FIFA 2022 world cup

[BRINIRHA]

And yet Cameroon managed to win against Brazil.

On paper things are very different to what actually happens in the field.

You can't really predict accurately these things, that's why there's gambling around sports, there's never 100% certainty about what's going to happen next.

You are right. in fact we have seen many teams that are favored even lose the match. like spain and germany who lost to japan. and Portugal which lost to South Korea in the group stage.

However, Brazil lost to Cameroon in the group stage because most of the players who were sent down in the match were not the main players. because at that time Brazil was in a safe position to qualify for the last 16. but in the last 16 round Brazil really exerted all its strength to the maximum so that even South Korea really could be defeated easily. and then Brazil will fight Croatia and of course the chances of victory are clearly in Brazil. However, sometimes our predictions are wrong. because as you said there is no 100% certainty in a soccer match.

[hd49728]

Croatia is far behind Brazil in the FIFA ranking.

In a knock out phase, FIFA rankings don't mean too much. Players at a specific match, how they are ready, how they are united, how they want to fight, will decide results of the match together with referee decisions and luckiness. FIFA rankings are things on the paper and are useless in reality.

At the same time, comparing the gameplay and squads of these two teams, it is easy to see that the Brazilian team is much stronger. Brazil will easily win against Croatia if there is no accident. However, the Croatia team will want to draw the match by playing a defensive strategy. Croatia's defense is strong. If Croatia can score first against Brazil, they will play completely defensively. Still, I expect Brazil to win this match. Hopefully, Brazil will not make any mistakes in this match and will be able to win.

Croatia have good defense system which will reduce dangerous attacks from Brazil. Hence, it is important for Brazil to have Neymar in this quarter match with Croatia. The same importance with Casemiro in midfield because Brazil really need him to break counter attacks from Croatia as far as possible since the middle of field. With Modric and Perisic, Croatia can turn from defense to attacking very quickly and with highly dangerous ability.

Brazil is my choice to win this match too but it's hard to choose between Neymar and Modric. I really want to see both of players to have happy endings with their national teams.

[Despairo]

You are right. in fact we have seen many teams that are favored even lose the match. like spain and germany who lost to japan. and Portugal which lost to South Korea in the group stage.

However, Brazil lost to Cameroon in the group stage because most of the players who were sent down in the match were not the main players. because at that time Brazil was in a safe position to qualify for the last 16. but in the last 16 round Brazil really exerted all its strength to the maximum so that even South Korea really could be defeated easily. and then Brazil will fight Croatia and of course the chances of victory are clearly in Brazil. However, sometimes our predictions are wrong. because as you said there is no 100% certainty in a soccer match.

Brazil lost to Cameroon is same like Portugal lost to South Korea because they're already in safe position, they don't mind if they loss, draw or win, they're just trying new strategy and using the second liner players. I don't think everyone prediction Brazil will win against Croatia are wrong since this is elimination phase where both clubs will try their best to win. Talking about which club is better, Brazil is better so Brazil wouldn't loss before they enter semi final.

I wouldn't surprised if Brazil will score 2+ goals since their strikers are insane.

[BigBos]

I still cannot digest Spain went home the way it did.
I actually gave my vote in this thread about seeing Spain the finals... So many teams I thought they would over-perform are gone now, among all the alleged scandals, etc. This world cup is being quite unpredictable.

I wasn't surprised by Spain's exit, but not at this point in the round of 16. Despite some slight modifications to their squad, they still have a powerful team to reckon with and go further than this in the World Cup. Let me just wish them success next time, although they did their best to advance far than this in this World Cup. Unpredictable events are one of the things that keep football fans throughout the world interested in the game. What a shock to see Spain leaving so soon!

Many people were wrong in their predictions about Morocco's match with Spain, including me, who also suffered a loss in Spain at that time. Until now, I also still have doubts about it, even though I previously predicted that Spain would draw with Morocco but didn't bet on it.
This is history for world football. Morocco became a team that brought pride to Africans. Maraco was the only one to qualify for the quarter-finals from the African continent by expelling Spain in the last 16 playoffs.
Y.Bounou was the hero in that game and for sure he will be targeted by big clubs in the January transfer market.

[SirLancelot]

Brazil vs Croatia, of course I choose Brazil. From the beginning of this event in the title I supported them. But Croatia is pretty good Brazil should be wary.

