“He who focused on football and stayed away from politics won.” Arsene Wenger evaluates the first round of the 2022 World Cup

FIFA development director Arsene Wenger said teams that were "mentally ready" and "decided to focus on competition and not on political demands" had a greater chance of winning the opening matches of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The former Arsenal coach added in a press conference - today, Sunday - in Doha, "When you play the World Cup, you know that you must not lose the first match. There are teams that have experience, and achieved results in previous tournaments, such as France, England and Brazil, who won their first match, and there Teams that were mentally prepared, too, determined to focus on competition, not political demands."

Germany lost its first match in the 2022 World Cup against Japan after its players put their hands on their mouths in the group photo before the start of the match, in protest against FIFA banning national team leaders from wearing a badge supporting gays, and the Germans were eliminated from the first round after scoring 4 points that were not enough to get One of my passes to the second round.

The other team that focused on political demands before the start of the Qatar World Cup was the Danish national team, which also left from the first round of the tournament, and failed to obtain a transit card after occupying fourth and last place in Group D, with a single point.

On the other hand, Arsene Wenger reviewed tactical and statistical elements from the group stage of the 2022 World Cup in the first round of the tournament, and showed - in particular - the sharp increase in goals scored after crosses (+83%) compared to the 2018 World Cup.

Wenger explained, "The teams defend more in the middle and are more open to the wings. And this gives importance to the players from the hall. I think that the teams that have the best wings will have the best chance to win the tournament."

The former French coach promised that his country is "still hungry," and has "the desire to win again," and to compete to the last breath in order to preserve the World Cup title, which they crowned in the previous version in Russia.