Ever since Cristiano Ronaldo made his World Cup debut in 2006 as a 21-year-old star from Manchester United, he had been the undisputed face of the Portugal national team. They’d go as far as Ronaldo could take them.
Well, fast forward to 2022, and that’s not necessarily the case for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
With Portugal seeking a trip to the quarterfinal, head coach Fernando Santos made the hugely consequential decision to name a Starting XI for the Round of 16 match against Switzerland without Ronaldo a part of it.
While Santos’ call to move Ronaldo to the bench will be surprising to plenty of fans, it was a justifiable decision.
๐ฐ ๐นโ๐ผ๐ธ๐๐โ๐พ โ๐ผ๐๐: Este รฉ o nosso 11 Inicial para hoje! ๐ฅ๐ต๐น #VesteABandeira
Japan shocked Spain — and Germany — with a 2-1 victory on Thursday to win Group E at the 2022 World Cup.
Yes, Germany is out early in the World Cup once more despite winning their match against Costa Rica 4-2. The Germans needed to winย andย Japan needed to lose in order for the team to advance to the knockout round. Unfortunately for Germany, Japan came to play on Thursday and bested Spain, who also made it into the knockout round as the runner up of Group E.
The goal that ultimately sent Japan to the knockout round was not without controversy, however. In the 51st minute, Ao Tanaka knocked in a pass from Kaoru Mitoma for the 2-1 score. The goal was looked at by VAR and was given a pass, but on first glance it really looks like Mitoma’s pass to Tanaka goes out of bounds before the score.
If so, then what gives? Clearly the ball was out of bounds, right? Not according to geometry, actually!
Let me explain.
Thanks to a geometric phenomenon called the parallax view, the broadcast camera angle is tricking you into believing the ball was out of bounds. Checking the overhead view, however, reveals that it was close, but the ball was actually in bounds!
Basically, viewing a ball crossing a line — or a puck crossing the red line in hockey, where this often comes up — from a side angle like that can be deceiving. Looking at an overhead view, however, gives an unbiased perspective at what’s really going on here.
Here’s a fun stat for you: The United States men’s national team has reached the knockout stage at the World Cup more times than Germany since 2014, and the USMNT didn’t even qualify for the tournament in 2018.
That’s the sad state that the German national team finds itself in right now.
For the second straight World Cup, the 2014 champions are out of the World Cup in the group stage. This time, the disappointment came despite Germany’s 4-2 win over Costa Rica in what ended up being a wild final day in Group E.
Germany went into the match needing a win and Spain victory over Japan (or a Germany win by two-plus goals and a Japan tie). What it got instead was a stunning Japan win over Spain that rendered the result against Costa Rica moot.
There was a brief moment where Costa Rica and Japan both had leads, meaning that Germany and Spain would’ve been eliminated. But Germany responded to take the lead and save Spain’s World Cup hopes in the process.
The second straight early elimination at the World Cup will undoubtedly be seen as a massive failure in Germany, which has struggled to develop its next wave of world-class talent since that 2014 championship.
And as you can expect, fans weren’t exactly kind to Germany about this latest embarrassment on the world stage. Many also enjoyed those couple minutes that had Spain and Germany on the brink.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup just had its first shocking exit in the group stage, and it came down to a match that will haunt Romelu Lukaku for a long time.
Belgium — needing a win against Croatia to move on to the knockout round — saw its World Cup end on Thursday in a scoreless draw. But really, it should have been a match that Belgium won with no issue.
Lukaku, who has had a tumultuous couple years with Chelsea and now Inter Milan, was brought on in the second half to do what he’s done best for Belgium his entire international career: score goals. And to Lukaku’s credit, he got himself in excellent positions to do just that.
Just for whatever reason, he simply could not get the ball in the net. His first golden opportunity came 15 minutes into the second half where his open look at goal hit off the post.
For the past eight years, Belgium had enjoyed an unprecedented golden generation of talent, and Lukaku was a huge part of that group. But Thursday’s match — in what could be Lukaku’s final World Cup appearance — will be impossible to get over for the Belgian striker.
While Brazil will be without PSG star Neymar for at least the rest of the group stage, there was a Neymar present for Monday’s Group G matchup with Switzerland at Stadium 974.
It just wasn’t THE Neymar.
We’ve seen quite a few sports doppelgรคngers in the stands over the years. Whether it be Fake Klay or Fake Andy Reid, the impersonations are usually easy to distinguish from the actual subjects.
The same can’t be said for the Fake Neymar over in Qatar. The guy — who had an uncanny resemblance to Neymar along with what appeared to be the same tattoos — had an entire section of the stadium fooled. This was the scene as Fake Neymar was spotted in the stands — security detail and all.
Those Brazil fans really thought the real Neymar was taking in the match with them. But the Nike shoes were a pretty blatant giveaway as Neymar is a Puma athlete.