Then another interesting match, England vs France. Game-wise I love England. They played as a team. The players' short passes reflect them like an EPL club. A lot of young players and have good confidence in carrying the ball. It seems that I prefer England to win. Another key, England must be able to shut down Mbappe so that they are not free to carry the ball.

But I read in the local media that Mbappe was absent from team training. There is no news yet on whether he was injured. But if it is true, England will be a little lucky.

Now we have eight teams left into this event which mean things are going tight for all teams and any team can qualify for the last four because after having amazing performance from Morocco now things can't be easy, and we have all other matches as tough because Netherlands vs Argentina is also a level match between two quality teams and both have few exciting players those can do amazing stuff for their team with we have second match between France vs England which is also tough challenge even with the form of France mostly feeling they are able to win and have chance to defend their title because they are on their best with top quality players and Mbappé is surely strong person for winning title of Golden Boot for the FIFA World Cup.

[Iranus]

Spain showed us a perfect tiki-taka technique in their first match against Costa Rica. Spain won the match 7-0. And many of us thought that Spain was one of the most worthy candidates to become this year's World Cup champions. But proving us wrong, Spain could not win the remaining two matches of the group stage.
Still, everyone expected Spain to win against Morocco. Morocco was not a very strong team. However, Morocco's defense was very strong. And Morocco's defense is the only Spain team to be defeated. Spain coach Luis Enrique should have been more aware of Morocco's defense. I wouldn't say that Spain's performance was bad in today's match. Spain's players tried hard, but they couldn't score.

With each passing match I understand less about what is happening in this world cup.
Who would have thought that Morocco would be knocking Spain out of the World Cup?
Obviously, a decision made on penalties does not guarantee that Morocco is better than Spain, but Morocco's "wall" was crucial to achieve this result.
Spain even tried to impose its traditional style of play from the start, but suffered too much and couldn't pass through Morocco's marking, which played its role in an exemplary way.... Spain played bravely and tried to attack, but it shouldn't have. having imposed more speed in the sprints and also in passing the ball.
Anyway... I'm sure that from the beginning Morocco sought a draw in normal time, as they knew that their only opportunity to beat Spain would be on penalties, and I say that with confidence because despite defending themselves very well in the defense field , Morocco went a long way from generating efficient counterattacks, that is... they took the game controlled the way they wanted.
Unfortunately, the result was Spain eliminated.

Even though Morocco won this match, I don't think Morocco's team was stronger than Spain. Spain was very unlucky. And because of bad luck, Spain lost this match. However, Spain had several mistakes in the match.
Spain's performance throughout the match was excellent. They tried hard to score. But they were not able to score. The main reason for this is that Spain lacks experienced players in attack. They missed a lot of easy chances due to a lack of experienced players. Moreover, the performance of Morocco's defenders was very good.

Morocco's aim in this match was to draw the match by any means. And they succeeded. Each of Spain's attacks was successfully countered by the Moroccan players. And I think the Moroccan players practiced the penalty shootout very well. Because of this they didn't miss a single one.

[Sithara007]

They are a second team from the continent go to quarter final match of World Cup. The only team did it before Morocco is Cameroon with Roger Milla. Now Morocco have a chance to be a first African team to play in World Cup semi final if they win against Portugal in coming days.

There is a chance. If they can defeat Spain, then why not Portugal? Afterall, Portugal is ranked below Spain. And for Portugal (despite their huge win against Switzerland during the PQF stage), it will be a tough task to handle the Moroccan defenders (Achraf Hakimi, Noussair Mazraoui and Nayef Aguerd). And it is going to be a direct battle between Christiano Ronaldo and the Moroccan keeper (Yassine Bounou). In all probability Portugal will win the match but Morocco for sure will be fancying their chances of progressing to the semi finals.

[Pandu Geddon]

They are a second team from the continent go to quarter final match of World Cup. The only team did it before Morocco is Cameroon with Roger Milla. Now Morocco have a chance to be a first African team to play in World Cup semi final if they win against Portugal in coming days.

