The 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been on for two weeks and in that time it has held the globe’s attention and served up premium, edge-of-your-seat entertainment.
The group phase was concluded last night and, arguably more than any World Cup in recent years, produced non-stop drama, records and pieces of history.
Significantly, going by the first phase of the global showpiece, this is shaping up to be Africa’s best World Cup ever.
Here is how it has gone down so far…
UPSETS
This World Cup will go down in history as one with some of the biggest upsets ever recorded at a single tournament.
Just three days into the competition, the unimaginable happened as Saudi Arabia came from behind to defeat Argentina 2-1.
Nobody, not even the most optimistic Saudi Arabian, had given the team a chance but they pulled off one of the most unexpected results ever.
Apart from Argentina being two-time world champions who had one of the greatest footballers ever in their ranks (Lionel Messi) as opposed to Saudi Arabia’s unremarkable World Cup history, the two sides are poles apart in the FIFA rankings.
While Argentina are third in the current rankings, Saudi Arabia are one spot outside the top 50 and the majority of their squad are locally based.
The only unsurprising aspect of the upset was the man who engineered it, head coach Herve Renard. The Frenchman did something even more remarkable in 2012 when he led Zambia to their first-ever Africa Cup of Nations title, beating the star-studded Cote d’Ivoire in the final.
Saudi Arabia’s stunning feat was the trigger for a rash of other shock results as Tunisia beat defending champions France, Morocco defeated Belgium’s ‘golden generation’ and Cameroon ended Brazil’s 17-match unbeaten group phase run.
There were also massive wins for unheralded Japan against former champions Spain and Germany, as well as South Korea against Portugal.
Interestingly, while the big wins for Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Cameroon are great for the record books, they were ultimately in vain as none of these teams survived the group stage purge.
MINNOWS, SUPERSTARS MAKE HISTORY
Major tournaments are filled with historic moments and new records, but there have been more of these moments at the Qatar 2022 World Cup than at most of the previous tournaments.
For the first time in the history of football, there are female match officials at the men’s World Cup.
France’s Stephanie Frappart made history on Thursday when she became the first woman to take charge of a men’s World Cup finals game during Costa Rica’s Group E match against Germany.
The 38-year-old Frappart led the first all-female refereeing team in a men’s World Cup in the game at the Al Bayt Stadium alongside assistants Neuza Back from Brazil and Mexico’s Karen Diaz.
Before Frappart’s flawless, epoch-making performance, two of the greatest players ever, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, created their own pieces of history.
Portugal captain Ronaldo, 37, became the first man to score in five World Cups when he netted from the penalty spot against Ghana in a 2-0 win. Uwe Seeler, Pele, Miroslav Klose and Messi have netted in four global finals.
Argentina captain Messi, 32, became the first player to register an assist in five World Cups when he set up Enzo Fernandez to seal a 2-0 win over Mexico. He had previously assisted goals for Hernan Crespo in 2006, Carlos Tevez in 2010, Angel Di Maria versus Switzerland in 2014, and Gabriel Mercado and Di Maria in 2018. No other player has recorded an assist in more than three World Cups.
Cameroon also did their bit for history by becoming the first African team to beat Brazil with last night’s 1-0 win over the five-time champions.
Indeed, before the Indomitable Lions’ shock victory, Brazil had won all their seven World Cup games against African opposition with a total margin of 20 goals for and two against.
Also Qatar 2022 is the first time all five FIFA confederations are represented in knockout rounds.
The Confederation of African Football has Senegal and Morocco; CONMEBOL (South America) has Brazil and Argentina; AFC (Asia) has South Korea and Japan; OFC (Oceania) has Australia; CONCACAF (North and Central America) has the United States of America and of course UEFA will be represented by England, France, Spain, Croatia, Portugal, The Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland.
AFRICA RISING
At the last World Cup in Russia four years ago, no African team progressed beyond the group phase for the first time since 1982.
Also there were only three victories from the 15 matches played by the continent’s representatives Nigeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco and Egypt.
There has been a monumental uptick in form in Qatar. This time, there were seven wins, the most victories African teams have recorded in the group stages in World Cup history.
Morocco provided two of those victories by beating Belgium and Canada to top a tough group.
African champions Senegal also had two wins against Qatar and Ecuador to finish second in their group, while there were victories for Tunisia against France, Cameroon against Brazil and Ghana over South Korea.
