Trollheart’s 2022 World Cup Roundup: Week One
Things got off to an exciting start in the very first match, with Qatar, the host nation, being beaten by Ecuador, despite what seemed a perfectly good goal being ruled offside. The next day, Monday, was when things really got going though, as England thrashed Iran 6-2 in their first match, Senegal beaten by the Netherlands 2-0 and Wales and the USA played out a draw, one goal each. Tuesday then saw the first major upset of the tournament, as mighty Argentina went down 2-1 to the lowly Saudi Arabia. A shock for everyone, possibly even the Saudis. Other big names playing included France, who thumped Australia 4-1, while two scoreless draws resulted between Poland and Mexico, and Denmark and Tunisia.
Wednesday saw another major shock as Germany went down 2-1 to Japan, but there were no such surprises for Spain, who racked up the highest score of the tournament so far (to that day and still stands as I write) beating Costa Rica 7-0. Other matches saw Croatia pla a scoreless draw against Morocco while Belgium showed they were playing to win, beating Canada 1-0. On to Thursday and the really big guns came out, Brazil breezing past Serbia 2-0 and really turning on the style, while Switzerland had a workmanlike 1-0 victory over Cameroon. Uruguay, another stalwart of the tournament, had a bad opening game, failing to score against South Korea/Korea Republic, the game ending in a 0-0 draw, and the other match of the day saw yet another titan of the World Cup enter the fray, as Portugal took on Ghana, winning the game 3-2, but not by any means easily.
That took us to Friday, which, with every team having now played one game, saw the second round open, as Iran turned on skill we had not yet seen and took revenge for their huge loss at England’s hands, to take the game between them and Wales 2-0, no doubt to the surprise of the Welsh, who were now in a precarious position. Their home counties teammates, England, had further humiliation heaped upon them, but not by Iran. This time they played out a scoreless draw against the USA, while Ecuador and Netherlands drew 1-1, but though they scored their first, and only goal in World Cup 2022, Qatar were out when they fell to Senegal 3-1, the first country in the entire history of the tournament to exit so quickly. Two matches and they were gone, without even reaching the round of sixteen.
Yesterday we had some scores settled, so to speak. Poland took Saudi Arabia down 2-0, while Australia netted against Tunisia without reply for a 1-0 win. France continued their relentless march into the next stages with a 2-1 victory over Denmark, and Argentina quickly set about redressing the balance as they took Mexico down 2-0.
At the end of week one the groups look like this:
GROUP A
1st: Netherlands (4 points)
2nd: Senegal (4 points)
3rd: Ecuador (3 points)
4th: Qatar (0 points)
Qatar are eliminated
GROUP B
1st: England (4 points)
2nd: Iran (3 points)
3rd: USA (2 points)
4th: Wales (1 point)
GROUP C
1st: Poland (4 points)
2nd: Argentina (3 points)
3rd: Saudi Arabia (3 points)
4th: Mexico (1 point)
GROUP D
1st: France (6 points)
2nd: Australia (3 points)
3rd: Denmark (3 points)
4th: Tunisia (1 point)
GROUP E
1st: Spain (4 points)
2nd: Japan (3 points)
3rd: Costa Rica (3 points)
4th: Germany (1 point)
GROUP F
1st: Croatia (4 points)
2nd: Morocco (4 points)
3rd: Belgium (3 points)
4th: Canada ( 0 points)
Canada go out.
GROUP G
1st: Brazil (3 points)
2nd: Switzerland ( 3 points)
3rd: Cameroon ( 0 points)
4th: Serbia (0 points)
GROUP H
1st: Portugal (3 points)
2nd: South Korea/Korea Republic (1 point)
3rd: Uruguay (1 point)
4th: Ghana (0 points)
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