There is a chance. If they can defeat Spain, then why not Portugal? Afterall, Portugal is ranked below Spain. And for Portugal (despite their huge win against Switzerland during the PQF stage), it will be a tough task to handle the Moroccan defenders (Achraf Hakimi, Noussair Mazraoui and Nayef Aguerd). And it is going to be a direct battle between Christiano Ronaldo and the Moroccan keeper (Yassine Bounou). In all probability Portugal will win the match but Morocco for sure will be fancying their chances of progressing to the semi finals.

after what Ramos showed against Switzerland, I think there is another option for the Portuguese coach to still bench Ronaldo at the start of the match. Portugal's game looked more aggressive in the match against Switzerland.
if Ronaldo is played from the first half, it looks like there will be a rotation of several players from the formation used in the match against Switzerland. Portugal still has a bigger chance of winning. but Morocco could have a surprise. however, they forced Spain into a penalty shootout. if that happened to Portugal, Morocco might get the same victory.

[Sebas.tian]

Brazil vs Croatia match is going to be played on 9th December.  Although Croatia has come a long way but can they keep up with Brazil?  Because the best Brazil team in the world is still the best in the world because it is almost far ahead of Croatia in the FIFA rankings.  But I think Brazil will win here because Brazil can score more than 2 goals against Croatia.  In the few matches that have happened with Croatia in the past, Brazil have won almost all of them.  However, considering this aspect, the chances of Brazil winning are high.

Brazil has what it takes to defeat Croatia in this match, because their squads are well organized to achieve many goals from Croatia to keep the winning going until they achieve the FIFA world cup title, because since the beginning of this tournament is only Cameroon were able to manage to defeated them 1-0. I don't think, Croatia will achieve a single goal in this match because Brazil has a potential defenders that know how to protect the goalkeeper not to allow their opponent strikers to achieve a goal through out the match. Brazil will defeat Croatia 3-0 for the favour of Brazil.

[darewaller]

Brazil - Argentina is the semi-final that most people want to see. But what would it be like if Croatia - the Netherlands got? Both countries have never become world champions and have had very strong teams and players for years. Modric has already won everything in his career, but the European Championship or World Cup title is still missing. I expect France to reach the final on the other side of the schedule. The most logical would be the final France - Brazil, but are we waiting for that? People are often for the underdogs.

Even most of the teams are looking Argentina vs Brazil into semifinal, but things are not easy because right now all four teams are level in quality and their performance is also not bad at all which is surely signal for them any team can win and go into last four with I also have feeling we can expect dominance of European teams in last four is also possible, but prediction is never been easy as most of the players are in good touch and have ability to fight for the national team and win.

Neymar is fit and Messi is also on his highest level, so now most of the matches are going to be entertaining because all players are giving their best for title and no team is weak with Morocco is the giant killer after sending Belgium and Spain back to home early.

[Sithara007]

after what Ramos showed against Switzerland, I think there is another option for the Portuguese coach to still bench Ronaldo at the start of the match. Portugal's game looked more aggressive in the match against Switzerland.
if Ronaldo is played from the first half, it looks like there will be a rotation of several players from the formation used in the match against Switzerland. Portugal still has a bigger chance of winning. but Morocco could have a surprise. however, they forced Spain into a penalty shootout. if that happened to Portugal, Morocco might get the same victory.

Well.. this was one thing that I never understood during this world cup. Surprisingly the tactic worked, with Portugal getting their biggest win in the tournament so far. And Switzerland is not a very weak team. Still they went down by 1-6. But then, Morocco doesn't have anything to lose. No one really expected them to progress to the pre-quarter final stage, and that too in such a tough group. They were placed along with Croatia and Belgium, but still managed to finish at the top of Group F with 7 points (2 wins and 1 draw).

[Lordhermes]

Brazil - Argentina is the semi-final that most people want to see. But what would it be like if Croatia - the Netherlands got? Both countries have never become world champions and have had very strong teams and players for years. Modric has already won everything in his career, but the European Championship or World Cup title is still missing. I expect France to reach the final on the other side of the schedule. The most logical would be the final France - Brazil, but are we waiting for that? People are often for the underdogs.

Even most of the teams are looking Argentina vs Brazil into semifinal, but things are not easy because right now all four teams are level in quality and their performance is also not bad at all which is surely signal for them any team can win and go into last four with I also have feeling we can expect dominance of European teams in last four is also possible, but prediction is never been easy as most of the players are in good touch and have ability to fight for the national team and win.

Neymar is fit and Messi is also on his highest level, so now most of the matches are going to be entertaining because all players are giving their best for title and no team is weak with Morocco is the giant killer after sending Belgium and Spain back to home early.

