2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar - UEFA Qualifiers

[LUCKMCFLY]

But Christian Ronaldo is not good enough to win this world cup alone for his team because now age factor is also having big impact on him, and he can't do things like which he has done few years back for his team right now if Portugal is going into last eight then surely it's going to be big achievement for them.

Let's see later what tactics and strategies Fernando Santos will use for his Portugal squad. and how he prepares for the Portuguese squad. if santos still uses the same strategy only relying on ronaldo, then i believe that portugal will experience difficulties in every match later.
Portugal actually has a fairly even depth of players, on the attack line there are Diago Jota, Andre Silva, Ronaldo. In the midfield there are Bernardo Silva, Vintinha, Rafael Leao, Bruno Fernandes. In defense there are Nuno Mendes, Pepe, Dalot, Danilo Pereira.  with these players, they should have a chance to get into the top 8.

Spain, France and England are surely best teams with their quality and players those can do something amazing to win this year's event.

Brazil, Argentina, are the best team based on their match statistics and have very talented players. these two teams are the strongest candidates, compared to England or Spain.

Argentina's team is very strong in this World Cup, the youngsters in their team are playing very well. Besides, they have world class players in their team. It seems that this is Messi's last World Cup and everyone will want to at least do something for Messi. However, there is nothing to look down on other teams. We are all waiting for the World Cup.

Good to see it from the point of view of being a good team, yes, it is, I think that Argentina has always been a very good team, I have not seen any Argentine team that is bad, or any bad version, for me this World Cup will be very good because we will see an Argentina that will do the best to win this World Cup, but there is also Brazil, Germany, France and we have to be careful because Croatia is a team that can make a difference, Moric is a player who can spoil the party for anyone team, and let's not forget CR7, which, this will be his last World Cup too, then in most teams the big stars will leave.



Many wonder why they kept insisting on the case of the player from Ecuador, for me the Chilean team is a bad loser, all this triggers many feelings in Ecuadorians and Chileans, for the next qualifiers this will be very interesting because they will become a classic, and the Chileans and Ecuadorians already have a lot of dislike, so now as they favored Ecuador and let him play, this will bring more consequences because they will always look for a way to appeal to the decision, the best thing will be when the World Cup starts, it is the only so that they stop making such a fuss about that player's case.

[cryptofrka]

Couldn't this thing with Castillo and Ecuador have been solved earlier? I mean, I'm all for making the right choices and suspending the teams in case they are breaching the rules - but these decisions need to be made on time.

Imagine being a player for the Ecuador national team right now. It must be really stressful not knowing whether you'll be able to play or not.

I'd let them play now - but without Castillo if the allegations are true. Then I'd ban them from participation in the next qualifiers. Banning them weeks before the tournament doesn't seem like the right call to make.

[Daniel91]

Couldn't this thing with Castillo and Ecuador have been solved earlier? I mean, I'm all for making the right choices and suspending the teams in case they are breaching the rules - but these decisions need to be made on time.

Imagine being a player for the Ecuador national team right now. It must be really stressful not knowing whether you'll be able to play or not.

I'd let them play now - but without Castillo if the allegations are true. Then I'd ban them from participation in the next qualifiers. Banning them weeks before the tournament doesn't seem like the right call to make.

This case has been talked about for a long time, but so far there has been no concrete evidence, at least as far as I understand.
It seems that the concrete evidence on the basis of which Chile appealed to FIFA has only recently come to light.
This was indeed a difficult situation for FIFA and they decided not to change anything and to maintain the status quo even though there is a very serious suspicion that everything is not regular in this case.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport will make a final decision, based on all the evidence and facts, and I hope that the decision will be made very soon so that in the event of a change in FIFA's decision, the other national team has enough time to prepare for participation in the World Cup.

[Zackgeno96]

Croatia is actually still a very strong team. They have not only Modric, but many other good players. I know that there are also a few strong Croats in Italy. And what we must not forget is that Croatia was still the finalist at the 2018 World Cup. They lost that final against France without a chance, but they could have won against any other team in that tournament. They are not a favorite for the title, but an outsider. I think you should think of odds of around 12.0
Argentina should also show something now with Messi. Were in the final in 2014, but final places and 2nd places do not count in the sport.

