With the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar just days away, excitement is building around the world as this could be the final World Cup for many soccer legends. With tight competition, amazing talent, and a controversial host country this tournament is set to be different from those in the past. 

Many don’t even know where the host country, Qatar, is even located. Qatar is located in the Middle East and it is the first Arab country to host a sporting event of this magnitude. While it is a celebration that the global soccer movement is growing in places like the Middle East, the selection process of giving the World Cup to Qatar has faced severe criticism. 

The election in 2010 faced problems right away as Qatar was accused of “vote buying” which is essentially bribery. Still nothing truly came out of it for Qatar, but in 2015, the United States Department of Justice launched an investigation into FIFA, which is the governing body of world football. The president of this company, Sepp Blatter was removed as a result. 

However, accusations would only be the beginning of the controversies surrounding Qatar. Since then, the country has either remodeled or constructed eight world class stadiums made for the World Cup. This project cost a rough sum of $229 billion. This cost easily surpassed Brazil in 2014 when they spent $15 billion. With building these stadiums, Qatar needed a lot of employees in order to bring the stadium to life. However, Qatar’s population is actually smaller than the state of Kansas, not to mention Qatar is roughly the size of Connecticut. 

Because they didn’t have enough of their own workers, Qatar heavily relied on migrant workers to help build the stadiums. Since the seasons in Qatar are always hot, conditions were dangerous and many workers lost their lives. Though the number of workers that died is unknown, reports 

have ranged from 30 all the way up to 3,500 people. This goes into another important topic about Qatar: human rights. Human rights groups have been very vocal about the violations that Qatar has committed. Fans as well have been vocal about their disagreement on things ranging from alcoholic drinks all the way to LGBTQ+ rights in Qatar. 

Even with those complaints, the country has still moved forward despite accusations of paying citizens of other countries to be fake fans for some teams. Fan excitement is growing for what is to be the final World Cup for many of the world’s best players, as was mentioned earlier. 

But, let’s start with Group by Group Previews and Predictions: 

Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands 

The hosts are one of the weakest teams in the field and should not pose a threat to the top teams in this group. The 2010 runner-ups, the Netherlands, should win the group with a very talented Senegal team advancing as well. Just to clarify, there are 8 groups with 4 teams in each group, the top 2 teams in each group will advance to the knockout stage. 

Group B: England, Iran, USA, Wales

In perhaps one of the most difficult groups in the tournament, current struggles by the USA, Wales, and England could give an opportunity to a very talented Iranian team. However, this is the World Cup, expect England to fix their issues and come out of this group on top with the USA behind them. 

Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland 

Our neighbors to the south have an extremely difficult road ahead of them as they will face one of the tournament favorites in this group being Argentina. A strong Polish side led by Lewandowski should be enough to put Argentina winning the group with Poland in second, thus knocking Mexico out in the group stages. 

Group D: France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia 

Most teams got to Qatar through confederation qualifying with ease but Australia had to beat Peru in a penalty shoot out to get here just this past June. Expect Australia to put up a challenge to group favorites: France and Denmark. We can’t forget to mention that France is coming into this World Cup as the defending champions, but there has been a curse in the past few World Cups. If this year follows the “curse” the defending champ will not reach the knockout stage. Don’t expect that in this group though, but do expect the Danish side to be one of the biggest dark horses. Prediction: Denmark wins the group with France in a close second. 

Group E: Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan 

A group with Spain, Germany, and Japan will spell disaster for one extremely talented squad. I believe that it will be a difficult battle between all three, but Germany will come out on top with Spain right behind them. This group I am probably least comfortable predicting just because of how strong the Japanese squad is. Expect many close games in this group. 

Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, and Croatia 

Our neighbors to the north face stiff competition against a team who was number one in the world this past year, a predicted tournament dark horse, and the defending runner ups from 2018. This group will have some upsets but don’t expect any blowout wins. Belgium should win the group with Croatia in second place, but watch out for Canada or Morocco to sneak a win as well. 

Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon 

Tournament favorites Brazil should have no problem winning a near carbon copy of their 2018 World Cup group. Led by Neymar Jr. Brazil is expected to easily win all three games, and if their talented strikers deliver, Serbia should advance in second place. 

Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea 

This group is quite a toss up, with the Ghanaian and Korean sides being ever so dangerous. Who could forget South Korea’s win over Germany in 2018. This group will bring one of the most watched matches being Ghana vs Uruguay. Older soccer fans will remember their 2010 World Cup quarterfinal match, which was one of the most dramatic games in World Cup history. Expect Portugal, led by Cristiano Ronaldo, to win the group with Uruguay right behind them. 

Now that all the groups have been previewed, who are the players to watch out for and who are the tournament favorites? The answer for tournament favorites will have to be Brazil, Argentina,

and France. Other countries like Germany will be in the mix but these are the main three as of now. Going on to players to watch out for, you have to first watch for the one who is playing in his last World Cup. He is regarded as the best player in the world, Lionel Messi. Along with Messi, we will see Neymar Jr. and Ronaldo as stand out players, who could possibly be in their final World Cups. But you must also watch for young talent from France, Kyllian Mbappé, who was a star player in the 2018 tournament. 

Finally, let’s take a look at the United States men’s team. Led by star forward, Christian Pulisic, the USMNT (U.S. Men’s National Team) will be looking mainly for redemption after not qualifying for the 2018 edition of the tournament. With a team of young talent that includes not one, but TWO St. Dominic Alumni Tim Ream and Josh Sargent, expect to see young stars rise up and prove themselves. With a difficult group, the USMNT cannot afford to have any slip ups especially against Iran or Wales. Who knows, maybe the fact that the USA is playing England the day after Thanksgiving could give them a little bit of extra motivation. 

Whatever it may be for any of the teams, this tournament will most likely be filled with chaos but also memorable moments. All eyes will be on Qatar on November 20th at 10 A.M. as they take on Ecuador in Al Bayt stadium for the World Cup opener. This match will set the stage for the tournament, so hopefully all will go over well despite all the challenges on and off the turf.  

Make sure to watch and cheer on the USA team as they play their first match against Wales on November 21st at 1 P.M. Also, be on the lookout in the following weeks for updates after each round. To find these articles, click the tag at the bottom of this article “2022 FIFA World Cup,” to see updates!