This Friday's game pits Croatia against Brazil. You should be prepared to lose your bet if you continue to mistrust Croatia's ability to win this game. I don't think Brazil will win this game against Croatia. If you look at Brazil's two prior games in the group stage, they have not been sufficiently challenged. I expected Brazil to dominate and win with a large margin of victory against these teams, but they were unable to do so. They struggle to defeat Switzerland and fall to Cameron. The South Korean team they thrashed by a score of 4 to 0 is not up to the level of Brazil. Brazil might not make it to the semifinals while Croatia can perform better than Cameron and Switzerland. They will be shocked tomorrow against Croatia.

[BigBos]

Brazil vs Croatia match is going to be played on 9th December.  Although Croatia has come a long way but can they keep up with Brazil?  Because the best Brazil team in the world is still the best in the world because it is almost far ahead of Croatia in the FIFA rankings.  But I think Brazil will win here because Brazil can score more than 2 goals against Croatia.  In the few matches that have happened with Croatia in the past, Brazil have won almost all of them.  However, considering this aspect, the chances of Brazil winning are high.

This match reminded me of last year's world cup even though Brazil and Croatia went through different streams.
In last year's World Cup, Brazil was defeated by Belgium at that time with a score of 2-1 in the quarter-finals, and Croatia beat Russia, and England until they met in the final with France.
I don't mean to doubt Brazil, but looking at Croatia's history, it also has good experience in the world cup journey, meaning that we can't underestimate Croatia in this matter, although I admit that the performance of Brazilian players has been very good this year and many people are talking about it, but Croatia is relatively quiet in media, could it be that they are on purpose and will surprise us in their game.

[Silberman]

Portugal and Morocco are also currently a little more difficult to predict, especially with Morocco's slick performance and being a real dark horse by blowing Spain.

Portugal is still the favorite to win even ever lost versus Spain because they have more experience in high-level events than Morocco. So I think it's not so difficult to predict if Portugal will win at least 2 different goals. But I agree if we compare it with several matches, seem difficult for Portugal can win easily if can't break through the defense and goalkeeper, Because so far their defense is very solid with conceded 1 goal during the event.

although in the round of 16 Portugal was able to win a lot and managed to beat Switzerland with a score of 6-1, it is not a guarantee that they will be able to win a lot when they face Morocco in the quarter-finals later. because Morocco's defense is very solid and their goalkeeper is very promising. Even though many media predict Portugal will win easily against Morocco, I still doubt it, because Morocco has extraordinary cohesiveness, even after defeating Spain, they also simultaneously prostrate themselves.

At this point we need to recognize that anything can happen with Morocco, they could force Portugal to a very difficult game just as they did with Spain, however after playing overtime it is possible they are going to be slightly more tired than Portugal and this can be a huge advantage for Portugal at the end of the game which could give them enough space to try to get a score, it will also be interesting to see if Ronaldo starts the game against Morocco or if he is on the bench again.

[bering]

Brazil vs Croatia match is going to be played on 9th December.  Although Croatia has come a long way but can they keep up with Brazil?  Because the best Brazil team in the world is still the best in the world because it is almost far ahead of Croatia in the FIFA rankings.  But I think Brazil will win here because Brazil can score more than 2 goals against Croatia.  In the few matches that have happened with Croatia in the past, Brazil have won almost all of them.  However, considering this aspect, the chances of Brazil winning are high.

Croatia is far behind Brazil in the FIFA ranking. At the same time, comparing the gameplay and squads of these two teams, it is easy to see that the Brazilian team is much stronger. Brazil will easily win against Croatia if there is no accident. However, the Croatia team will want to draw the match by playing a defensive strategy. Croatia's defense is strong. If Croatia can score first against Brazil, they will play completely defensively. Still, I expect Brazil to win this match. Hopefully, Brazil will not make any mistakes in this match and will be able to win.

Obiously Brazil is the favourite because the recent meetings from both of teams is Brazil can able to wins 3 times from 4 latest matches against Croatia but besides that Brazil also had poor records in the last 3 edition of world cup that everytime they were fight on quarterfinal matches Brazil always be lose against european teams so this is big challenge for Brazil whether can they step further in this competition or failed and Croatia isn't too performing well while against Japan and this shouldn't be happend anymore because Brazil clearly better than Japan and Brazil has dangerous several players who possibly can scoring goals in this match such as Richarlison or Vinícius Júnior

[LDL]

Which Team can qualify First Semifinal?
Argentina, Netherlands?
Brazil, Croatia?