[Daniel91]

Croatia is actually still a very strong team. They have not only Modric, but many other good players. I know that there are also a few strong Croats in Italy. And what we must not forget is that Croatia was still the finalist at the 2018 World Cup. They lost that final against France without a chance, but they could have won against any other team in that tournament. They are not a favorite for the title, but an outsider. I think you should think of odds of around 12.0
Argentina should also show something now with Messi. Were in the final in 2014, but final places and 2nd places do not count in the sport.

As for Croatia, I completely agree with you. Apart from Modric, Croatia has several other outstanding players such as Kovacic at Chelsea, Perisic at Tottenham or Brozovic at Inter.
Croatia's success at the 2018 World Cup in Russia was not the result of luck or coincidence, but the great football tradition of this country, which was third in the world at the 1998 World Cup in France, and this year Croatia beat France and Denmark away in the League of Nations.
Croatia will not be among the main favorites of the competition either in Qatar, but it will be very difficult for all national teams to play with them.
This year, Messi probably has the last chance to win the world championship with Argentina, but the competition is very strong and it will be a very difficult task.

[kamvreto]

Croatia is actually still a very strong team. They have not only Modric, but many other good players. I know that there are also a few strong Croats in Italy. And what we must not forget is that Croatia was still the finalist at the 2018 World Cup. They lost that final against France without a chance, but they could have won against any other team in that tournament. They are not a favorite for the title, but an outsider. I think you should think of odds of around 12.0
Argentina should also show something now with Messi. Were in the final in 2014, but final places and 2nd places do not count in the sport.

As for Croatia, I completely agree with you. Apart from Modric, Croatia has several other outstanding players such as Kovacic at Chelsea, Perisic at Tottenham or Brozovic at Inter.
Croatia's success at the 2018 World Cup in Russia was not the result of luck or coincidence, but the great football tradition of this country, which was third in the world at the 1998 World Cup in France, and this year Croatia beat France and Denmark away in the League of Nations.
Croatia will not be among the main favorites of the competition either in Qatar, but it will be very difficult for all national teams to play with them.
This year, Messi probably has the last chance to win the world championship with Argentina, but the competition is very strong and it will be a very difficult task.

Croatia is indeed not to be underestimated, Croatia is touted as a dark horse in the 2022 world cup and Senegal is also a dark horse that should not be underestimated. in the golden generation of croatia in the 2018 world cup croatia could be runner up and occupy the 16th position in FIFA. Croatia's golden generation now leaves names like Luka Modric and Ivan Perisic. Even though there are only two Croatian players, they still have to be careful because there are several young players who have above average abilities.

And specifically for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, Croatia made a Home Jersey that still carries the red and white checkered colors that have become Croatia's identity. and for the Away Jersey using a color combination of dark blue and light blue with a plaid motif on the left sleeve.

[Marvell1]

Croatia is actually still a very strong team. They have not only Modric, but many other good players. I know that there are also a few strong Croats in Italy. And what we must not forget is that Croatia was still the finalist at the 2018 World Cup. They lost that final against France without a chance, but they could have won against any other team in that tournament. They are not a favorite for the title, but an outsider. I think you should think of odds of around 12.0
Argentina should also show something now with Messi. Were in the final in 2014, but final places and 2nd places do not count in the sport.

As for Croatia, I completely agree with you. Apart from Modric, Croatia has several other outstanding players such as Kovacic at Chelsea, Perisic at Tottenham or Brozovic at Inter.
Croatia's success at the 2018 World Cup in Russia was not the result of luck or coincidence, but the great football tradition of this country, which was third in the world at the 1998 World Cup in France, and this year Croatia beat France and Denmark away in the League of Nations.
Croatia will not be among the main favorites of the competition either in Qatar, but it will be very difficult for all national teams to play with them.
This year, Messi probably has the last chance to win the world championship with Argentina, but the competition is very strong and it will be a very difficult task.

Actually, a lot of people do not realize that Croatia has a really good and balanced team. I also agree that the success that they had in the last World Cup was not a coincidence. They have a good team and the best thing is that the team has also performed well together.

