Tag: 2022 World Cup

New Top Eleven World Cup celebration mode Penalty Clash is live now

Nordeus’ hit mobile game Top Eleven is celebrating the world cup with a new Penalty Clash mode, but it won’t last long

Nordeus is adding a new mode to its hit mobile game Top Eleven to celebrate the FIFA World Cup, the high-stakes, high-reward Penalty Clash mode, publisher Zynga announced in a press release. Penalty Clash is live now through Nov. 28, 2022, and offers players a chance to join the best of the best on a national team in the sports game, but only if they’re up to the task.

“The Penalty Clash minigame brings players to the pitch for a global tournament during the most exciting time of the year for football fans everywhere,” Marko Jevtić, Top Eleven’s game lead, said in the press release “We can’t wait to celebrate that spirit of competition with our fans in Top Eleven as they test their skills in pressure-filled penalty kick situations.”

Penalty Clash drops you on the field with a starting level keeper and shooter and features a range of difficulty settings. You can choose to represent any of the 32 global teams competing in the world cup, and you earn medals depending on how well you do in each match.

Players with the highest number of medals for their chosen countries will join a national team consisting of 1,000 players from that country and then face off against other top performers from around the world.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Analysts predict Americans will wager a record $1.8 billion on the 2022 World Cup

“This will certainly be the most bet-upon soccer event ever in the U.S.”

American adults plan to bet a total of $1.8 billion on the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, according to a survey from the American Gaming Association.

The survey estimates that 29% of American adults who plan to watch the World Cup intend to also bet on the tournament. That comes to a total of 20.5 million people, or 8% of the adult population.

“As the first World Cup with widespread availability of legal sports betting, this will certainly be the most bet-upon soccer event ever in the U.S.,” said AGA senior vice president Casey Clark. “With more than half of all American adults having access to legal betting options in their home market, legal sports betting will deepen American fan engagement in the most-watched sporting event in the world.”

According to the AGA, 72% of U.S. World Cup bettors plan to place traditional bets — either online, with a bookie or at a physical sportsbook. This outpaces other major sporting events where people have more casual options to wager, like March Madness brackets or Super Bowl squares.

Unfortunately, too much of that money is being wasted on the U.S. team, which has +10000 odds to win the tournament at BetMGM.

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U.S. Soccer finally unveiled the hideous USMNT World Cup kits and fans were not happy at all

Worst U.S. jerseys … ever?

After trying (and failing) to build suspense for World Cup jerseys that had already been leaked, Nike and U.S. Soccer confirmed Thursday that the U.S. men’s national team will indeed wear the much-maligned kits in Qatar.

In separate announcements — the first coming from Nike in the early morning hours — fans got an official look at the jerseys that had been almost universally hated by a fanbase that doesn’t typically agree on much. The home jersey features a centered crest, Nike logos on the sleeves and sleeve striping more reminiscent of American football jerseys. The away kit will be a blue and dark blue tie-dye shirt with the centered crest.

There are almost too many issues with the home jersey to list. First of all, it comes directly from a Nike template currently being used in training kits seen for European teams like PSG and Barcelona. Stunning lack of creativity aside, it just doesn’t look like a soccer jersey. And that’s because Nike admitted that they borrowed elements from basketball, American football and hockey rather than highlighting any distinct look for American soccer. Via Yahoo Sports:

Nike, which has not yet responded to detailed questions from Yahoo Sports about how the kits came to be, said in its release that the white “uniform design cues include bold stripes, an enlarged center crest akin to basketball jerseys, double Swooshes on the sleeves reminiscent of those used on American football jerseys, the unique shoulder and sleeve cut-and-sew construction and pattern of a hockey jersey, and timeless block lettering.”

Big yikes. That *enormous* block lettering really has the jersey resembling a hockey or NFL jersey, which is not ideal.

And for the away kit, Nike believed it was paying homage to American fashion and streetwear by utilizing a tie-dye design.

The whole set is a disappointment when you consider that fans waited eight years for these kits. They hated the jerseys when they leaked this past month, and fans hated the jerseys on Thursday.

U.S. Soccer teased the unveil for already-leaked USMNT World Cup kits and it did not go well

Building suspense for jerseys everyone has seen!