If he doesn’t get a goal soon, Lewandowski may never live this down.
Whenever he decides to hang his cleats up, Poland’s Robert Lewandowski will be remembered as one of the greatest goal-scorers in the history of soccer. But for as much success as he’s enjoyed on a domestic level with his various clubs, the legendary Polish No. 9ย has yet to come through for his country on the biggest international stage.
Lewandowski has not scored a goal for Poland in four career World Cup games. It’s admittedly a small sample size — not to mention the relatively poor quality of the rest of the Polish squad — but it is nonetheless an eyebrow-raising mark for someone as prolific as the striker.
Against Mexico in the opening Group C game of the 2022 World Cup, Lewandowski had a chance to get on the board and give the Poles a potential 1-0 win on a penalty shot. It … did not go well against Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.
What makes Lewandowski’s miss more notable (and shocking) is how superb he’s been on penalty kicks throughout his illustrious career. On a club level, he’s made 40 of 45 attempts. On an international level with Poland, he had a perfect 10-of-10 resume. Until Tuesday, that is.
In what might be the 34-year-old’s final World Cup appearance with Poland, this miss against Mexico had to sting a bit more — especially with Argentina’s massive upset defeat at the hands of Saudi Arabia earlier in the day. With Poland’s group seemingly wide open, Lewandowski had a chance to potentially give Poland a nice cushion through the rest of group play. Now Poland likely needs a result against a team that just beat Lionel Messi’s squad and, well, Messi’s team himself. Not an ideal spot.
And if Lewandowski doesn’t score in the next two games (while Poland also doesn’t advance) — he may conclude his World Cup career without a goal on the biggest stage. Once again, not ideal!
I’m not sure that Poland finds a way to get to the Round of 16, but I would be shocked if Lewandowski went quietly for his home nation. Bet on this all-time superstar striker finding a way to get a shot or two in the back of the net to at least make the potential end of his World Cup career a good one.
The U.S. men’s national team is back in the World Cup after an eight-year wait. But even as the USMNT takes the field on Nov. 21 against Wales, the shadow of 2018’s failure — and the pressure to move on from it — will be evident.
So, let’s revisit what happened.
The USMNT did not qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia after a stunning — and embarrassing — road 2-1 loss to lowly Trinidad & Tobago on Oct. 10, 2017 in the final day of CONCACAF’s World Cup qualifying. It was the first time that the USMNT had missed the World Cup since 1986. And while the qualifying road in CONCACAF is more difficult than pundits like to admit, the region certainly lacks the elite-level talent that you’ll see in UEFA and CONMEBOL.
The USMNT had no excuse to miss out on Russia, really.
Still, the signs of trouble were prevalent throughout that qualifying cycle.
The U.S. Soccer Federation opted to retain then-head coach Jurgen Klinsmann after the USMNT’s surprise advancement out of the “Group of Death” in 2014. The team was one missed sitter away from upsetting an ultra-talented Belgium squad and a trip to the quarterfinals. But as impressive as the 2014 showing was for the USMNT, you rarely see national teams keep coaches around for multiple World Cup cycles — especially when you’re looking at a tactically limited coach like Klinsmann.
Klinsmann’s tenure with the USMNT finally fell apart at the final round of CONCACAF qualifying — known at the time as The Hex. The U.S. formula for qualification had generally been “win at home, draw on the road.” And sure, that lacked ambition, but when you fail to even meet those minimum standards, trouble starts building quickly. So, when the U.S. lost its Hex opener at home to Mexico and followed that up with a 4-0 road loss to Costa Rica, the USSF fired Klinsmann in hopes of salvaging the suddenly uncertain World Cup qualification hopes.
Stepping in as head coach was Bruce Arena, the longtime former USMNT coach who led the program to a quarterfinal appearance in 2002. Arena, though, was just a retread who favored homegrown MLS players over dual nationals and the young talent making waves in Europe. Outside of a teenaged Christian Pulisic, Arena’s squad selections closely resembled the group we saw in 2014. This was essentially a wasted cycle as younger players didn’t get an opportunity to acclimate with the U.S. program in high-leverage competition.
Arena went into the job with the short-sighted goal of qualify above everything else, and he’d leave developing the next generation to the next coach. But to take that approach, you have to be certain that you’re going to qualify. And that’s where Arena failed spectacularly.
Even with the new coach and new philosophy, the USMNT enjoyed just marginal improvement in qualifying before the final FIFA window. It won two games (home games against Honduras and Trinidad & Tobago), lost a costly home match to Costa Rica and drew three more (needing a late goal to secure a tie at Honduras). Despite all that, the USMNT went into the final two matches in a great position to at least make the intercontinental play-off that the fourth-place team moves into.
