Surprises in Bulk in the First Round of the World Cup
By: Minna Ibrahim.
After a week from the beginning of the World Cup, being held in Qatar from November 20 until December 18 2022, many surprises have happened that were not expected. Starting from some unexpected wins, to the loss of big teams, to more records in the championship.
Starting from group A:
For the first time, the host team lost their first match, despite Qatar being ready from all the sides for the championship, but it seems that their team wasn’t ready for the championship. By a weak start Qatar lost 2-0 to Ecuador.
Valencia, Ecuador’s player, started the game with a goal after only 16 min from a penalty and then he scored again in the 31st min of the first half to give 3 points to his team and to make Qatar be the first host team to lose in the opening match.
On the other side, Netherland defeated Senegal 2-0, but the goals were scored in the last minutes of the match by Cody Gakpo in 84th min and Davy Klaassen in 90+9th .
The first round ended with Ecuador and the Netherlands leading the group with 3 points for each, while Senegal and Qatar occupied the last places with no points.
Group B:
England-the three lions team-started a strong start against Iran. After winning 6-2 against Melli, England proved that it’s ready to fight for the title. The three lions goals were scored by Jude Bellingham (35'), Bukayo Saka (43', 62'), Raheem Sterling (45+1), Marcus Rashford (71'), Jack Grealish (90+1'), while Iran’s 2 goals were scored by Mehdi Taremi (65', 90+13').
On the other side, America and Wales settled for a positive tie and sharing points. This group was ended by England leading the group with 3 points, then USA and Wales each with 1 point and Iran in the last place with no points.
Group C:
In group C, Saudi Arabia with a great performance surprised the Argentina team to make an unexpected win against them 2-1. After Messi scored a penalty for Argentina after 10 min from the kick-off, Saleh Alshehri and Salem Aldawsari gave the three points to Saudi Arabia to make a historical win against the Albicelestes.
In the same group, Poland and Mexico ended the game equalized and shared the points among each other. Thus, group C ended with Saudi Arabia leading it, Mexico and Poland came then each with 1 point and Argentina at the end.
Group D:
In group D, Tunisia and Denmark ended their game by a negative draw without any goal despite there were many chances from both sides.
However, the French team-the reigning world champions- started the championship with a big win 4-1 against Australia. A first goal was scored by Goodwin for Australia in the 9th min followed by 4 goals for France by Rabiot, followed by one for Giroud and then Mbappe ended it by 2 goals at 68th and 71th min.
France ended the first round at the top of group D, and then in the 2nd and third place Tunisia and Denmark were found with a point for each and Australia in the last place.
Group E:
With a great start, Spain won against the weak Costa Rica team 7-0, with a weak performance from Costa Rica, with huge spaces in the defense and a non organized lines.
Spain's goals were scored by Dani Olmo (11'), Marco Asensio (21'), Ferran Torres (31', 54'), Gavi (74'), Carlos Soler (90') and Alvaro Morata (90+2').
However, with another unexpected win, Japan beat Germany 2-1. After Shūichi Gonda’s shining in conceding to 8 chances for germany and after some smart changes form Japan’s coach , Japan was able to win germany which wasn’t in her normal performance by 2 goals scored by Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano in the last 15 minutes in the games, knowing that germany’s only goal was scored by Man City player Gondugan in the 33th min.
Consequently, Germany and Costa Rica were at the last places in group D, whereas, Spain and Japan were in the top.
Group F:
In its first match, Morocco was able to equalize with Croatia, but their first game showed a problem in their attacking line. Morocco was strong enough to stop Croatia’s attack, but they weren’t able to continue their good performance and score the winning goal to get the three points and they settled for sharing points with the Blazers.
In the second match of the group, Belgium won Canada 1-0 by the goal of Michy Batshuayi in the 44th min, to lead group F and to make Canada end round 1 with no goals in the last place, whereas, Morocco and Croatia were in the 2nd and third place each with only 1 point.
Group G:
Switzerland won Cameroon 1-0 by a goal scored by Breel Embolo in the 48th min to give his team 3 points in their first match.
On the other side, Richarlison led his team, Brazil, to a win against Serbia by a first goal in the 62th min and a stunning double overhead kick in the 73rd min to lead Brazil to the top of the group beside Switzerland and leave Serbia beside Cameroon in the last places.
Group H:
South Korea did a good performance against Uruguay, however, they lacked accuracy in their attacks. They appeared to have a much better performance than Uruguay but even so, they didn’t make any shots on target. This led them to share points with Uruguay after a match with no goals.
Whereas, Portugal and Ghana match included 5 goals. Ghana showed great defense in the first half that prevented Portugal from scoring. However, with their first mistake that led to a penalty for Portugal this defense diminished.
Portugal was able to gain a penalty that was scored by Ronaldo that made him achieve a new record as the first player to score in 5 different World Cups, but Ghana’s player Andre Aywe equalized the result in the 73rd min.
Then, Joao Felix and Rafael Lobo scored 2 goals for Portugal in the 78th and 80th min respectively and finally, Osman Bukari scored the last goal in the match in the 89th min, and Portugal achieved their first win in the World Cup by a 3-2 result to lead its group and to leave Ghana in the last place.
However, South Korea and Uruguay were left in the 2nd and the 3rd place.
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