You almost (almost!) have to respect U.S. Soccer’s effort for trying to build suspense for the World Cup kit unveil, considering everyone has already seen the jerseys. But once you remember the lack of effort that went into designing the actual jersey, that respect dissipates.

After weeks of leaks and near-universal fan outrage, U.S. Soccer is finally prepared to confirm what fans already know is coming: The USMNT is going to have among the worst kits at the World Cup in Qatar.

The official account for the USMNT tweeted a teaser video on Tuesday, showing what was probably Christian Pulisic posing on a backlit stage and covered in shadows. It was a teaser video for the uniform unveiling, which will take place on Thursday.

Again, we’ve already seen both the home and away kits. They’ve been spotted at sporting goods stores. They’ve been tweeted out from U.S. Soccer and Nike events. They’re already for sale at soccer stores in Brazil.

While few fans are holding out hope for a misdirection, plenty of others have accepted the reality of the situation. With that in mind, the USMNT’s teaser attempt didn’t exactly go well.

The USMNT’s 2022 World Cup kits are indeed the leaked jerseys and fans were furious

Who signed off on this?!

Fans of the U.S. men’s national team have waited eight years to see the team take the field on the global stage. And when that time finally arrives this November in Qatar, the USMNT won’t exactly be looking the part at the World Cup.

Over the past few weeks, U.S. soccer fans have seen several leaked photos of the supposed World Cup kits hit social media, and the reaction was almost universally negative. The leaked design featured a centered crest, Nike logo on the sleeves. But really, the uniforms lacked in personality and identity. The design seemed rushed and lazy, which was disappointing for a U.S.-based company designing WORLD CUP jerseys for the U.S. men’s national team.

The jerseys were so bad that fans wanted to hold out hope that it was all a ruse, an act of misdirection to excite fans with the *real* kits. But unfortunately, that’s not how Nike and U.S. Soccer ever operate.

During a jersey unveiling event on Wednesday, media got an early look at the uniforms the USMNT would wear in Qatar — including similar USWNT kits for 2022. And to everyone’s disappointment, the kits were indeed what had been leaked already on social media.

To make matters worse, the unveiling happened just a couple days after rival Mexico and the rest of the Adidas-sponsored nations showed off a phenomenal collection of World Cup jerseys.

At some point, we should hear exactly why Nike and the USSF went in this design direction, especially after player feedback was negative. But there’s no avoiding it now: the USMNT is going to have some of the worst jerseys at the World Cup. Only Puma saved them from the definitive “worst” title.

As expected, fans were not pleased with the news.

Puma’s 2022 World Cup kits are somehow way worse than the USMNT’s leaked jerseys

Unthinkably bad.

As we’re approaching kickoff for the winter’s World Cup in Qatar, the participating national team jerseys are finally starting the unveiling process.

Monday, in particular, was not a great day for the Puma-sponsored national teams.

On the same day that Adidas unveiled a full collection of stylish World Cup jerseys, Puma unveiled kits that seemingly took 10 minutes to design. If you thought the U.S. men’s national team’s leaked World Cup jerseys were bad, take comfort in knowing that at least the USMNT won’t have *the worst* jerseys in Qatar.

That title will instead belong to every single nation rocking Puma kits.

Just … yikes.

Now, these are the away Puma jerseys for the World Cup, so the home sets are at least slightly less cookie-cutter templates. But man, Puma didn’t even try with these away jerseys. Every single one followed roughly the same template, and Switzerland is basically going to take the field in a “Hello, my name is” sticker.

Fans understandably crushed Puma were these away kits. You almost feel sorry that national teams even have to wear them — they’re so bad.

The USMNT’s apparent 2022 World Cup jerseys leaked on Twitter and fans absolutely hated them

What are you doing, Nike?!

When the U.S. men’s national team missed out on the World Cup in 2018, the shocking failure basically had Nike abandoning its World Cup marketing campaign in the U.S. that year. The absence of a highly produced kickoff ad — like in 2010 and 2014 — was obvious and not a coincidence.

It was supposed to be Nike’s first chance to truly market Christian Pulisic (who has since signed with Puma) on the global stage. And you have to give Nike credit: The 2018 jerseys for the U.S. were great.

