2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar - UEFA Qualifiers

[TopT3ns]

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.

In this year's World Cup Qualifiers, at least they have shown their performance that Croatia is ready to go forward and try to become champions because the possibility of getting a win can still happen even though so far in the world cup from year to year Croatia has only managed to be in the Runner-Up and has not able to be the winner because the opponents they face are very tough, especially the team from Brazil.

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[rahmad2nd]

@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.

I won't be surprised if Croatia can put up a fierce fight against big teams, even if we refer to their performances in the last World Cup. it is not impossible that croatia will return to display a very impressive game, after all they are one of the dark horse teams whose existence is always taken into account in the world cup.

Speaking of Argentina, Messi is the iconic mascot of the Tango team and after all Messi will be the key to the game strategy that is architected by Lionel Scaloni. if you often see Messi at PSG, now argentina no longer puts the burden on messi's shoulders as in previous world cups.
Messi's role in the Tango squad is currently more free play, he can be positioned anywhere according to the needs and strategy of the coach.
That's why, I'm sure argentina and messi will give everything they have in this year's world cup.

[jostorres]

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.

In this year's World Cup Qualifiers, at least they have shown their performance that Croatia is ready to go forward and try to become champions because the possibility of getting a win can still happen even though so far in the world cup from year to year Croatia has only managed to be in the Runner-Up and has not able to be the winner because the opponents they face are very tough, especially the team from Brazil.

No one has any doubt about Croatia's quality and skills in soccer, and they are doing amazing job for many years without having any good luck but in this event things are completely different, and they are currently a good side but still have no mentality for winning event like this because here need tough challenges to be solved, and they are not capable of having to face teams like Argentina and Brazil like they were ruin in last world cup by France.

Even I am feeling European teams are going to be dominating but still it needs hard luck and good skills which is important but sadly in luck few teams are mostly not good like the Netherlands and Croatia which are having good quality, but luck never works for them in this event they can go until last eight without any big trouble but after this its not easy job as things could be on quality and luck both.

[Sithara007]

In this year's World Cup Qualifiers, at least they have shown their performance that Croatia is ready to go forward and try to become champions because the possibility of getting a win can still happen even though so far in the world cup from year to year Croatia has only managed to be in the Runner-Up and has not able to be the winner because the opponents they face are very tough, especially the team from Brazil.

Last time, it was France which managed to defeat Croatia in the finals, and not Brazil. But no one expected Croatia to reach that stage. But they managed to do that, thanks to some solid performances from Ivan Perišić and Luka Modrić. And this time also, they performed exceptionally well during the qualifier matches. They finished on the top of Group H, pushing a very strong Russian team to the second spot (lost just one out of 10 matches). But the problem with Croatia is that many of their players are nearing retirement. Luka Modrić is 37 years old and this is going to be his last FIFA world cup. Ivan Perišić is 33, and Domagoj Vida is also of the same age.

[nullama]

~snip~
Last time, it was France which managed to defeat Croatia in the finals, and not Brazil. But no one expected Croatia to reach that stage. But they managed to do that, thanks to some solid performances from Ivan Perišić and Luka Modrić. And this time also, they performed exceptionally well during the qualifier matches. They finished on the top of Group H, pushing a very strong Russian team to the second spot (lost just one out of 10 matches). But the problem with Croatia is that many of their players are nearing retirement. Luka Modrić is 37 years old and this is going to be his last FIFA world cup. Ivan Perišić is 33, and Domagoj Vida is also of the same age.

Yeah, that's true.

But having said that, the reality of Croatia is shared with many other teams as well. Heaps of players will probably be retiring in this world cup, so I'm not sure if this is necessarily a bad thing for them.

Although they are in a tough group, with Canda and Belgium being the expected teams that actually pass to the next round, and Morocco and Croatia staying. We'll have to wait and see though, you never know what can happen.

[joker_josue]

Although they are in a tough group, with Canda and Belgium being the expected teams that actually pass to the next round, and Morocco and Croatia staying. We'll have to wait and see though, you never know what can happen.

I think Croatia will be able to reach the second place in this group with some ease. Canada even has some difficulty qualifying for the World Cup and I don't see them as capable of being superior to Croatia.
So I think that both teams will fight hard to try to be in second place in the group - hoping that Belgium will be first.

[lixer]

Although they are in a tough group, with Canda and Belgium being the expected teams that actually pass to the next round, and Morocco and Croatia staying. We'll have to wait and see though, you never know what can happen.

I think Croatia will be able to reach the second place in this group with some ease. Canada even has some difficulty qualifying for the World Cup and I don't see them as capable of being superior to Croatia.
So I think that both teams will fight hard to try to be in second place in the group - hoping that Belgium will be first.

