Well, it is just that time of year.
Amongst the crazed Black Friday shopping sprees and the great dread of seeing all your extended family for Christmas dinner, the sport of football is being played once again.
The Qatar 2022 World Cup is certainly a historically unprecedented event, with underdog Saudi Arabia blasting Messi’s Argentina and Japan securing some interesting victories against Spain and Germany. All this and more makes the 2022 World Cup one to watch out for.
And then he asked, “is football coming home?”
With England now in the quarter-finals and leading-in with some fantastic goals and 3-0 wins against tough opponents, this begs the ageless question; is football coming home (this time)?
Although one can never be sure, especially with certain 2022 performances in mind, there is a decent chance the team can pull up their socks and bring home a trophy for the first time since the 1966 FIFA World Cup, a date far back in the minds of even our most senior fans.
What we know so far:
Early promise was in the hearts of England supporters as they secured a landslide, 6-2 victory against the Iranian national team. Although not a necessarily difficult match for a star-studded cast of Kane, Graelish and Sterling, this was enough.
Moments like these give both hope and a metaphorical torch in the darkness for many a Briton to grasp as proof of a drive to play well and finally take home a trophy again, perhaps even loading up their phone’s best sportsbook apps to catch a hit of that action themselves.
What we didn’t expect to happen, or did we?
Despite a fantastic performance against team Iran, all eyes were on the upcoming match between the U.S. and the UK. Meeting only three times and for the first time on a world cup stage since 2010 is not the strangest of occurrences at first, yet when coupled with the fact that England has never won a match against team USA, and even lost 2-0 in the Brazil 1950 World Cup, the statistics become telling.
The Qatar 2022 World Cup game between England and the USA proved to finally be a third-times-lucky chance for the UK to settle the score. Similar to the results of the 2010 world cup, the two teams disappointingly drew 0-0, leaving team USA to at least revel in their comical chants of “it’s called soccer.”
Despite the upsetting score, England pulled through another two satisfying 3-0 victories against Wales and Senegal in the bag, succeeding to a quarter-finals spot with France, and proving to fans of team England that they still have it in them to play a great game.
What can we expect?
Although France is favored for the upcoming match behind the charismatic main man Kylian Mbappe, it is not by much. Both teams are predicted to be in the top-four tournament finish and the match against their French rival is just another cornerstone in their route to the finals. The competition to the mentioned finals, however, is a lot more fraught with danger than imagined.
The Last Dance (again, maybe)
Although not an explicit, contractual statement from any of the players thus far, the ever-competing duo of Messi and Ronaldo expect that the 2022 Qatar world cup may be their last. Taking home a final trophy, a la Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls winning the 1996 NBA Championship, is an excellent career moment and perhaps a great time for a documentary and a well earned retirement. Although, even Michael Jordan came back to play with the Wizards
The fact of the matter is that there is a huge incentive for Argentina and Portugal to try hard to win the World Cup. Although this was definitely present before, age plays a huge factor here, with Messi reaching for 36 and Ronaldo just 37. If England are to go through to the finals, they will have to strip two of the most competent players of all time and their star-studded team from a chance at a last World Cup win.
As it stands…
The Three Lions have a chance to take home a trophy, but not without some serious playing. The team itself is brilliant as usual, but perhaps oftentimes lacking the drive that other team’s seem to have them fighting hand-to-hand for a chance at the prestigious cup.
“To win the world cup, you win it one bit at a time”
- Julen Lopetegui
The competition this year is devilishly tough, between the South American strongholds of Brazil and Argentina, to the wild-cards over-achievers of Japan and the Netherlands, surely ready to put forward a good fight. We will certainly be watching, or perhaps simulating, the upcoming England-France match with absolutely national importance.