The same can’t be said for 2022.

While Nike has yet to officially unveil the 2022 World Cup jerseys for the USMNT, a look at the apparent home and away kits were leaked Monday on Twitter. It’s already safe to say that this set won’t rank among the USMNT’s best looks.

The jerseys both have the crest centered, deviating from the typical design for national team jerseys and setting up an odd stacked look with the crest and player number. As fans held out hope that the leaks weren’t real, USMNT and Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie appeared to confirm that the kits were indeed legit. He, too, thought they were ugly.

Given that the U.S.-based Nike was tasked with designing the first USMNT World Cup kit in eight years, it was always going to be difficult to meet expectations. But at the same time, it’s hard to believe these kits were the best Nike could come up with — especially when you see some excellent Nike designs for Brazil and France.

You can’t blame U.S. fans for hating these jerseys.

World Cup 2022 odds, picks and predictions

Analyzing the soccer odds to win the World Cup 2022 in Qatar, with picks, predictions and best bets.

The World Cup 2022 draw was held Friday, April 1, and countries now know their respective groups. Qatar is the host nation with opening matches kicking off Nov. 21. Below, we look at the World Cup 2022 odds and make our expert World Cup picks, predictions and bets.

The World Cup will run for about a month with the title match set for Dec. 18 in Lusail. While the time of year sounds strange, it’s because this version of the Cup was shifted from its traditional June/July timeframe to avoid the summer heat in the desert.

Three teams in the 32-team Cup field are not yet known as 37 teams were drawn Friday. The final three teams will be determined in June when the European and intercontinental playoffs conclude.

Team USA was drawn into Group B with England, Iran and Wales or Scotland or Ukraine. Scotland and Ukraine will meet in June in a playoff delayed because of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The winner will then face Wales later in the month for the World Cup berth.

Let’s dive into who has the best odds on the board.

World Cup 2022 favorites – Expert pick

Odds provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Saturday, April 2 at 11:18 p.m. ET.

FRANCE +550 (bet $100 to win $550)

France isn’t the technical favorite. That title belongs to the Neymar-led Brazil (+450). England (+550) is the only other nation with odds shorter than +750.

France had a disappointing out in Euro 2020, which actually was played in 2021 due to Covid-19. However, France has an absolutely dominant squad with talent all over the pitch.

In the attack, F Kylian Mbappe and F Karim Benzema will headline the team’s best XI. Benzema ranks No. 1 in La Liga scoring, having notched 24 goals in 26 games. Mbappe is just as lethal and was dubbed the best young player in the 2018 World Cup. He’s arguably better now.

France also has length and talent in MF Paul Pogba and MF N’Golo Kanté, the latter of which is among the best defensive mids in the world. Both were dubbed top-10 midfielders in the world.

With experienced defending and goalkeeping, FRANCE (+550) is my favorite to win the World Cup. It’s definitely worth a gamble at 5.5 to 1.

World Cup 2022 picks – contender

BELGIUM +1200 (bet $100 to win $1,200)

Belgium lost to Italy in a thrilling 2-1 quarterfinal match in Euro 2020.

Belgium should be seen as a real threat here, especially when it has the best midfielder in the world in Kevin De Bruyne. F/MF Eden Hazard and G Thibaut Courtois are also difference-makers and among the best at their respective position.

Belgium finished 3rd in the 2018 World Cup, losing to France 1-0 in the semifinal and blanking England 2-0 in the 3rd-place match. Belgium is good enough and consistent enough to go far, and at +1200, it has great value to win it all.

Belgium was 6-0-2 in qualifying players with 25 goals for and 6 against. It is rolling and is worth a play here. While it ranks 2nd in FIFA’s Men World Rankings, it gets no respect with the 7th-best odds.

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World Cup 2022 picks – Long shots

USA +10000 (bet $100 to win $10,000)

Sure, there might be some bias here, but considering the ceiling for the men’s national team, at +10000, it is worth a look. The Americans are laced with talent from Chelsea F/MF Christian Pulisic to Barcelona D Sergino Dest.

The USMNT also has a relatively easy route.

Even if they finish 2nd Group B, they’ll likely get the Netherlands. The US is a proven side, having taken down No. 9 Mexico 1-0 in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final.