The world cup winner, France, and the runners-up, Croatia were probably the most deserved places for both teams. I honestly expect good performance from them in the upcoming World Cup as well. But I really think that this time the competition is going to be harder. It will be interesting to see Croatia plays against Argentina if these two teams face off against each other, because in the last World Cup I believe Croatia won against Argentina quite easily but this time Argentina is a lot stronger.

[dezoel]

Croatia is actually still a very strong team. They have not only Modric, but many other good players. I know that there are also a few strong Croats in Italy. And what we must not forget is that Croatia was still the finalist at the 2018 World Cup. They lost that final against France without a chance, but they could have won against any other team in that tournament. They are not a favorite for the title, but an outsider. I think you should think of odds of around 12.0
Argentina should also show something now with Messi. Were in the final in 2014, but final places and 2nd places do not count in the sport.

Croatia is surely one of the quality teams in this event, and they have good tradition and history in this game which is surely their trademark, and I am feeling no one can put them out of favourite list because they still capable of reaching into last four without any big trouble as they have services of few quality players those are giving their best in many European clubs and in presence of few quality players still they are able to do something special in this event as they lost against France in last event in final which is surely remembered by all soccer fans, and they again can do things like this even no one remember who was second or third in this last event, but quality team surely can do things like this.
 
As Most chances Messi is having his last event so many expectations from him and his team Argentina as well because they are also one of the quality teams in this event and have abilities for giving their best and go through into last two for the title race.

[shogun47]

~snip~
Wow, I just read that it is about eight appearances. Usually I think these appeals also destroy sports, but rules must be rules. If we didn't have rules, we wouldn't have sports. That is the counterside. Now this is a complicated case.

Honest opinion: How would you guys decide this case given the rules that are in place?

In my view it seems that the documentation provided clearly shows the player is Colombian and not Ecuadorian.

Not sure what else is there to consider though, but it looks like FIFA has decided the player is Ecuadorian.

That's the main thing though, if the player is Ecuadorian, nothing is wrong, but if he's really Colombian, then of course the standard match forfeit should be done.

Maybe the legality of the documents are not the area of FIFA to make a decision, and legal or not, it seems that the documents show he's Ecuadorian.

I think you raised a very valid point here! The FIFA is probably not in the position to make any legal decisions. They act according to what is said to be his nationality as per his legal documentation. Now if it is wrong, the FIFA is still fine as that will be a case that needs to be investigated by authorities.

But you know what would really be a polarizing bomb? Imagine the guy scores a decisive goal in a match and sends home another team and then after the World Cup it turns out at court that the documentation was indeed wrong. My lord I think that would raise tons of discussion.

The FIFA does not really have any other choice here then to accept what counts right now. The reverse situation would be just as bad if they exclude a whole nation from the tournament and it turns out the allegations were wrong...

[nullama]

~snip~

I think you raised a very valid point here! The FIFA is probably not in the position to make any legal decisions. They act according to what is said to be his nationality as per his legal documentation. Now if it is wrong, the FIFA is still fine as that will be a case that needs to be investigated by authorities.

But you know what would really be a polarizing bomb? Imagine the guy scores a decisive goal in a match and sends home another team and then after the World Cup it turns out at court that the documentation was indeed wrong. My lord I think that would raise tons of discussion.

The FIFA does not really have any other choice here then to accept what counts right now. The reverse situation would be just as bad if they exclude a whole nation from the tournament and it turns out the allegations were wrong...

Yeah, and the thing is that there's still another instance in which this will be debated further with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

But I don't know if that organization has any power in deciding about the legality of the documents Ecuador is showing. At least it does sound more powerful than FIFA in terms of legality of documents.

We'll have to wait and see what happens.

[cryptofrka]

Regarding Croatia - I don't share the optimism most of the guys here seem to have. We are a decent team and we have a really easy group so I expect us to qualify to the knockouts, but I also don't see us going far after that.

I hope we have a great tournament though because this will be Modrić's farewell, and without him we'll be half as good as we are now.

[jaberwock]

the thing is that there's still another instance in which this will be debated further with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

But I don't know if that organization has any power in deciding about the legality of the documents Ecuador is showing. At least it does sound more powerful than FIFA in terms of legality of documents.

