World Cup 2022: exploits, disappointments, surprises, what to remember from the first round
Morocco managed the feat of winning their group ahead of Croatia, Belgium and Canada.
© REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli
Text by: Luca Endrizzi
3 mins
Place in the round of 16 of the Football World Cup from this Saturday, December 3.
The group stage, spectacular and rich in emotions, highlighted the performance of the African and Asian teams, the disappointment of the big players (Germany, Belgium) and the form of the scorers.
Advertising
Read more
Africa in style
Four years ago, in Russia, no African team had set foot in the knockout stage.
In Qatar, they will be two to play in the round of 16 out of the five present at the start of the tournament.
Morocco finished brilliantly
at the
top of their group, and Senegal, despite the defeat (0-2) against the Netherlands in the first match, managed to pull themselves together and finish behind the Dutch.
Tunisia, on the verge of qualification, as well as Ghana, eliminated by Uruguay, have not gone far from the feat.
What succeeded, in part, Cameroon.
Rigobert Song's team ended their adventure in Qatar with a prestigious victory against Brazil (1-0).
This success, however, did not allow him to go beyond the group stage for the first time since 1990.
Mbappé, Gakpo, Rashford, Morata: golden scorers
We were expecting Lionel Messi, Neymar or Harry Kane, but the only superstar to be at the top of the scoring charts after the first round is
Kylian Mbappé
.
An achievement against Australia (4-1), a double against Denmark to ensure the qualification of the Blues: the French striker from Paris SG responded.
He is in good company at the top of the scoring charts, with Dutch revelation Cody Gakpo finding the net against Senegal (2-0), Ecuador (1-1) and Qatar (2-0).
Like Alvaro Morata with Spain, against Costa Rica (7-0), Germany (1-1) and Japan (2-1).
English striker Marcus Rashford, scorer 49 seconds after coming into play against Iran (6-2) and author of a double against Wales (3-0), is also at the top of this ranking.
Enner Valencia also have three goals, but Ecuador are eliminated.
The Brazilian Richarlison also distinguished himself with a double against Serbia (2-0).
He is perceived as the author of the most beautiful goal of the World for the moment.
Don't go!
🇧🇷 #Richarlison pic.twitter.com/6f8rKQWnPn
— Mehmet Serheng Akdemir (@mehmetserheng) November 24, 2022
Japan leads the Asian armada
Falling into a group with Spain and
Germany
, Japan did not start as favorites in Group E, and yet it was the Blue Samurai who finished in the lead by offering two victories (2-1) prestige against the Europeans.
Performances all the more surprising as the men of Hajime Moriyasu, led by the score, were able to overthrow their opponents by tactical adaptations and unwavering faith.
South Korea, for their part, snatched their place in the eighth thanks to a victory, in stoppage time, against Portugal (2-1), in the last group match, where Cristiano Ronaldo's team presented themselves. already qualified.
One of the big surprises of the tournament was the qualification of Australia, with two successes, against Denmark (1-0) and Tunisia (1-0).
At a time when Denmark, Germany and Belgium are the big disappointments of this 22nd World Cup.
With the qualifications of Japan and South Korea, Australia, the United States and two African countries, six geographical continents will be represented in the round of 16, a first for a World Cup.
The program for the round of 16 (times in UT)
Saturday, December 3, 2022:
3 p.m.: Netherlands-United States
7 p.m.: Argentina-Australia
Sunday, December 4, 2022:
3 p.m.: France-Poland
7 p.m.: England-Senegal
Monday, December 5, 2022:
3 p.m.: Japan-Croatia
7 p.m.: Brazil - South Korea
Tuesday, December 6, 2022:
3 p.m.: Morocco-Spain
7 p.m.: Portugal- Switzerland
World Cup 2022: match schedule and results
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
World Cup 2022
Soccer
Morocco
Sports
On the same subject
World Cup 2022: South Korea qualifies on the wire in the round of 16
Thibaut Courtois, Belgium goalkeeper: “Losing in the semi-finals of the World Cup was worse”
ABSTRACT
2022 World Cup: Germany eliminated, Japan qualified, Morocco-Spain in eighth