The curtain fell on the group stage competitions of the 2022 World Cup, which witnessed a huge number of surprises.
World Cup 2022which is hosted by Qatar, was launched last November 20, and is scheduled to continue until December 18.
The current version of the World Cup witnessed several surprises, represented by the fall of the seniors and the candidates for the title in front of less powerful teams, and perhaps the most prominent of these surprises was the victory of Saudi Arabia over Argentina (2-1), Tunisia over France (1-0), and Morocco over Belgium (2-0).
Among the resounding surprises was also the early exit of Germany and Belgium from the group stage, despite their presence among the favorites to compete for the title.
“Al Ain Sports” sheds light in the following lines on 4 reasons for the relatively subdued appearance of the big European teams in the 2022 World Cup, and on the other hand the glow of the young and struggling ones from Africa and Asia.
public support
Naturally, the Arab teams received great public support for the 2022 World Cup matches, which will be held in Qatar.
Pictures and videos that have spread on social media platforms since the start of the tournament showed that the great encouragement for the Arab Quartet (Qatar, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Morocco) in the 2022 World Cup came mainly from the Arab communities residing in Qatar of various nationalities.
Also, the presence of the tournament in a country at a close distance from the Arab countries made it easier for Arab fans to move to the stadiums.
Justice for all
The 2022 World Cup is witnessing the use of the “semi-automatic offside” system, a new technology that allows referees in the video room “VAR” to make more accurate decisions in cases that are likely to be offside, relying on advanced technological methods.
The new technology, in addition to the old methods such as the “video assistant referee” and “goal line”, provides a greater degree of justice for all parties and ensures that one team is not favored at the expense of another as much as possible, which allows the struggling teams to confront the adults peer to peer.
Side issues
It cannot be overlooked that a large number of European teams participating in the 2022 World Cup have implicated themselves in preoccupying themselves with side issues not related to football.
The German national team came at the head of these teams, after carrying the banner of defending gay rights in the global event, defying warnings from several parties on this matter, led by the International Federation of Football Associations.
Before the start of their match against Japan in the first round, the German national team players put their hands on their mouths in protest against preventing their captain, Manuel Neuer, from wearing the gay support badge, by decision of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA).
This decision was directed at 7 European teams that tried to wear the aforementioned badge, namely England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland, along with Germany.
It should be noted that 4 of these 7 teams were eliminated from the World Cup in the group stage (Germany, Belgium, Wales and Denmark).
convergence of levels
Playing the World Cup in the middle of the season brings the technical levels between the teams participating in the tournament closer, as most players are at the top of their level at this time of the season.
It is worth noting that many of the big teams decided not to risk playing a lot of friendlies before the start of the tournament, for fear of injury to the stars.
