a decent chance of making a good run I think, but it's a bit more fun to have more continents left late on than just the one (and sometimes two) it usually is.

Think Spain is the biggest wildcard, certainly been a lot of interesting choices in that squad selection. Could see them both flopping out of the group stage and getting to top 4, neither would surprise me much.

Who was insane enough to vote Belgium?

Would have put Germany in the poll and merged the dutch and Belgium together honestly (maybe give the USA its own option to see how many americans ignorantly select them).

This is the schedule for the group games btw for those who want a reminder on who's in and when a certain team will play (all times are in UTC+3). Have listed the day of the week for every team's opening games too.

GROUP A
Sunday 20 November 2022
19:00
Qatar Match 1 Ecuador

Monday 21 November 2022
19:00
Senegal Match 2 Netherlands

25 November 2022
16:00
Qatar Match 18 Senegal

25 November 2022
19:00
Netherlands Match 19 Ecuador

29 November 2022
18:00
Ecuador Match 35 Senegal

29 November 2022
18:00
Netherlands Match 36 Qatar

GROUP B
Monday 21 November 2022
16:00
England Match 3 Iran

Monday 21 November 2022
22:00
United States Match 4 Wales

25 November 2022
13:00
Wales Match 17 Iran

25 November 2022
22:00
England Match 20 United States

29 November 2022
22:00
Wales Match 33 England

29 November 2022
22:00
Iran Match 34 United States

GROUP C
Tuesday 22 November 2022
13:00
Argentina Match 8 Saudi Arabia

Tuesday 22 November 2022
19:00
Mexico Match 7 Poland

26 November 2022
16:00
Poland Match 22 Saudi Arabia

26 November 2022
22:00
Argentina Match 24 Mexico

30 November 2022
22:00
Poland Match 39 Argentina

30 November 2022
22:00
Saudi Arabia Match 40 Mexico

GROUP D
Tuesday 22 November 2022
16:00
Denmark Match 6 Tunisia

Tuesday 22 November 2022
22:00
France Match 5 Australia

26 November 2022
13:00
Tunisia Match 21 Australia

26 November 2022
19:00
France Match 23 Denmark

30 November 2022
18:00
Australia Match 37 Denmark

30 November 2022
18:00
Tunisia Match 38 France

GROUP E
Wednesday 23 November 2022
16:00
Germany Match 11 Japan

Wednesday 23 November 2022
19:00
Spain Match 10 Costa Rica

27 November 2022
13:00
Japan Match 25 Costa Rica

27 November 2022
22:00
Spain Match 28 Germany

1 December 2022
22:00
Japan Match 43 Spain

1 December 2022
22:00
Costa Rica Match 44 Germany

GROUP F
Wednesday 23 November 2022
13:00
Morocco Match 12 Croatia

Wednesday 23 November 2022
22:00
Belgium Match 9 Canada

27 November 2022
16:00
Belgium Match 26 Morocco

27 November 2022
19:00
Croatia Match 27 Canada

1 December 2022
18:00
Croatia Match 41 Belgium

1 December 2022
18:00
Canada Match 42 Morocco

GROUP G
Thursday 24 November 2022
13:00
Switzerland Match 13 Cameroon

Thursday 24 November 2022
22:00
Brazil Match 16 Serbia

28 November 2022
13:00
Cameroon Match 29 Serbia

28 November 2022
19:00
Brazil Match 31 Switzerland

2 December 2022
22:00
Serbia Match 47 Switzerland

2 December 2022
22:00
Cameroon Match 48 Brazil

GROUP H
Thursday 24 November 2022
16:00
Uruguay Match 14 South Korea

Thursday 24 November 2022
19:00
Portugal Match 15 Ghana

28 November 2022
16:00
South Korea Match 30 Ghana

28 November 2022
22:00
Portugal Match 32 Uruguay

2 December 2022
18:00
Ghana Match 45 Uruguay

2 December 2022
18:00
South Korea Match 46 Portugal

KNOCKOUT STAGE
Round of 16 Matches - 3-6 December
Quarter-finals - 9 and 10 December
Semi-finals - 13 and 14 December
Third place play-off - 17 December
Final - 18 December

paulg235 posted...

Would have put Germany in the poll and merged the dutch and Belgium together honestly (maybe give the USA its own option to see how many americans ignorantly select them).

I considered replacing Denmark with them and all sorts of other things but ended up just wanted to use something that wasn't based on my idea of favorites.

