DOHA, Qatar | A World Cup month has its share of events. Here are some of the moments that have been remembered through all the information overload. We tell you about surprises, beautiful moments, big names and premature departures.
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Finally a goal!
In his only World Cup appearance to date, in 1986, Canada was ruled out in three games. Despite three defeats, he was only cleared on his first appearance in Qatar. It was Alphonso Davies who scored the first goal for the Canada Men’s World Cup team against Dominik Livakovic of Croatia after just over a minute of play. Canada then lost the game 4 to 1.
The group of death
Unwittingly, Canada found themselves in the group of dead as the two teams from Group F, Morocco and Croatia, both reached the semi-finals. It gives a glimpse of Canada’s performance in their first World Cup appearance in 36 years. Indeed, Morocco and Croatia met in the small final, an undeniable sign that Canada hadn’t picked the right number.
The Big Surprise
On the third day of the tournament, we got a big surprise when Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina 2-1 in a brave performance and neighboring Qatar won. The performance caused so much amazement and, above all, joy that the Saudi king, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, declared the following day a public holiday.
Other surprises
It was the world of surprises. Among them Australia, who qualified for the round of 16 in a group with France, Denmark and Tunisia. Two other nice surprises, the presence of two African teams in the round of 16, Morocco and Senegal.
Enthusiastic Morocco
File photo, WENN.com
Another surprise at the top of a group, Morocco, who took first place in Group F, which also included Canada but above all Belgium and Croatia. The Moroccans excelled on defense and conceded just one goal in the group stage, one against Canada. They continued their good work with shutouts in the round of 16 and quarterfinals. Their journey ended in the semifinals, but they made life difficult for France and earned a lot of respect.
disappointments
Several great cars have failed during this World Championship because they just couldn’t get past the group stage. There is, of course, Belgium, which we knew as fragile, Mexico, which is not quite up to par with its time, and Denmark, which is still a little on the sidelines, but above all Germany, which is enough for a second World Cup straight away and does not leave the groups . German football will have to question itself.
Japan surprised
Japan doesn’t have a bad soccer team, but nobody predicted first place in a group that also includes Spain and Germany. The Japanese consolidated their first position by beating these two rivals despite having 17% and 26% ball possession rates.
two more
PHOTO FROM THE GULF TIMES WEBSITE
This World Cup will have been difficult for the journalistic fraternity as Grant Wahl is not the only one who died there. Khalid al-Misslam, a local video journalist, and Roger Pearce, a technical director for British broadcaster ITV, also died during the tournament. It didn’t take more to raise doubts.
deserved punishment
During the match between Canada and Croatia, Canadian goalkeeper Milan Borjan was the target of insults from the Croatians who were behind his net. A racist banner pointed directly at him. Borjan was born in a Serbian region of Croatia when Yugoslavia still existed. His family fled the country and eventually settled in Canada. FIFA has fined the Croatian Football Federation 50,000 Swiss Francs (CA$72,500) for the actions.
of humanism
We experienced touching scenes at the last group game between the USA and Iran. It has to be said that the tournament wasn’t easy for the Iranians, since the situation at home has been very unstable since September, so their elimination hurt. The American players quickly stopped celebrating their victory and comforted their Iranian rivals, most of them laying on the ground in tears. There is enough to restore our faith in humanity.
The worst host
We could talk about the reasons why Qatar shouldn’t have presented the World Cup, but we’ll stick to the sporting results. Qatar became the first host country to lose their opening game, be eliminated after two games, finish last in their group and finish the group stage with 0 points overall. A historic achievement.
swan song
We can assume that it was a final round at the World Cup for several key players and of them all, Lionel Messi is the one who will have stretched the experience the longest. It would be surprising to see 37-year-old Luka Modric again. The same goes for Cristiano Ronaldo, also 37, who incidentally has played a very limited role at Portugal this year, being used as a substitute for most of the time. Belgium’s Eden Hazard has already announced his retirement from the national team. We can also wonder about Neymar’s return in four years’ time as he has expressed doubts about his international career.
shock
The media community in Qatar was shocked when fellow countryman Grant Wahl collapsed during the quarter-final match between Argentina and the Netherlands at the Lusail Stadium. The suspected cardiac arrest man, who had just turned 48, had complained of health problems in the days before. A few days later it was announced that he had succumbed to an aortic aneurysm. He had been highly critical of Qatar in recent years and had even been arrested and briefly jailed for wearing a rainbow jersey ahead of the group game between the United States and the country of Wales.