Looking at the statistics of the previous FIFA World Cup head-to-head matches, please comment which team will participate in the first semi-final?

Argentina Vs Netherlands Head to Head world cup..

World cup 1974  Argentina Vs Netherlands (0:4) NED won
World cup 1978 Argentina Vs Netherlands (3:1) ARG won
World cup 1998 Argentina Vs Netherlands (1:2) NED won
World cup 2006 Argentina Vs Netherlands (0:0) Drawn
World cup 2014 Argentina Vs Netherlands (0:0) Drawn but Penalty Argentina won (4:2)

World cup 2022 Argentina Vs Netherlands (?:?)

Brazil Vs Croatia Head to Head world cup records

World cup 2006 Brazil Vs Croatia (1:0) Brazil won
World cup 2014 Brazil Vs Croatia (3:1) Brazil won
International match, Brazil Vs Croatia (2:0) Brazil won
World cup 2022 Brazil Vs Croatia (?:?)

Above all statistics, I support Argentina and Brazil as qualified team for first semi - final.
What's your comments?

[CryptocurencyKing]

I still cannot digest Spain went home the way it did.
I actually gave my vote in this thread about seeing Spain the finals... So many teams I thought they would over-perform are gone now, among all the alleged scandals, etc. This world cup is being quite unpredictable.

I wasn't surprised by Spain's exit, but not at this point in the round of 16. Despite some slight modifications to their squad, they still have a powerful team to reckon with and go further than this in the World Cup. Let me just wish them success next time, although they did their best to advance far than this in this World Cup. Unpredictable events are one of the things that keep football fans throughout the world interested in the game. What a shock to see Spain leaving so soon!

Spain were one of the favourites to go all the way offered at 8/1, and their opening game 7-0 thrashing of Costa Rica certainly demonstrated their ability to create and score goals. But going into the game against Japan, they couldn’t penetrate or create enough chances and that was how I knew that there would be problem facing this Moroccan team that had conceded only one goal. Morocco got a better tactics and if they can deploy the same against Portugal, it’s going to be a final for them.

[borovichok]

Shocking and sooner to see Eden Hazard retired from international football following Belgium world cup group stage exits. That means he will now focus his full view on the his club team, real madrid. It's rather bad news to some of his teammates as they will missed him on the pitch. Eden Hazard is one of Belgium keyplayer and also a big name for his country, he always have the confidence to move ball from his goalpost to his opponents alone, looks like he lost that confidence long time ago, he retired after a terrible performance from him and also belgium.

[Bobrox]

after what Ramos showed against Switzerland, I think there is another option for the Portuguese coach to still bench Ronaldo at the start of the match. Portugal's game looked more aggressive in the match against Switzerland.
if Ronaldo is played from the first half, it looks like there will be a rotation of several players from the formation used in the match against Switzerland. Portugal still has a bigger chance of winning. but Morocco could have a surprise. however, they forced Spain into a penalty shootout. if that happened to Portugal, Morocco might get the same victory.

I agreed with rotation made by Fernando Santos as Portugal national team manager brave set Cristiano Ronaldo at the bench and give opportunity for young player Gonçalo Ramos, actually he has answered with public speculation by scoring hattrick at the first time with regular position. Should doesn't care with many bad news publish by media when Cristiano Ronaldo have set in the bench.

The match against Morocco in the quarter-finals became speculation for Fernando Santos whether to continue to provide the main place for young players Gonçalo Ramos or give opportunity back to Cristiano Ronaldo get regular position in starting eleven.

[rendravolt]

I still cannot digest Spain went home the way it did.
I actually gave my vote in this thread about seeing Spain the finals... So many teams I thought they would over-perform are gone now, among all the alleged scandals, etc. This world cup is being quite unpredictable.

The Spanish mistake was to force every player who shouldn't be in that position. Let's take the example of Marco Asensio, he should be in the winger or AMF position and instead he is positioned as a striker, while Rodri should be in the DMF or CMF position instead he is placed in the center back position. But in fact the two players were placed in an inappropriate position.

Even though on the bench there are names like Alvaro Morata who plays as a pure striker and there is also César Azpilicueta who plays as a center back.

I can't understand why Luis Enrique could think like that, does he still want to keep the Barcelona players to fill his line up in Spain or indeed he can't see the potential of other players.