Official 2022 World Cup Thread!

[dunya]

The Group Draws!

Group A:
1. Qatar
2. Ecuador
3. Senegal
4. Netherlands

Group B:
1. England
2. Iran
3. USA
4. European play-off*

Group C:
1. Argentina
2. Saudi Arabia
3. Mexico
4. Poland

Group D:
1. France
2. Intercontinental play-off 1*
3. Denmark
4. Tunisia

Group E:
1. Spain
2. Intercontinental play-off 2*
3. Germany
4. Japan

Group F:
1. Belgium
2. Ghana
3. Morocco
4. Croatia

Group G:
1. Brazil
2. Serbia
3. Switzerland
4. Cameroon

Group H:
1. Portugal
2. Canada
3. Uruguay
4. South Korea

SCHEDULE DATES
Group stage: November 21- December 2
Round of 16: December 3-6
Quarter-finals: December 9/10
Semi-finals: December 13/14
Final: December 18

FIFA has confirmed the first two rounds of matches will kick off at 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and 10pm local time (10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm in the United Kingdom).

Kick-off times in the final round of group games and knock-out round matches will be at 6pm and 10pm local time (3pm and 7pm UK time).

The final is scheduled to kick off at 6pm local time (3pm UK time)

[Dragon D. Luffy]

Thread is dead but imma revive it. I made some predictions early this year in the other thread so let's see how wrong I was:

Early, non-official group predictions by someone who has been paying zero attention to national team football lately (or football for that matter) but knows world cup history decently:

A

Group A is always fun because it's the host country's group, who sucks more often than not so there isn't a clear favorite. This time there's Netherlands, though. That's world cup's perpetual "should have won but never did" country. Sometimes they are great, sometimes they just suck. But the competion is kinda bad. Ecuador fights Senegal for 2nd place, and I'll bet Ecuador for SA bias. Qatar's objective is to suffer a single digit number of goals overall.

Netherlands > Ecuador

Close enough. 2nd place was a toss up and I picked the wrong side. Africa has been more impressive this WC than I expected, and South America has been underwhelming;

B

England is the most consistent country ever: they always finish 1st place in ther group then lose at either final 16 or final 8. This is is no exception. Iran is just happy to be here. Gonna pick European Playoffs for second place because USA being bad at football is a meme that needs to stay alive.

England > European Playoff Winner

The playoff winner would turn out to be Wales, and that's not a country you bet on, tbh (why does UK get four teams? that's weird. And two in the same group so they basically played against themselves!). There will be time to kindle the flame of the USA soccer meme, but it wasn't this time.

C

Argentina > Mexico > rest. Next. Ok Argentina is so dramatic I could see them managing to get behind Mexico, but they probably won't.

Argentina > Mexico

I correctly predicted Argentina would be dramatic and struggle. I did not predict they would struggle against Arabia (LOL), nor that Mexico would be that bad, and that Poland would sneak into second place by the end.

D

France. Then there are some playoff countries but none of them seem impressive. Denmark isn't impressive either, but they are like a bargain bin England in that they always finish somewhere near the middle so I'll pick them. Yes I'm Europe-biased but let's be honest Europe has ruled this sport for a while.

France > Denmark

Denmark was crap this year. Australia wasn't great, but was better. Man what a weird WC.

E

What the fuck, FIFA. Germany not heading a group? I don't know if what events transpired to cause this but they probably don't matter, it's Germany, they are as consistent as England but better. But there's Spain. Spain is like Netherlands in that they aren't that good as their fame except they've actually won once. I think I'm gonna go with the German efficiency here. I like Japan and I'm sad they have to wait another 4 years, such a bad draw. Costa Rica (yes, let's not pretend New Zealand even comes here) makes a good fight for 3rd place and might even get it.

Germany > Spain

I should have maybe researched why Germany was not hyped. This WC had a gazillion upsets, and Group E was king, with freaking Japan beating both champions and ending 1st place. The irony is that I correctly guessed Spanish getting 2nd place, though not this way.

F

Belgium is the new sexy underdog of world cups. I'm not sure if that's going to last, but if Spain has taught us anything, there's a good chance it does. Croatia is a mainstay in quarterfinals and beyond. Morocco tries hard but it's probably out of its league. I wasn't aware Canada played football. I guess they probably got told that's a new type of hockey.

Belgium > Croatia

The sexy underdog was just hype. Croatia continues to be the team you should not sleep on. Morocco was not out of its league. Canada learned football is not a new type of hockey, after all.

G

Brazil is here once again to overhype Neymar, overhype results against group phase and final 16 opponents, then either lose at quarterfinals to a B-tier European team (if they're lucky) or run into Germany (if they're not). So what I mean is they will steamroll those poor chaps who landed in group G. 2nd place is a fun race, though.I want to pick an African team but Cameroon isn't the place to start doing that. I don't remember Switzerland ever doing anything, and Serbia is Iugoslavia, I guess. Eh, not really but I need a criterium.

Brazil > Serbia

Brazil's hype seems to be starting to die early than I had predicted. This might actually help it, since Brazil plays better when it has something to prove. We'll see. I'm a fan of Cameroon's goalkeeper now, though. Google his history, this is like the first moment of glory of his entire career.