That window started off well too. Qualification looked all-but-certain after the USMNT took care of business at home against Panama. An early goal from Pulisic ignited the team into a 4-0 route.
The USMNT — now in third place — went into the final matchday just needing a draw against last-place Trinidad & Tobago, and Arena stuck with the exact same lineup as the Panama game despite the travel and short turnaround. Even with a loss, the U.S. could have qualified if either Panama or Honduras didn’t win their final matches. Basically, the only way the USMNT could miss out on the World Cup would be a loss to Trinidad and wins by both Panama AND Honduras.
That’s exactly what happened.
Terrible goalkeeping from a slow-to-react Tim Howard put the USMNT in a two-goal hole that Pulisic was able to cut into with a second-half goal. But it wasn’t enough as the U.S. lost, 2-1. The qualification failure was confirmed when the surprising results elsewhere in CONCACAF sent the U.S. packing for the first time in decades.
There’s no simple answer as to how the USMNT missed out in 2018. The failure was brewing for years, but it came crashing down on a single night in Couva.
The world’s most prolific goal scorer won’t be in Qatar.
While the circumstances around the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar are beyond problematic, it will still be the game’s biggest tournament on the global stage. And with that, you’d hope to see soccer’s best players competing.
That won’t necessarily be the case this winter — at least when it comes to Erling Haaland.
The Manchester City star has taken the Premier League by storm since his summer transfer from Borussia Dortmund as he’s on pace to shatter PL single-season goal records and challenge Lionel Messi’s all-competition mark of 73 goals in 2011-12. He’s a world-class player in every sense, but he will not be at Qatar.
The answer is simple.
Haaland hails from Norway, which failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup after a 2-0 defeat to the Netherlands in November.
Under the current qualifying system, it’s been a difficult path for Norway in UEFA. It last qualified for the World Cup in 1998, but the tournament is set to expand in 2026 and open up the possibility of Haaland’s World Cup debut.
Of course, Haaland was probably also eligible to play for England at one point (he was born in Leeds), but he spent his entire international career in the Norwegian system and never seriously considered suiting up for the Three Lions.
While the knockout stage of the World Cup is a straightforward setup (single elimination, extra time and penalties), the group stage can get awfully complicated when it comes to determining the teams that’ll move on. And often times, the three round-robin matches don’t give us a clear top two for each group.
That’s where tiebreakers come into play.
In the group stage, each team plays a match against their fellow groupmates with three points in the standings for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. That means the slightest statistical difference can be what sends a team to the knockout round and the other home disappointed. And trust me, the tiebreakers become weirder the deeper the process gets.
If you were holding out hope for Fox Sports to take a measured approach to a World Cup in Qatar, that optimism was quickly dashed during the coverage of Sunday’s World Cup opener.
From the moment Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup in 2010 — a successful bid that ended up being bought and paid for — it was clear that we were going to be looking at the most corrupt World Cup from an organization that’s no stranger to corruption. After all, a nation the size of Connecticut with no soccer history was faced with hosting soccer’s flagship event. And the 12-year build-up put Qatar’s terrible record on human rights on display for the world to see.
That created a difficult balancing act for every sponsor and rights holder associated with the World Cup. On one hand, they’re paying millions (or billions) of dollars to show the games, and people are still going to tune in. But at the same time, there was a way to contextualize the World Cup with a host nation that has covered up thousands of migrant worker deaths, persecutes the LGBTQ+ community and has discriminatory laws towards women. England rights holder BBC, for example, took that measured approach.
— lozzles ๐ฆ SAW ENGLAND MAKE HISTORY ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ (@binweevillie) November 20, 2022
Fox, on the other hand, opted to straight up sportswash with coverage that often sounded like an infomercial for Qatar.
"It's 64 Super Bowls in 29 days… This is a once in a lifetime opportunity where people will come and celebrate football." @JennyTaft speaks with Secretary General of the Supreme Committee Hassan Al-Thawadi before the opening match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup pic.twitter.com/LHrtqcTGJQ
Now, if Fox’s coverage sounded like it was paid for by the Qatari government, that’s because it was. According to the Washington Post, Fox Sports was initially planning to keep some of its announcers back in the U.S. for remote broadcasts until Qatar paid for their flights on Qatar Airways.
And the result has been predictable with Fox going out of its way to paint the picture of a welcoming nation hosting a historic World Cup. The shamelessness can only be topped by the state-sponsored Qatar Airways logo being included on Fox Sports’ scorebug.
Letโs recap day one of Foxโs World Cup coverage: – Presenting sponsorship by Qatar Airways – Puff piece before the opening game – No references to any geopolitical and human rights issues – And then you compare it to what Telemundo, the BBC and even beIN Sports are doingโฆ pic.twitter.com/zgqK4Jjp7p
