World Cup 2022 Group Stage Concludes
We had now seen Germany, Belgium, Denmark and Mexico bow out at the World Cup 2022 Group stage, while Argentina and even Spain had flirted with disaster. Had the lack of preparation time been a cause? Had players who were fighting for league points at big clubs a week before the World Cup kicked off been simply unable to switch their mindset to the demands of the international game?
Had the conditions in Qatar proved too difficult for some? Or, perhaps more fascinating, were we finally seeing a changing of the guard in world football? Were the nations from Africa and Asia – as well as the USA and Australia – finally ready to break through the glass ceiling and start to compete as equals in the latter stages of the World Cup?
Now that would be something worth seeing.
Australia 1 Denmark 0 (Group D)
Sadly for them, it was all in vain as Australia produced a mammoth performance to beat Denmark and book their place in the last 16 instead. Although the Danes dominated possession, they could find no way through the Aussies who fought for every ball, chased down every tackle and simply would not give way.
The longer the game went on, the more haggard the Danes looked, enduring a nightmarish World Cup to rank with that of Wales. They had plenty of the ball and got forward regularly but were never really able to work Ryan in the Australian goal.
Within moments of Tunisian taking the lead over France and going second in the group, Australia had overtaken them. A brilliantly sprung counter-attack left Leckie bearing down on the Danish goal and after twisting and turning past two defenders, he speared his shot across Schmeichel and just inside the far post. From there, Denmark tried to find a way back into the game, and the two goals the needed, but there was never any conviction to their play and it was no surprise to see them beaten. It’s been a grim, surprisingly bloodless tournament for them.
Australia Face Argentina
For Australia though, it’s a first knockout stage in 16 years and a step towards wrestling the mantle of best ever Australian side from the Socceroos of 2006, which would be some achievement in Australian betting circles. It’s their misfortune that lying in wait on Saturday are the improving Argentines. For those of you who like your omens, when Australia reached the last 16 in 2006, they came up against Italy, losing 1-0. That Italian side went on to lift the trophy. Will Messi’s Argentina do the same? I might not bet on it just yet, but the odds are certainly shortening.
France 0 Tunisia 1 (Group D)
It doesn’t matter how good you are, no side can simply change pretty much all its players and hope to pick up from where the other lot left off. That was the lesson that France reminded us of during the early games today as they fell victim to Tunisia, losing the game 1-0. It appeared briefly as if they had snatched a draw at the death, but Griezmann’s goal was chalked off for offside by VAR and Tunisia were able to enjoy the feeling of beating the reigning world champions – and who knows, they might be the only ones to enjoy that particular emotion at this World Cup.
From the French viewpoint, it didn’t really matter having already qualified for the next round, as the group winners. Even so, no team likes to lose a game, as the French underlined when they brought on the cavalry midway through the second half after falling behind.
France Dig Deep
Giving minutes on the pitch to squad players may prove a masterstroke for the French. That is if they go deeper and deeper into the tournament. Also, it’s also a useful reminder that victory should never be taken for granted. I doubt they will do that against Poland on Sunday. That’s a game they should have little trouble in coming through.
For Tunisia, it was a memorable win from a game where only three points would do. Ghandri had a goal disallowed in the first half for a hairline offside call, but Khazi did give the lead just before the hour point, wriggling past a couple of challenges before squeezing the ball just inside the post. From there they hung on and hung on and it would have been a hard heart that begrudged them that win when Griezmann’s goal was dramatically ruled out. They’d earned it.
Saudi Arabia 1 Mexico 2 (Group C)
That meant yet more uncertainty within the Polish ranks because at that point, a Saudi Arabian win would knock them out, Salvation came not from a Lewandowski goal but from a Martin one instead, as Mexico took the lead over the Saudis within a minute. Now Poland had a two goal difference cushion over Mexico.
That was halved five minutes later when Chavez made it 2-0 to Mexico. When Alvarez made it 2-0 to Argentina in the 67th minute, now it was time to dig out the competition regulations. Locked together on points, goal difference and goals scored, the only way of separating Mexico and Poland was on disciplinary points, the Poles keeping their noses in front.
Poland 0 Argentina 2 (Group C)
Argentina’s win over Mexico transformed everything, setting them up to qualify by beating Poland. Poland, on the other hand, topping the group as we went into the final games, seemed to have no ambition beyond a 0-0 draw, keeping 10 men behind the ball at all times, leaving Lewandowski to operate in the sort of isolation he won’t have experienced since the last Covid lockdown.
By the interval, it was so far, so good, for although Poland had offered nothing to the game, thanks to Szczesny’s brilliant save from Messi’s penalty, the score was 0-0. A couple of half-time changes suggested a more proactive approach, but that was pretty much down the drain within a minute of the restart as Mac Allister swept Argentina into the lead.
Croatia 0 Belgium 0 (Group F)
Earlier in the day, there were further upsets, of a sort, as a desperately out of sorts Belgium bowed out of the competition with barely a whimper. They pad the price for taking their ‘golden generation’ en masse to one tournament too many.
Unable to raise a gallop, or seemingly any enthusiasm, when it mattered, they completed a colourless competition with a desperately drab 0-0 draw with a Croatian side who didn’t offer much more. There’s little to suggest they can get anywhere near the final this time after their heroics of 2018, though their mood might be buoyed by the thought of Japan in the next round. Similarly, Japan will already be planning on allowing Croatia to pass themselves to death before taking advantage of their exhaustion.
