After the controversial build up and negative media coverage, the 2022 World Cup has drawn to a close. In many respects, the tournament has been a success and credit to Qatar for hosting a fascinating World Cup.
In Group A, the predicted struggle for Qatar at the highest level proved accurate, whilst the Netherlands barely broke sweat to top the group. African champions Senegal pipped Ecuador to finish runners-up. England looked impressive at times to comfortably top Group B ahead of a young, vibrant USA. Iran beat Wales to third, and as predicted, the Welsh team looked past its best.
Group C provided one of the all-time great World Cup shocks in the first game, when the unfancied Saudi Arabian team upset the highly rated Argentina team 2-1. Despite their wonderful start, Saudi Arabia finished bottom of the group, with a dour Poland team squeezing past Mexico to qualify behind Argentina who rallied after their poor start. France comfortably won Group D with Denmark proving a huge disappointment. Australia were the team to benefit, and shocked everyone by pipping Tunisia to finish runners-up.
Great drama was provided in Group E. Spain looked fantastic in thrashing Costa Rica 7-0, but that proved to be their only win, as their lack of quality in attack proved their undoing in a major tournament once again. Despite trailing, Japan produced a huge shock to come back and defeat Germany, and remarkably, repeated the feat against Spain in their final match to top the group. Spain’s thrashing of Costa Rica was their only win, but they progressed ahead of Germany who also managed a solitary win.
There was also great drama in Group F, where another highly fancied team in Belgium failed to qualify for the next round. Canada looked bright and energetic but their naivety at the highest level proved their undoing. As predicted, Morocco were a strong team, enjoying the support of thousands of fans who travelled to Qatar from North Africa. Along with the consistent Croatian team, they progressed to the next round.
Group G provided entertainment if not unpredictability. Brazil eased to two wins before losing a dead rubber to Cameroon, this was after the Africans had produced a fantastic comeback to draw 3-3 with Serbia in one of the games of the tournament. Despite producing some scintillating football, Serbia’s defensive frailties meant they finished behind both Switzerland and Cameroon. A flat Uruguay failed to progress from Group H despite winning a grudge match against Ghana. That allowed South Korea to squeeze into the Round of 16 by beating Portugal in their final match, with the Portuguese having already won the group.
The Round of 16 brought some more surprising results. Despite dominating large parts of the game, the USA were beaten by the Netherlands for whom Cody Gakpo proved one of the young stars of the tournament. Two other contenders for that title, Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka helped England ease past Senegal despite a slow start. Argentina were made to work hard but eventually proved too strong for surprise package Australia, whilst France cruised past a lethargic Poland.
Japan gave another established team a bloody nose in the Round of 16 as they led Croatia, whose proficiency at negotiating extra time and penalties, helped them win in a shootout. Penalties were also needed by Morocco, to defeat Spain, who failed to score a single penalty in the shootout. The final two matches were one sided, with big wins for Brazil against South Korea and Portugal against Switzerland 6-1.
In the first Quarter-Final, Croatia took on the favourites Brazil. Despite creating a number of chances, Brazil struggled to get past the brilliant Livakovic in the Croatian goal, until Neymar’s breakthrough in extra time. A late Croatian equalizer meant another penalty shootout, and once again, Croatia succeeded, eliminating Brazil. Penalties were also needed to separate the Netherlands and Argentina after a bad tempered 2-2 draw. The Argentines, inspired by Lionel Messi, prevailed in the shootout, to keep his World Cup dream alive.
The Quarter-Finals had proven over the years to be a glass ceiling for African teams at the World Cup, yet Morocco continued their fairy-tale tournament. Youssef En-Nesyri made history by scoring the only goal to defeat a lacklustre Portugal, and so, Morocco became the first team from Africa and the Arab world to progress to the Semi-Finals. The final match of the round was the eagerly awaited tie between England and reigning champions France. Despite creating the better chances and dominating possession, England’s historic inability to defeat elite teams in major tournaments once again hurt them with a clinical France prevailing 2-1.
Argentina took on Croatia in the first Semi-Final, and Lionel Messi once again rose to the occasion as he inspired his team to their best performance of the World Cup to date. With Julian Alvarez providing good support in attack, Argentina comfortably eased to a 3-0 win to reach their fifth World Cup final. The other Semi-Final was much closer, with the plucky Moroccan underdogs taking the game to France despite falling behind early on. Ultimately, injuries to key players and a lack of cutting edge in attack, left an exhausted Morocco team unable to break down France, who eventually won 2-0 to reach their fourth World Cup final.
The Third-Place play off between Croatia and Morocco was an entertaining game, with Croatia edging out Morocco 2-1. For Croatia, it represented a third top three World Cup finish in just six tournaments as an independent nation. Morocco will be remembered as the heroes of Qatar 2022. Not only did they advance further than any African and Arab teams in history, but they did so by negotiating their way past a series of elite teams. They will surely lead the African challenge in 2026 too.
The 2022 World Cup Final was billed as a clash between the leading player of one generation in Lionel Messi and the leading player of the new generation in Kylian Mbappe. Both players took centre stage in the most incredible way. Argentina took advantage of a lethargic and anaemic French performance to take a 2-0 lead through Angel di Maria and a penalty from Messi. With time running out, it was time for Mbappe to come to the fore. He scored a penalty to reduce the deficit to 2-1 and then promptly scored a fantastic volley to draw France level and send the game into extra time. The game swung back to Argentina, with another goal from Messi. With minutes remaining, another penalty was awarded to France, and Mbappe stepped up to score his third. In doing so, Mbappe became just the second man to score a World Cup Final hat-trick, and also leapfrogged Messi to become the leading scorer of this World Cup and win the Golden Boot. With the game going to penalties, both leading men scored with the first kicks for each team. However, it was the Argentina team who proved more adept and with two misses for France, it was left to Gonzalo Montiel to score the winning penalty and secure Argentina’s third World Cup. It represented the fulfilment of a dream for Messi, arguably the greatest ever player, who could now add the World Cup to the astonishing haul of trophies in his career, and match the achievement of the late Diego Maradona in leading Argentina to the world title. Despite losing, Mbappe was also the outstanding player for his team, and you feel that this game marks the handing over of the baton as the world’s best. With all the drama and excitement of the game after a slow start to the match, this will surely go down in history as the World Cup’s greatest final.
The remarkable events in the 2022 World Cup Final add to what was a very successful World Cup. There were a number of entertaining games, lots of surprise results, and outstanding performances from unfancied teams. It is very healthy for the world game to see success for the likes of Japan, Australia and Morocco in particular and also vindicates the decision to take the World Cup to the Arab world. With the next World Cup to be co-hosted by Canada, the USA and Mexico, FIFA will hope to see some strong performances from teams in the North American confederation to build on the encouraging results from the African, Asian and Middle Eastern times this time around.
My player awards as follows:
Player of the Tournament – Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Young Player of the Tournament – Josko Gvardiol (Croatia)
Team of the Tournament –
Yassine Bounou (Morocco)
Achraf Hakimi (Morocco)
Theo Hernandez (France)
Josko Gvardiol (Croatia)
Romain Saiss (Morocco)
Sofiane Amrabat (Morocco)
Luka Modric (Croatia)
Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Antoine Griezmann (France)
Kylian Mbappe (France)
Julian Alvarez (Argentina)

Adam Ioannou