Controversial Qatar

Football lovers of the world will achieve satiety of their game hunger and thirsts till 18 December 2022 with over 60 games to be played at the various stadia in Qatar. Till now, the indications are that the number of visitors for the “Football Mahakumbh” is not anywhere to the tunes that were expected. The reasons are manifold from lack of freedom in the Islamic territory of Qatar to the skyrocketing cost of hotels and ticket prices.

Qatar for FIFA World Cup 2022 has been surrounded in controversies right from the day that it was selected as the venue. It was blamed to have influenced the officials. Next came the high handedness in dealing with the Human Rights situation in Qatar in dealing with the laborers during the construction of the stadia till the apathy of the state administration with the common men and the visitors. Further Qatar disregards the rights of the LGBTQ.

Qatar has also been involved with the promotion of Islamic Radicalism in several non-Islamic states by providing funds. Most of the European and Asian Islamic organisations indulging against Islamic radicalism and terrorism are recipients of such funds from Qatar, Saudi, Iran and some other nations including the World Jihad Council. As if all these were not enough, several of the radical Muslims including banned preachers like “Zakir Naik” who preaches hate against the followers of other faiths and religions, have been invited as state guests.

It is also for the first time that FIFA officials have been bent into accepting Islamic restrictions towards freedom of expression and protests. However, buckling under pressure has been their character when they had earlier banned Russian venue and participation due to the Ukraine war. Undoubtedly, FIFA is highly influenced by the organisers and partisan in its approach

The 32 nations are playing in 2022 world cup in 8 groups each consisting of 4 nations. This will increase to 48 in 2026 having 16 groups with 3 nations in each. 32 teams (top 2 from each group) will qualify for the knock-out matches. The broad distribution is given below although there are sub-groups of CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and Oceania too.

Continents__ Upto 2022__ 2026 onwards

Asia _________6______________8

Europe______13_____________16

Africa_______ 5_______________9

N America___4_______________6

S America____4______________ 6

Total ________ 32_____________ 45*

*3 hosts will be added to make it 48

FIFA World Cup 2022 Groups

Group A: Netherlands, Senegal, Ecuador, Qatar

Group B: England, United States, Iran, Wales

Group C: Argentina, Poland, Mexico, Saudi Arabia,

Group D: France, Australia, Tunisia, Denmark,

Group E: Japan, Spain, Costa Rica, Germany,

Group F: Morocco, Croatia, Belgium, Canada,

Group G: Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia, Cameroon

Group H: Portugal, South Korea, Ghana, Uruguay,

(Teams in Bold have qualified for group of 16 knock-out).

Remaining matches: Round of 16

Saturday, December 3

• Group A winner Netherlands vs Group B runners-up USA - 8.30 PM IST

Sunday, December 4

• Group C winner Argentina vs Group D runners-up Australia - 12.30 AM IST
• Group D winner France vs Group C runners-up Poland - 8.30 PM IST

Monday, December 5

• Group B winner England vs Group A runners-up Senegal- 12.30 AM IST
• Group E winner Japan vs Group F runners-up Croatia - 8.30 PM IST

Tuesday, December 6

• Group G winner Brazil vs Group H runners-up S. Korea - 12.30 AM IST
• Group F winner Morocco vs Group E runners-up Japan - 8.30 PM IST

Wednesday, December 7

• Group H winner Portugal vs Group G runners-up Switzerland - 12.30 AM IST

Quarterfinals

Friday, December 9

• Quarter-final 1 -Croatia vs Brazil; 8.30 PM IST

Saturday, December 10

• Quarter-final 2 - Netherlands vs Argentina 12.30 AM IST
• Quarter-final 3 - Morocco vs Portugal 8.30 PM IST

Sunday, December 11

• Quarter-final 4 -England vs France; 12.30 AM IST

The world witnessed the unpredictability of World-Cup Football with some teams of higher repute exiting early in the competition. Notable amongst them were England, Spain, Brazil and Portugal. Such upsets do happen in competitive knock-out matches of football. It is not limited only to Cricket.

Semifinals

Wednesday, December 14

Semi-finals 1; Argentina vs Croatia - 12.30 AM IST

Thursday, December 15

Semi-final 2; France vs Morocco - 12.30 AM IST

Saturday, December 17

Third place match - 8.30 PM IST

The outcome of the Semi-Final matches were largely on predicted lines. Both Argentina and France were the favourites and accordingly, they defeated their opponents in good matches. As of now, the defending champion looks pretty formidable.

Final

Sunday, December 18

Final; Argentina vs France - 8.30 PM IST

Some interesting facts of earlier FIFA World Cup matches

Country winning the most World Cups

1. Brazil 5 times champions (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)

2. Germany 4 times champions (1954, 1974, 1990, 2014)

3. Italy 4 times champions (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006)

4. Uruguay 2 times champions (1930, 1950)

5. Argentina 2 times champions (1978, 1986)

6. France 2 times champions (1998, 2018)

7. England 1 time champions (1966)

8. Spain 1 time champions (2010)

Other Interesting Facts

1. The first World Cup was played in 1930 in Uruguay which was also a winning host.
2. The leather football used in 1930 was ~3.8 Kg in weight and kicking/heading it was a tough nut to crack, often causing moderate hurt.
3. For the first time 2002 World Cup was held in two countries: South Korea and Japan.
4. The oldest goal-scorer in the World Cup was Roger Milla, who was 42 in 1994 when he scored a goal for Cameroon against Russia.
5. The highest scoring game was in 1954 when Austria defeated Switzerland 7-5 (12 goals).
6. The most goals ever scored by one player in one match is an impressive five, by Oleg Salenko of Russia.
7. Belgium scored the most goals by any team at the 2018 World Cup, with sixteen goals.
8. Just Fontain of France is the highest goal scorer in a tournament with 13 goals in 1958. He is followed by Sander Kocsis of Hungary scoring 11 in 1954 and Gerd Muller of Germany scoring 10 goals in 1970.
9. Individually, Miroslav Close of Germany scored maximum of 16 goals in four FIFA world cups (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014).
10. On February 28, FIFA under recommendations from IOC, suspended Russia from participating in the 2022 World Cup. Russia appealed the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but it was turned down. This will be known as the worst politics in ports by FIFA.

Some of the High scoring matches in FIFA World Cup

Some of the High margins of victory in FIFA World Cup