From this group most chances Belgium and Croatia could be winner and qualifying teams which will be able to go through Canada is not having enough quality to compete with Croatia because they are surely one of the best team in current era and Canada ranked below also having no enough quality which help them to compete with Croatia for me there i no chance for Canada to go through into next round in presence of teams like Belgium, Croatia and Morocco which is also having good players and quality for giving tough time to ranked teams.
 
Canada most chances going to be at fourth in this group with Belgium and Croatia going to knock out stage and morocco is going to be at third spot because they are also better than Canada.

[snipie]

Although they are in a tough group, with Canda and Belgium being the expected teams that actually pass to the next round, and Morocco and Croatia staying. We'll have to wait and see though, you never know what can happen.

I think Croatia will be able to reach the second place in this group with some ease. Canada even has some difficulty qualifying for the World Cup and I don't see them as capable of being superior to Croatia.
So I think that both teams will fight hard to try to be in second place in the group - hoping that Belgium will be first.

Belgium first is something that most people agree for I assume.
Now the second place will be hard to tell but indeed, I think Croatia will pick it. They are better than Canada. For Morocco, it is hard to tell how they will perform, they have a new coach if I am not mistaken and some good players, yet I find Croatia better.
So Belgium - Croatia to pass.

[nullama]

~snip~
Belgium first is something that most people agree for I assume.
Now the second place will be hard to tell but indeed, I think Croatia will pick it. They are better than Canada. For Morocco, it is hard to tell how they will perform, they have a new coach if I am not mistaken and some good players, yet I find Croatia better.
So Belgium - Croatia to pass.

Yeah, thinking about it a bit more it seems more possible for Croatia to win against Canada. But it will definitely be a tough match. I think it can actually go either way actually.

[Sithara007]

Yeah, thinking about it a bit more it seems more possible for Croatia to win against Canada. But it will definitely be a tough match. I think it can actually go either way actually.

Initially I was quite surprised when Canada qualified for the world cup. In case of Morocco also, they are not considered as one of the top ranking teams within their confederation. For Croatia, it should be relatively easy. Belgium and Croatia should finish as the top two teams from the Group F, unless there are no upsets. But it will be wrong to expect miracles from Croatia everytime. They will be under a lot of pressure, since they finished as the runners up in 2018 world cup. I haven't followed the performance of Croatia in recent times, but looks like they have decent record.

[rahmad2nd]

Belgium first is something that most people agree for I assume.
Now the second place will be hard to tell but indeed, I think Croatia will pick it. They are better than Canada. For Morocco, it is hard to tell how they will perform, they have a new coach if I am not mistaken and some good players, yet I find Croatia better.
So Belgium - Croatia to pass.

Obviously, on paper Croatia is way above Canada. Croatia is ranked 15th FIFA while Canada is ranked 43rd FIFA. This shows that their level is much different.
So, it is most likely that Croatia will win the match easily when playing against Canada and Morocco. but in time, we will not really know who will qualify from this group stage.
In fact, Marrocco ranks far from Canada. marocco is ranked 22 from FIFA. So it seems that Canada is the lowest ranked team compared to Belgium, Croatia, Morocco. But, in football anything can happen.

[shogun47]

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.

Indeed much too late and it come across a bit as if he wants to save his own reputation by criticizing Qatar in public now while still planning to participate in the tournament. There is so much politics involved and even Flick knows that if he raised his voice much earlier in such a critical way, he might have been running into trouble of different kinds. Now it's a done deal and no team would decide to go for a boycott anyway anymore. If the national teams really wanted to have done something differently, they should have built an alliance years ago already. Now we just let it happen.

[boltz]

I think we can already see the pressure of World Cup approaching on internal clubs but also on national teams are tonight we have Nations League and big teams like England or Germany are really having a slow pace game in order to avoid injuries or anything similar. Also , with this Nations League games , South American teams are having an advantage because players are extra rested than some others.

[Joca97]

I think we can already see the pressure of World Cup approaching on internal clubs but also on national teams are tonight we have Nations League and big teams like England or Germany are really having a slow pace game in order to avoid injuries or anything similar. Also , with this Nations League games , South American teams are having an advantage because players are extra rested than some others.

This nations league is apsolute stupid stuff and just a waste of player strengths. Europeans best teams are really bad lately and i dont think they will reach their top levels once the world cup begins. Most disappointing are Germany and England. France played really good so we can see them going far but others i dont think they can do much

[Sithara007]

Indeed much too late and it come across a bit as if he wants to save his own reputation by criticizing Qatar in public now while still planning to participate in the tournament. There is so much politics involved and even Flick knows that if he raised his voice much earlier in such a critical way, he might have been running into trouble of different kinds. Now it's a done deal and no team would decide to go for a boycott anyway anymore. If the national teams really wanted to have done something differently, they should have built an alliance years ago already. Now we just let it happen.