The talent, upside, and route are there. At +1000, there is some value here.

DENMARK +3000 (bet $100 to win $3,000)

Denmark is also worth look as the odds are just too sweet.

With a gritty defense and a competent attack, Denmark put on a show in Euro 2020, losing to England 2-1 in extra time in the semifinal. The game was in London, giving the British a slight edge.

Thirty-year-old MF Christian Eriksen, who suffered cardiac arrest in Euro 2020, is stable and back on the pitch. He’ll be a factor in the attack, currently playing for EPL’s Brentford.

Denmark, No. 11 in the FIFA rankings, went 9-1-0 in qualifying, totaling 30 goals and allowing 3. Denmark, which tied with Germany for the most points in qualifying, is an elite side and has good odds at +3000.

Odds to win Group B

(No suggested plays at this time)

ENGLAND

  • Yes -300 (bet $300 to win $100)
  • No +200 (bet $100 to win $200)

IRAN

  • Yes +2000 (bet $100 to win $2,000)
  • No -10000 (bet $10,000 to win $100)

USA

  • Yes +550 (bet $100 to win $550)
  • No -1205 (bet $1,205 to win $100)

Odds to qualify from Group B

(No suggested plays at this time)

ENGLAND

  • Yes -2000 (bet $2,000 to win $100)
  • No +1000 (bet $100 to win $1,000)

IRAN

  • Yes +400 (bet $100 to win $400)
  • No -599 (bet $599 to win $100)

USA

  • Yes +100 (bet $100 to win $100)
  • No -140 (bet $140 to win $100)

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2022 World Cup Draw: Here’s who the US Men’s National Team will face in Qatar

The USMNT’s World Cup roadmap was set Friday.

The groups for the 2022 World Cup are set. Well, mostly.

The draw for this fall’s chance to crown a world champion is missing three teams, as the full field of 32 has not yet been finalized. We do, however, mostly know who the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) will be playing in the group stage this November and December.

The Stars and Stripes were placed in Group B Friday, lining them up for games against:

  • England (FIFA world ranking: fifth)
  • Iran (21st)
  • the winner of an international playoff between Wales (18th), Scotland (39th), or Ukraine (27th)

That will determine the two sides that will eventually advance to the 16-team knockout stage in Qatar. The international playoff will take place in June. Once that’s set, we’ll know the exact lineup the USMNT will have to conquer in order to push toward the greatest prize in soccer.

Mo Salah had so many lasers pointed at his face before missing crucial Egypt penalty

Egypt is missing the World Cup now.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar is going to be without one of soccer’s biggest stars, and Egypt supporters aren’t going to be particularly pleased with how the World Cup failure went down … and for good reason.

Senegal defeated Egypt in penalties on Tuesday in the second leg of their CAF qualifiers for the World Cup. Just as Senegal defeated Egypt in February to win the AFCON final, Sadio Mane buried the decisive penalty to send Senegal to Qatar.

But it was the penalty attempt from Mane’s Liverpool teammate Mo Salah that had plenty of fans taking issue. As Salah readied himself for his attempt from the spot, we could see dozens of green lasers pointed all around his face in an effort to blind and distract him. Salah would sky the penalty over the goal, and it was easy to understand why.

Just yikes. The official saw that and let play continue.

As much as penalty attempts are muscle memory, you’d ideally like to be able to see the ball before you strike it.

According to FIFA, the responsibility to prevent laser pointers falls on the host, which could result in disciplinary measures taken against the Senegal team — potentially, having them replay the shootout behind closed doors.

Via Input:

“As stated in the FIFA Stadium Safety and Security Regulations, laser pointers are considered prohibited items by FIFA and confiscated when the spectators are checked at the outer stadium perimeter,” a FIFA spokesperson tells Input. “When incidents happen within the applicable scope of FIFA’s Disciplinary Code, disciplinary measures may be taken based on article 16, paragraph 2,” which state that teams are liable for inappropriate behavior from their fans and they may be subject to disciplinary measures should they should show any negligence in stopping the “the use of laser pointers or similar electronic devices.”

Fans clearly weren’t pleased with how that situation was handled.