We'll have to wait and see what happens.

Court of Arbitration is surely more powerful than FIFA in many things, and they can check documents and things related to this case which is good for all because as right now things are going most chances they are not going to change this decision because Ecuador is already complete their all legal things which give them good advantage in FIFA, and surely they are going to do same in this Court as well which is clearly giving them advantage.

Chilean is soccer crazy nation, and they are trying their best for having any chance even they lost in ground and now just because of one doubt they are creating some hype which is not going to help them for having any chance into this event losing in FIFA was clearly good indicator for them to stop this all, but they are not accepting this and now going at next level.

[Smack That Ace]

~snip~
I think you raised a very valid point here! The FIFA is probably not in the position to make any legal decisions. They act according to what is said to be his nationality as per his legal documentation. Now if it is wrong, the FIFA is still fine as that will be a case that needs to be investigated by authorities.
But you know what would really be a polarizing bomb? Imagine the guy scores a decisive goal in a match and sends home another team and then after the World Cup it turns out at court that the documentation was indeed wrong. My lord I think that would raise tons of discussion.
The FIFA does not really have any other choice here then to accept what counts right now. The reverse situation would be just as bad if they exclude a whole nation from the tournament and it turns out the allegations were wrong...

Yeah, and the thing is that there's still another instance in which this will be debated further with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
But I don't know if that organization has any power in deciding about the legality of the documents Ecuador is showing. At least it does sound more powerful than FIFA in terms of legality of documents.
We'll have to wait and see what happens.

I would say that almost every court in the world is of the opinion that a person is innocent until proven guilty. The same approach should be taken by FIFA in this matter as well, and I strongly believe that it should. The fact that there are some allegations against a country cannot justify the exclusion of an entire country. It is my opinion that they should let them play the game. Till now, nothing has been proven to be true so far, as far as I am aware. It will also be possible to act based on those allegations if they are proven to be true in the future if those allegations are substantiated.


Regards

Duke

[Sithara007]

Court of Arbitration is surely more powerful than FIFA in many things, and they can check documents and things related to this case which is good for all because as right now things are going most chances they are not going to change this decision because Ecuador is already complete their all legal things which give them good advantage in FIFA, and surely they are going to do same in this Court as well which is clearly giving them advantage.

Chilean is soccer crazy nation, and they are trying their best for having any chance even they lost in ground and now just because of one doubt they are creating some hype which is not going to help them for having any chance into this event losing in FIFA was clearly good indicator for them to stop this all, but they are not accepting this and now going at next level.

Court of Arbitration maybe more powerful. But why should they side with Chile? As far as I know, the Chilean football federation hasn't got any new evidence. The FIFA appeals committee has rejected the allegations from Chile and the same evidence will be now examined by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS). My advice to the Chileans would be to back off from this drama. Enough damage has been done to the reputation of the world cup, and there is no point in beating the dead horse again and again.

[bullrun2024bro]

The German national head coach Hansi Flick is criticizing the World Cup in Qatar. If it had been up to him, another host country would have been chosen for the tournament.

Flick said in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung:



Source: https://twitter.com/iMiaSanMia/status/1571976477494710276

IMHO, these are pretty clear statements for an usually rather tight-lipped Hansi Flick. However, of course, these statements come much too late. The problems in Qatar have been known for a long time and conclusions should have been drawn much earlier - if the national teams or the FIFA had wanted to.

[Sithara007]

^^^ A lot of ex-players and coaching staff have criticized the decision to hold world cup in Qatar, but as far as I know hardly any of the current players have joined them. Why are they so afraid? I know that many of the top clubs are owned by Qataris and other Arabs and these players may be afraid that they may lose their lucrative contracts. Or it may be due to a general reluctance to get involved in controversy. But for FIFA, it will be a dark blot in their history. This world cup is being held over the dead bodies of 6,000+ migrant workers.

[rahmad2nd]

Actually, a lot of people do not realize that Croatia has a really good and balanced team. I also agree that the success that they had in the last World Cup was not a coincidence. They have a good team and the best thing is that the team has also performed well together.