I would rather side with Hansi Flick. There is a saying - "better late than never". It takes a lot of courage to stand up against bullies such as the GCC nations. Given the fact that a large portion of the UEFA clubs are owned by Arabs from the GCC region, his statements will have a lot of negative consequences. And despite that he chose to side with the right side in this case. And I can understand why everyone kept quite till now. We were expecting Qatar to change their stone age rules related to alcohol, LGBT, unmarried couples and migrant workers. But that hasn't happened. Rather than adjusting to the rest of the world, Qataris want the rest of the world to adjust to their customs.

[TheGreatPython]

I think we can already see the pressure of World Cup approaching on internal clubs but also on national teams are tonight we have Nations League and big teams like England or Germany are really having a slow pace game in order to avoid injuries or anything similar. Also , with this Nations League games , South American teams are having an advantage because players are extra rested than some others.

This nations league is apsolute stupid stuff and just a waste of player strengths. Europeans best teams are really bad lately and i dont think they will reach their top levels once the world cup begins. Most disappointing are Germany and England. France played really good so we can see them going far but others i dont think they can do much

Today after watching few matches now I am feeling surely this is completely waste of the time and energy for UEFA teams and players even no country taking this seriously and mostly matches are going very slow pace which is surely good as they don't want to have injuries or any other issues which bring them more headache before this World Cup which is no just two months away from us.

Germany lost match at home against Hungry and Italy won against England both were completely bore matches which were giving no positive impression to anyone but no one can do anything now just wait for the start of this mega event and biggest entertainment which is surely going to be on the top when we will have quality competitions from the teams which are coming for this event.

[Cryptmuster]

Indeed much too late and it come across a bit as if he wants to save his own reputation by criticizing Qatar in public now while still planning to participate in the tournament. There is so much politics involved and even Flick knows that if he raised his voice much earlier in such a critical way, he might have been running into trouble of different kinds. Now it's a done deal and no team would decide to go for a boycott anyway anymore. If the national teams really wanted to have done something differently, they should have built an alliance years ago already. Now we just let it happen.

In recent years, many changes have taken place in the world and we have to adapt to this. Under these conditions, no one would create any alliances and challenge such decisions, because everyone understands that these are forced circumstances in which everyone is on an equal footing. Everyone understands that this is bad for the tournament itself and for the championships, and that this will most likely lead to overwork of the players and poor results, but at the moment everyone understands that this will happen and we will only know about the consequences after the tournament.

[Daniel91]

Yeah, thinking about it a bit more it seems more possible for Croatia to win against Canada. But it will definitely be a tough match. I think it can actually go either way actually.

Initially I was quite surprised when Canada qualified for the world cup. In case of Morocco also, they are not considered as one of the top ranking teams within their confederation. For Croatia, it should be relatively easy. Belgium and Croatia should finish as the top two teams from the Group F, unless there are no upsets. But it will be wrong to expect miracles from Croatia everytime. They will be under a lot of pressure, since they finished as the runners up in 2018 world cup. I haven't followed the performance of Croatia in recent times, but looks like they have decent record.

Exactly. Croatia is playing very well in the Nations League and is currently the leading team in the group. So far they have beaten Denmark both times and also beaten France away from home.
After a small crisis after the World Cup 2018, Croatia is playing very good again and will be one of the favorite of the World Cup in Qatar.
The national team in which the former best footballer in the world Modrić plays and also players from the best teams in the world such as Real, Chelsea, Inter, Tottenham... is always ready for great things 
It is realistic that in this group Belgium and Croatia are the favorites for the first two places.

[boltz]

I think we can already see the pressure of World Cup approaching on internal clubs but also on national teams are tonight we have Nations League and big teams like England or Germany are really having a slow pace game in order to avoid injuries or anything similar. Also , with this Nations League games , South American teams are having an advantage because players are extra rested than some others.

This nations league is apsolute stupid stuff and just a waste of player strengths. Europeans best teams are really bad lately and i dont think they will reach their top levels once the world cup begins. Most disappointing are Germany and England. France played really good so we can see them going far but others i dont think they can do much

Yep , that's exactly what is happening in this Nations League games. Germany still have great players that can burst out of nowhere and play good but on England side ...things are not so great and morale is almost on bottom before first game in World Cup. France knows what they are doing and they have a lot of great players who can substitute almost every player in that squad so I'm not worries about France and neither on Spain as that team is full of hunger to prove themselves in this World Cup.

[rahmad2nd]

I'm really worried about the German and English squad. If I look at Germany's statistical record in the UEFA Nations League, in the last five matches Germany has only won once. the rest with a draw and the last match against Hungary, lost with a score of 0 - 1. As for the England squad, their performance is more worrying. Of the five matches, only two draws and three defeats.

I don't think that in the UEFA Nations League these two squads don't play seriously. if we refer to the statistical records of both, these two squads are playing very badly.
This is a concern for me personally, whether they are ready enough to play the match in the Qatar world cup later.