As for the others, if there is anything left of Yugoslavia, it went to Croatia, not Serbia. Though they did put up a good fight, I guess.

H

The weaksauce group. Meaning it's one of the most fun. Korea isn't that bad but... yeah ok they are. Uruguay is a ghost of an ancient past, but every once in a while they remember they are supposed to be good. Is it finally the time? Probably not. Portugal is ok. Hey, I still need to pick an African country, right? And Ghana is one of the strongest ones so let's be fun and do that.

Ghana > Portugal

Korea was not that bad! Let's see if they can give Brazil a scare or not. Uruguay was good, but its coach was an idiot (I've heard someone say anyone who benches Arrascaeta deserves to lose, he is one of the best players in the Brazilian league). Portugal was ok. Ghana was not the right pick for mandatory African country.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

Predictions for Round of 16:

Netherlands vs USA

If USA can win this they have my respect. I'm not betting on a meme against the Clockwork Orange that soon, though.

Argentina vs Australia

This will be harder than it has to be. It might even go to penalties. The tango continues. But it doesn't end here.

Japan vs Croatia

I want to bet on Japan. I really do. But it can't be THIS much of an upset maker, can it? Three times?

... fuck me.

Brazil vs South Korea

See above, except Brazil is not a sexy underdog like Croatia, it's a sexy 5 times champion. It has a history of losing to Europe in kick-offs, but this ain't Europe.

England vs Senegal

England is the clear favorite. But I want to pick an Africa upset, and England also kinda sucks in WCs. I don't know when they'll fall, but they will. Why not now?

France vs Poland

France being the current champion makes them ripe for a surprise humilliation, but they kinda already got that against Tunisia. Poland isn't that impressive or even as memetic to make this worth it.

Morocco vs Spain

Africa does not get two upsets, sorry. This is still the Europe Show, one way or another, and Spain seems to be one of the best teams in the cup. The miracle run ends here.

Portugal vs Switzerland

This could go either way but I'd like to see an Iberic showdown so Portugal wins here to face Spain next.

[Justplayingitcool]

IT’S COMING HOME

[G-Man]

IT’S COMING HOME

No it’s not, unless ‘it’ is more disappointment.

[Justplayingitcool]

[Dragon D. Luffy]

Edit: Nvm

[Justplayingitcool]

Southgate will accept your apologies

[Dragon D. Luffy]

Fine, sorry.

The meme will have to wait for later.

So Upset Cup almost died. But I picked the wrong African team to do an upset (lol Spain). 6/8 predictions on the Ro16.

Now on to the quarterfinals.

Argentina vs Netherlands

This is it. The World Cup only really starts now. And both Argentina and Netherlands are teams that wouldn't be too strange if they won it all. So this is a hard match.

I'm taking Argentina, because I really like them this WC and I want a match against Brazil.

Brazil vs Croatia

Before the WC started I said Brazil would probably lose in the quarterfinals against a B-list European team. Well here we are, and Croatia is a B-list European team. But damn, they sucked against Japan didn't they? I don't have a feeling they can pull this off, they are not doing great this year, and Brazil has a good history on playing against them. Save the upsets for later.

France vs England

Time for an upset. Yes, France is the clear favorite here. But current champions getting rekt is a meme that can't die, and England getting to finals would be fun if we ended up getting the Faulklands Rematch. So let's do it.

Portugal vs Morocco

I wouldn't pick Morocco against a top tier team, but I'm still not convinced Portugal is one. Sorry, but Switzerland is just bad. And I've been hearing stories of in-fighting in the team. Also I wanna hype the little guy. Let's go Morocco!

[Justplayingitcool]

We have a better overall squad than France imo but Mbappe scares me a bit and France have more experience than our team

[Dragon D. Luffy]

Welp, only 1 out of 4 right this time.

Argentina was still a very hard match that I somehow got right.

I should have trusted my initial Brazil prediction. The Europe curse is real. Don't let games against Korea fool you.

Morocco continues to be the hero of the cup.

And lolEngland.

Semifinals:

Argentina vs Croatia

Another hard one for Argentina, I'd say they are favorites but barely. The only thing we know for sure is that it will be dramatic, because Argentina. I'll give them the edge because they have better attack than Brazil, but their defense is ass. Attack might work better against Croatia's slow playstyle though. Also because a repeat of the 2018 final would be boring.

France vs Morocco

It has to stop at some point, right? Right? I want to start taking Morocco upsets but France is just a tall order, perhaps the tallest order. Spain and Portugal were underhwelming, but this is the team to be defeated. Also they have more efficient attack that may counter Morocco's backwards style better.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

England lost and JPIC left so now it's just me here.

No matter, let's finish this.

Croatia vs Morocco - Morocco

It was too much to ask for Morocco to win it all but 3rd place is reachable and Croatia isn't so great.

Argentina vs France - Argentina

Yeah no screw France. They eliminate Brazil every 10 years or so and I'm tired of the consecutive Europe wins. Plus it will be interesting to see Argentina win a cup without cheating for once.

Wait I'm supposed to say who I think will win not who I want to win? I thought they were the same thing.

[G-Man]

I’m fine with either team winning. Messi finally winning a WC would be cool to see. France should continue to be a WC threat for the next two cycles, so I guess that means I want Argentina to win. I won’t be upset if it’s France though.