The world cup winner, France, and the runners-up, Croatia were probably the most deserved places for both teams. I honestly expect good performance from them in the upcoming World Cup as well. But I really think that this time the competition is going to be harder. It will be interesting to see Croatia plays against Argentina if these two teams face off against each other, because in the last World Cup I believe Croatia won against Argentina quite easily but this time Argentina is a lot stronger.

Croatia is one of the dark horses in the Qatar world cup stage, how could we not realize the existence of Croatia in this year's world cup. they were runners-up for the 2018 world cup, the Croatian national team managed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and joined in Group F. Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia.

Statistically, the only formidable opponent in the group F phase is Belgium. both croatia and belgium are likely to walk away easily from the group F phase. however, when it comes to argentina vs croatia. Statistically and squad depth, Argentina is more favored in this year's world cup. and if these two teams meet and face each other, I believe argentina can conquer croatia easily. even so, I have no doubt that Croatia can perform even better like in the 2018 world cup.

[Juggy777]

Actually, a lot of people do not realize that Croatia has a really good and balanced team. I also agree that the success that they had in the last World Cup was not a coincidence. They have a good team and the best thing is that the team has also performed well together.

The world cup winner, France, and the runners-up, Croatia were probably the most deserved places for both teams. I honestly expect good performance from them in the upcoming World Cup as well. But I really think that this time the competition is going to be harder. It will be interesting to see Croatia plays against Argentina if these two teams face off against each other, because in the last World Cup I believe Croatia won against Argentina quite easily but this time Argentina is a lot stronger.

Croatia is one of the dark horses in the Qatar world cup stage, how could we not realize the existence of Croatia in this year's world cup. they were runners-up for the 2018 world cup, the Croatian national team managed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and joined in Group F. Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia.

Statistically, the only formidable opponent in the group F phase is Belgium. both croatia and belgium are likely to walk away easily from the group F phase. however, when it comes to argentina vs croatia. Statistically and squad depth, Argentina is more favored in this year's world cup. and if these two teams meet and face each other, I believe argentina can conquer croatia easily. even so, I have no doubt that Croatia can perform even better like in the 2018 world cup.

@rahmad2nd while Croatia did perform well earlier but lately I’m not sure if they’ll cause some upsets at the World Cup, because I feel that their X factor is gone and now they’ll have to put in some impressive performances to stun the bigger team’s. Furthermore Argentina will always be the favourites due to the Messi factor, but yet I feel that Croatia will at least put up some fight and thus we should witness an entertaining match.

[Sithara007]

@rahmad2nd while Croatia did perform well earlier but lately I’m not sure if they’ll cause some upsets at the World Cup, because I feel that their X factor is gone and now they’ll have to put in some impressive performances to stun the bigger team’s. Furthermore Argentina will always be the favourites due to the Messi factor, but yet I feel that Croatia will at least put up some fight and thus we should witness an entertaining match.

Croatia reached the finals of the 2018 world cup against all odds and they should be extremely proud of that. They are a nation of around 4 million people, and managed to reach a stage where much renowned teams such as England, Brazil and Spain failed to reach. But this time I am not very optimistic about their prospects. But in each edition, it will be a different set of teams that impress us. This time it can be Serbia or Senegal. And don't be surprised if some of the favorites get kicked out in the first stage itself. For example, Italy didn't even managed to qualify.

[nullama]

~snip~
Croatia reached the finals of the 2018 world cup against all odds and they should be extremely proud of that. They are a nation of around 4 million people, and managed to reach a stage where much renowned teams such as England, Brazil and Spain failed to reach. But this time I am not very optimistic about their prospects. But in each edition, it will be a different set of teams that impress us. This time it can be Serbia or Senegal. And don't be surprised if some of the favorites get kicked out in the first stage itself. For example, Italy didn't even managed to qualify.

Croatia also won 10 - 0 against San Marino in 2016, but that's not an indication that they will perform well in this world cup. They've only qualified six times to the world cup which is not really an amazing record.

I don't think Croatia has real possibilities to win this world cup to be honest. Actually I don't even think they will move to the next stage. Group F has Belgium, Canada, Croatia, and Morocco. I'm expecting to see Belgium and Canada in the next stage, not Croatia.

But you never know, we will have to wait and see...