Canada 1 Morocco 2 (Group F)
Morocco topped the group, deservedly so, after defeating Canada 2-1 in their final game. Defensively they are very sound and that will give Spain, their next opponents, pause for thought. Morocco know exactly how they want to play the game, they don’t deviate from it and they have a side that believes in their plan implicitly, giving every last ounce of energy to it. In a normal World Cup, you would see their competition coming to a close against Spain, but this is not a normal World Cup.
Japan 2 Spain 1 (Group E)
“Well it was just 17, you know what I mean?” No, not The Beatles, but the percentage of possession it took Japan to defeat Spain and so knock Germany out of the World Cup. Somewhere, Tony Pulis and Sam Allardyce are both uncorking a very nice bottle in satisfaction that their methods have proved fruitful at the highest level.
Football, so said the mighty Pele, is the beautiful game. But there are days when it is also the bizarre one. Spain, so hugely impressive in their opening games, completely dominated Japan.
They played something like 830 more passes during the game, and ended up beaten by a side that knew its limitations, played wholly within them, never tried to get above themselves, arguably enjoyed one huge slice of luck from a refereeing decision in their second goal, and ultimately finished top of a group that contained two of the giants of world football, winners of two of the last three World Cups.
The simple facts are that on a night when Germany had to win, they did, and found it still wasn’t enough. On a night when all they had to do was draw to top the group, Spain couldn’t. They lost to Japan, and finished second. For a brief moment, as Costa Rica led Germany, Spain were also out. Costa Rica, the only team to beat group winners Japan, finished bottom. How can you not love a game like that?
Mathematically, in the end, it was resolved by Spain beating Costa Rica more convincingly than Germany did, which many would had imagined might have been the way we’d have separated first and second in this group, not second from third.
Costa Rica 2 Germany 4 (Group E)
Germany will now slink home, the players back to their clubs, German football stuck in three more weeks of hiatus until the Bundesliga restarts, with only the rest of the World Cup to watch. That, and the inquest into what went wrong yet again. Two straight group exits at the World Cup, with a dismal Euros in between, requires plenty of soul searching and coach Hansi Flick will surely be a victim of that.
But where do they turn next? Do they go for the big name boss, a Thomas Tuchel? Or do they promote from within? Qualifying for the next Euros is quickly on the horizon and Germany, that most rigorous of nations, are in urgent need of a new plan.
Japan are, understandably on cloud nine, having mustered two amazing wins by sticking to their, admittedly not always attractive, guns. Spain will be moderately satisfied to have advanced but will have questions to answer about how deep they can go into the tournament having so flagrantly wasted so much possession against Japan and having failed to defeat Germany when they were there for the taking.
South Korea 2 Portugal 1 (Group H)
South Korea set the tone in the day’s early games, coming from behind against a much changed Portugal. Even then, the European side had started well and for much of the first half in particular, looked the major threat in the game. Ricardo Horta gave them an early lead, and it wasn’t until Ronaldo produced a brilliant assist – at the wrong end of the pitch – that South Korea got back into the game.
All through the second half, with Uruguay having a solid lead over Ghana, South Korea were on the way out. But fittingly for this group stage, in the final seconds, Son produced a superb break and inch perfect pass for Hwang Hee-Chan to finish beautifully and send them through to the next round.
It was a bitter blow for Uruguay who had done their part of the deal by beating a disappointing Ghana 2-0, inspired by Suarez who had been the guiding force behind both de Arrascaeta goals. They looked set to progress until that final blow from the South Koreans, ending a few Uruguayan careers in the process.
Ghana 0 Uruguay 2 (Group H)
Magnificent footballer that Suarez has long been, to see him knocked out of the World Cup while playing against Ghana, who he had cheated out of the World Cup in 2010, was poetic justice of a kind. As he was in tears at the end of the game, it would have been a heart of stone that wasn’t moved to gales of laughter at his plight.
Cameroon 1 Brazil 0 (Group G)
Brazil made almost a team full of changes and paid the price by losing in the final minute to Cameroon, not that it mattered much, for they still topped the group as Cameroon went out. Aboubakar grabbed the winner in time added on – or hours added on as if seems to be in this competition – and was then promptly sent out for taking off his shirt and getting a second yellow, which somehow summed up their hapless campaign.
Serbia 2 Switzerland 3 (Group G)
It was in the other game where progress was decided, the Swiss coming through with a 3-2 win over Serbia. The game swung back and forth, Switzerland, who only needed a draw, taking the lead, falling behind and then going on to win again. Serbia will curse some profligate finishing, in this game and others, for their exit from a competition that they looked equipped to go further in, but it is Switzerland who will next try to deny Ronaldo his next aim of overtaking Eusebio as Portugal’s greatest World Cup goalscorer. South Korea’s prize is to take on Brazil.
Let us hope now that we are in the knock-out phase that, as in thee final group games, both sides go out swinging, throwing punches, rather than one, or both, playing for penalties. Wars of attrition, in this heat will be debilitating, and with the amount of added time on that we now get, will see games lasting longer than “Lawrence of Arabia” did.