Where can I watch these games

In the US the games are on Fox and FS1.

Ive fallen off soccer a bit in the last few years but I guess Im excited for the World Cup?

US will probably finish last in their group. Look for Iran to over perform at what is as close as theyll get to a home World Cup.

No idea who will win it all but Id favor the Euro teams because it always seems the winner is located on the same continent the competition takes place.

Seanchan posted...

No idea who will win it all but Id favor the Euro teams because it always seems the winner is located on the same continent the competition takes place.

?

The real winners are the fifa officials who were paid off along the way

XIII_Rocks posted...

?

As in South American teams winning South American World Cups and European teams winning European World Cups.

I dont know maybe that doesnt still hold true?

Seanchan posted...

As in South American teams winning South American World Cups and European teams winning European World Cups.

I dont know maybe that doesnt still hold true?

Where do you think Qatar is?

The Middle East I understand thats not Europe! Geez

My thinking is that with time zone effects Id favor European sides, all things being equal. I dont think thats really controversial?

I mean, it's Asia, dude

Last (and only other) Asian WC was Japan and Korea, won by Brazil. 2014 was hosted by Brazil and won by Germany.

I think a European team will win it because it's simply more likely (there's more top European teams than there are SA ones) but I don't think host is necessarily the reason.

The thinking behind it usually revolves around South American teams doing better in the heat and humidity that places like Qatar bring. That being said if both Argentina and Brazil win their groups they can't meet until the semi final. The other side of the bracket would then heavily favour a European team making the final.

Most of at least Brazil and Argentina's squads play in Europe anyways.

shane15 posted...

The thinking behind it usually revolves around South American teams doing better in the heat and humidity that places like Qatar bring. That being said if both Argentina and Brazil win their groups they can't meet until the semi final. The other side of the bracket would then heavily favour a European team making the final.

No final has ever featured a team not based in Europe or SA though so

I know i was just leaving the option open as you never really know wtf is gonna happen at a major tournament. It never goes to script. I've got a funny feeling Holland will go on a run this tournament and knock Argentina out. They always seem to turn up every few tournaments and do something.

Japan going all the way baby

Here's my hot predictions for this World Cup (and some more lukewarm ones).

First off, Japan are gonna finish dead last in their group (sorry MZero).

Portugal and France will also be out in the group. South Korea and Australia are both surprise qualifications. Qatar don't lose every game, and it ends up overall a good world cup for the Asian teams.

Wales qualify from their group despite only beating Iran. Either the US or England bottles it in the last game. Football social media is an active cognitohazard during each game of group B, but the games themselves are all so boring that nobody remembers a thing about them.

One of Denmark or Belgium will make the final, if they top their groups.

Poland to fail to win against Saudi Arabia somehow and bomb out before the second game. This one is not even up for debate, it is factually inevitable.

Switzerland will make the quarters, and everyone will talk about how good they seemed before forgetting about it a few months later.

Brazil thrashes a European team in the quarters, before in turn getting thrashed by Argentina in the semis. Or they lose to Belgium again, depending on the draw.

Argentina to win the whole thing. I feel like Messi is finally gonna plot armour his way to it. Everyone talks about how one side of the draw is so much stronger than the other, and the team (probably Argentina) from the stronger side win a really dull final after scoring early.

I created my own chart in Excel, this is a screen shot of it:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/4/7/AAE6mcAAD4f3.jpg

Interesting, it seems GameFAQs scales an image down to a maximum of 1024. The actual screen shot is 1257 x 587.

How lucky does Canada need to be to make it out of its group?

Canada would at very minimum need a draw against either Belgium or Croatia, along with a win against Morocco.

Very

Belgium and Croatia are pretty good

TeamRocketElite posted... How lucky does Canada need to be to make it out of its group?

The best chance they have of advancing is;
1) They beat at least one team
2) They also manage at least a draw or victory from one of the the other two teams
3) Not lose by too many goals against the third team
4) Hope 2 of the teams fail to either get 4 points or the team that matches 4 points has a worse Goal Difference

They could also technically advance by just 3 points if they're REALLY lucky if other results go their way (or obviously if they manage to get 5 or more points), but the above is their most reasonable route to th knockouts outside of winning 2/3 matches. Morocco is definitely the most beatable out of their opponents. Belgium and Croatia need to perform notably poorly (and probably need a key injury or two to their respective teams to hurt their chances) to not advance so finishing third would still be a good result for Canada.