Also, no African team is leaving Qatar without at least one win, which is another first for the continent.
For the second time ever, there are more than one African team in the knockout rounds, with Senegal and Morocco advancing.
The only other time this happened was in Brazil in 2014 when Nigeria and Algeria made it through to the round of 16.
POWER OF RECOVERY VS BIG FLOPS
Some of the big teams have displayed admirable abilities to overcome early setbacks in Qatar.
South American and African champions Argentina and Senegal lost their opening games but recovered to stay in contention and qualify for the knockout rounds.
In stark contrast, Germany and Belgium were kicked out of Qatar with their tails between their legs.
Germany, champions in 2014, lost their opening match to Japan and ended up crashing out at the group phase for the second consecutive time, disappointing their millions of hopeful fans back home.
Belgium’s ‘golden generation’ were supposed to use this tournament to prove they could win a major trophy after reaching the semi-finals in 2018.
Instead, they fell to Morocco and never got back on their feet as they slunk out of Qatar in utter disgrace.
There were also individual flops like Belgium’s Eden Hazard, Germany’s Thomas Muller, Ghana’s Andre Ayew, Wales’ Gareth Bale, Denmark’s Christian Eriksen and Canada’s Alphonsus Davis, who all came into the tournament with big reputations but could not lift their teams to the next level.
STAR PERFORMERS
There were a number of show stoppers in the group stages, players who stood out with their brilliance and inspired their sides to the next round.
These include Senegal’s Ismaila Sarr and Kalidou Koulibaly, England’s Marcus Rashford, Spain’s Pedri, USA’s young leader Tyler Adams and Netherlands’ Cody Gakpo.
Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, Morocco forward Hakim Ziyech, Argentina defender Nicolas Otamendi and Portugal midfielder Bruno Fernandes have also been outstanding.
FOR QATAR, SHOW MUST GO ON
There have been issues, most of them not even related to football, for Qatar to deal with, but the hosts have gone about organising a near flawless tournament with quiet efficiency.
They have provided eight state-of-the-art stadiums and excellent supporting infrastructure, converting most of their critics to believers.
Of course some of the issues raised, especially the dodgy, corruption-tainted bidding process, human rights concerns and the loss of lives of migrant stadium construction workers, are quite valid.
But the show has to go on, and Qatar 2022 has been, so far, as well organised as any World Cup that has ever been held.
Using the World Cup as a platform to shine the light on some of these concerns will hopefully lead to positive changes and not a waste of time and effort, even as Qatar continues to host an excellent World Cup until December 18.
WHAT’S COMING?
The record-breaking group phase has set up some cracking fixtures in the round of 16, and more shock results cannot be ruled out.
The first clash of the round is today between The Netherlands and a young, vibrant USA side.
While the Dutch, handled by elder statesman Luis van Gaal, are measured in their approach, the Americans are brash and play without fear. It will be an interesting contest of contrasting styles and temperaments.
Later tonight, Argentina take on an Australian side that defied the odds to survive from a group that had France, Denmark and Tunisia.
The Aussies will be underdogs against the Messi-led South American champions, but the men from Down Under rose from the depths of an opening 4-1 defeat against France to beat Tunisia and Denmark.
With Argentina having lost to Saudi Arabia already in the tournament, Australia would believe they have a shot.
Today’s games open a path to a quarter-final showdown between The Netherlands and Argentina, which would be a repeat of the 2014 semi-final the latter won, but USA and Australia might have other ideas.
Tomorrow, African champions Senegal are up against England in a battle of Lions, while world champions France face Poland.
If upsets are avoided, the ties would lead to a blockbuster quarter-final between France and England.
However, Senegal, who have been magnificent without their injured best player Sadio Mane, are no pushovers and Poland have a sturdy defence and one of the best goalkeepers in Qatar in Wojciech Szczesny.
On Monday, Japan face Croatia while South Korea battle Brazil, with the winners of the round of 16 clashes to meet in the quarter-finals.
Will it be the end of the road for the giant-killing Asians (Japan already have big Spain and Germany scalps, while Korea have beaten Portugal)? Or can they still pull off one or more upsets?
Tuesday will see Morocco versus Spain and Portugal versus Switzerland, with a quarter-final clash for the winners on the horizon.
