Author: Ronit Ahuja
Editor: Paul Egbeyemi
The FIFA World Cup 2022 was hosted in Qatar, located in the middle east. Now over, there have been many exciting performances and facts brought to light.The following writing looks to overview this.
Eight countries made it to the initial knockout stage, also known as the quarterfinals: Morocco played Portugal, England played France, Croatia faced Brazil, and the Netherlands matched up againstArgentina [7].
This stage had quite a few upsets, with emotion-filled games resulting in unforeseen outcomes. Two favourite teams emerged with two unexpected underdogs. One of the surprising games was Morocco against Portugal, with Cristiano Ronaldo, who fell short by a goal to Morocco in full time [7]. Morocco was at quite a high 250 to 1 odd [6], meaning if you bet $1 on Morocco to win the cup before the tournament, you would have received $250. Only five times out of a whopping 32 had higher odds [6], displaying they were expected to have an even worse outcome than Morocco. With the quarterfinals done, Morocco was only two wins away from successfully meeting these significantly high odds.
Another interesting game involved the favourites, France, who barely came on top as victorious against England. With six minutes remaining, England's Harry Kane missed the crucial game-tying penalty, allowing France to progress the rest of the game with ease [7]. Another upset involved Croatia and Brazil, with Croatia unexpectedly tying the game with a late game goal at 117 minutes [7]. This resulted in penalty shootouts, with Croatia beating Brazil 4-2 in penalties [7]. Another game which led to penalties involved Netherlands and Argentina, where the Netherlands got two late-game goals to tie it up [7]. The favourites, Argentina, barely took the win, with a 4-3 score in penalties [7].
With an adventurous quarter-final, the semi-finals quickly began, with Argentina versing Croatia and France versing Morocco. Both these games were familiar, with the favourites winning in full-time comfortably and the losing team scoring no goals. Argentina came victorious with three goals, with Juilán Álvarez quickly scoring two goals, just 30 minutes apart [7]. France additionally caught the win with two goals [7]. Morocco and Croatia played the third-place play-off game, with Croatia scoring third place in a 2-1 victory [7].
On December 18, 2022, the nail-biting finals occurred, with two notable stars from both teams: France and Argentina, performing exceptionally well. Lionel Messi from Argentina scored two goals, one being a penalty [7]. Likewise, France's Kylian Mbappé, who had an even slightly better offensive performance, scored three goals, with two being penalties, one being in the last few minutes of overtime [7]. With a 3-3 game at the end of the clock, penalty shoutouts began, with Argentina coming up on top with a 4-2 score in penalties, winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup [7].
With that being said, let's highlight some note-worthy performances. Messi had quite an impressive performance, achieving his dream of being a champion and aiding Argentina in winning their third World Cup [1]. He had notably scored at least one game in all the knockout stages; quarter, semi, and the actual finals. Such a performance resulted in Messi raising another FIFA trophy, known as the Golden Ball award [2], given to the player who performed the best throughout the tournament [4]. Alongside this, more history was made, with Stéphanie
Frappart being the first woman to officiate matches in the FIFA World Cup [3]. Furthermore, the England versus the United States game was the most streamed men's football match on US television ever [3]. With the next World Cup happing in 2026, it will be the first World Cup hosted in three different nationals: the United States, Mexico and Canada. What nation do you think will raise the trophy this time?
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