Honestly, I'd be happy if Canada scores a goal.

Still thrilled that they made it to the World Cup and I hope this upward trend for the team continues.

Canada is hosting alongside USA and Mexico in 2026, so this world cup is more of a test run for the real thing. If they can get a win here, then they could use that as a platform to try and get out of their group in 4 years.

Sheep007 posted...

Portugal and France will also be out in the group. South Korea and Australia are both surprise qualifications.

I'm probably gonna watch a lot of it with a pal who is half Danish half Australian, so seeing Denmark topping the group and thus avoiding Argentina with Australia advancing would be very welcome.

Denmark defo have the best chance outside of the favourites to make the final. They have the potential to win the group which would set up a route of Poland/Mexico>England/Senegal. Then in the semi final anything can happen.

Ah yes, the run Croatia robbed us off last time by cheating in panalties... But yeah, getting to that side of the bracket is crucial. France already folded pretty heavily in nations league.

I consider Mexico pretty heavy favorites over Poland to make it out of group C.

Knockout round potential rematch games:

Argentina v France - last 16 (a repeat of 2018)
Portugal v Serbia - last 16 (Serbia beat Portugal on their home soil to seal the automatic WC spot)
Brazil v Germany - quarter final (7-1 need i say more)
England v Denmark - quarter final (Euro 2020 semi final)

Mexico will win the whole thing

firefdr posted...

Mexico will win the whole thing

A team that has its majority of players from a trash league like Liga Mx won't win anything.

For group matches, every group D match not involving Tunesia is a rematch from last time with France and Denmark already meeting twice this year as well.

Brazil and Switzerland shared a group last WC, both advanced.

Uruguay knocked out Portugal last WC, but obviously their match against Ghana feels like the bigger rematch after the 2010 QF.

Switzerland v Serbia is also gonna be a tense game that I'd call a rematch. Lots of Albanian-descent players in Switzerland and last World Cup there was a pretty nasty atmosphere after the celebrations.

XIII_Rocks posted...

Very

Belgium and Croatia are pretty good

They can beat Morocco and draw against Croatia IMO

Just need to not get thrashed by Belgium in the opening game

Sheep007 posted...

Switzerland v Serbia is also gonna be a tense game that I'd call a rematch. Lots of Albanian-descent players in Switzerland and last World Cup there was a pretty nasty atmosphere after the celebrations.

Oh yeah I missed that one

pezzicle posted...

They can beat Morocco and draw against Croatia IMO

Just need to not get thrashed by Belgium in the opening game

Honestly, I think Morocco are a fair bit better than Canada on paper. They've had to get a new coach right before the tournament and with Harit out probably look a fair bit worse, but I think I'd still back Morocco especially if Davies is out. Don't really think either stand much chance against Belgium or Croatia, but I'd love to be wrong.

Eesh
Hot topic alert.

Sheep007 posted...

Honestly, I think Morocco are a fair bit better than Canada on paper. They've had to get a new coach right before the tournament and with Harit out probably look a fair bit worse, but I think I'd still back Morocco especially if Davies is out. Don't really think either stand much chance against Belgium or Croatia, but I'd love to be wrong.

Davies will be playing last I heard.

I think they are pretty even to Morocco and I don't think Croatia is as good as people think they are.

BEL will win the group for sure but I honestly think that the second team out of that group could be anyone

Either way, as a Canadian, them being in the world cup is an amazing achievement

I just hope everyone has fun. But it'd be neat if USA could get out of the group stage.

XIII_Rocks posted...

Eesh
Hot topic alert.

And here I wasn't sure if I made the topic too early

Sunday can't come soon enough. It's fun trying to guess how it will all play out but it's more hype when the games are underway and you see how everyone is playing.

I came in to vote Germany.

I decided to slightly reformat my Group Stage Chart:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/2/0/AAE6mcAAD4kI.jpg

Crescent-Moon posted...

I came in to vote Germany.

I assume "Other" is a combination of Germany and maybe people voting their own country. Germany feels like the only actual poll snub.

Canada will be my 2nd team for this tournament. Want to see them do well

I wouldn't be surprised if Canada or Morocco made it out of that group. Belgium and Croatia are at the end of golden generations. Younger people might not realise that Belgium before 2014 were a pretty bang average country for football.