World Cup 2022 Updates: Following the upset of Argentina’s defeat against Saudi Arabia, two goalless draws featuring Denmark, Tunisia, Poland and Mexico and France’s comprehensive win against Australia, the 2022 FIFA World Cup action will shift to Group E and F. 2018 runner ups Croatia will begin their tournament against Morocco in the first match at 3:30 pm IST. 2014 champions Germany will then feature against Japan at 6:30 pm IST.
The 2010 winners will then play the fourth team from Group E, Costa Rica. In the last match of Wednesday, Canada will make their second appearance in the men’s FIFA World Cup since 1986 against Belgium.
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In their fight against time wasting, referees at FIFA World Cup add lengthy stoppage time after each half
Saudi Arabia’s Yasser Al Shahrani flown to Germany for surgery after collision with goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais
FIFA World Cup: Arab world revels in Saudi win over Argentina at World Cup
This saree shop in Kolkata has painstakingly made a World Cup themed saree that depicts a match between Brazil-Argentina.
Most expensive sports team sales:
🏈 Denver Broncos – £3.9BN
⚽️ Chelsea – £2.5BN
🏀 Brooklyn Nets – £2.35BN
⚾️ New York Mets – £2BN
Manchester United are valued at £5BN by the Glazer family. pic.twitter.com/kbdITQEsrA
Soccer German vice chancellor: ‘Opportunity is there’ to wear OneLove armbands German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck has said he would wear the multi-coloured ‘OneLove’ armband at the soccer World Cup and see what happened, but he took care to add it was not for him to decide what national team captain Manuel Neuer does. Habeck’s comments late on Tuesday came amid a row over the symbol in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal.
Asked by broadcaster ZDF whether players should wear the armband, Habeck replied: “I am not the media advisor of the DFB (German football association) and I am not Manuel Neuer but the opportunity is there.” “I’m a politician trying to do my job properly, but what would happen if it happened now? I would like to know and I would take my chances,” he added.
The comments come after soccer’s global governing body, FIFA, cracked down on players wearing the armbands in support of diversity at this year’s World Cup. In response, Rewe, one of Germany’s biggest supermarket chains, scrapped its advertising campaign with the DFB. -Reuters
The Qatar World Cup, which is gradually increasing tempo, is already in the record books for one reason – the stoppage time played at the end of the half. By the time Day 2 of the tournament ended, with a draw between the USA and Wales, the tournament had already witnessed four singles halves with most added time since 1966, when data keeping for this aspect began, according to stats firm Opta. The first half of England-Iran game saw 14.08 minutes of time added, while 13.08 minutes were played after the regulation time in the second half. More than 10 minutes were added towards the end of second half in the USA-Wales (10.34) and Netherlands-Senegal (10.03) matches as well. Collectively, the Qatar-Ecuador match lasted for 100 minutes and 18 seconds, England and Iran players were out on the field for 117 minutes, 16 seconds and the length of Netherlands-Senegal game was 102 minutes, 49 seconds. [Read More]
On his Instagram, two days back, Croatia’s biggest footballing star Luka Modric would post himself in the team jersey, hands stretched out, and with the note: We are ready. It’s been some journey for him, and his nation, to reach the pinnacle of the footballing world, when they played the final of the 2018 world cup at Russia. “Definitely, what we’ve been through in 2018 in Russia is unforgettable and indelible in my mind. Others can continue speaking about it but we need to put it aside and focus on what’s ahead,” Modric said yesterday. The start of his and the nation’s footballing dream couldn’t have been more arduous. Along a curve on a narrow winding road that slopes up to the Velebit mountain range, one of the two pathways that connected north and south of Croatia before a new highway came up in the last decade, there was a lone house where Luka Modric lived till he was six. One day in 1991, when his grandfather, also named Luka, went up the hill with his cattle, he was shot dead by local Serbian rebels. [Read More[
Group E! Your #FIFAWorldCup journey begins NOW 🇩🇪 🇯🇵 🇪🇸 🇨🇷 #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/3MAZw643Xt
The impressive bit is that Giroud joined Thierry Henry as France’s all-time leading goalscorer by scoring a brace as holders France recovered from a goal down to beat Australia 4-1 and get their defence of the World Cup off to a winning start. Just nine minutes into the match, Australia took a shock lead through Craig Goodwin and France, whose build-up to the tournament was marred by injuries to their stars like Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba and N’golo Kante, seemed like they were in trouble. [Read More]
Perhaps, the creative advertising heads had it right all along. For the crispy chips Lays advert aired in Saudi Arabia just before the world cup, they collected the nation’s best footballers to do superhero stuff. The goal keeper Mohammed Al-Owais, who would collect a yellow card for arguing with the referee after a close shave near the end of the dreamy game against Argentina, flies in from top of the stadium and rams his fists into the turf to send tremors that stop the strikers. But the goal of the advert is reserved for Salem-Al-Dawsari, the man who would score the goal of the world cup. In the fictional goal, he was cramped for room, as he was with Argentine defenders in real life, but somehow he lifted himself for a flamboyant scissor kick. [Read More]
Overjoyed fans erupted in celebration around the Arab world Tuesday after Saudi Arabia’s shocking World Cup win over Argentina. From Syria and Jordan to Gaza and Qatar — host of this year’s World Cup — fans basked in Saudi Arabia’s achievement, one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history. Immediately after their team’s 2-1 come-from-behind victory, Saudi fans who witnessed the match in person flooded the streets outside Lusail Stadium waving their country’s green and white flags while chanting and singing — and even hugging distraught Argentina fans. [Read More]
The 90-minute soccer match is turning into 100-plus at the World Cup — and that is what FIFA wants to give fans more entertainment.
The nearly 14 minutes added at the end of Argentina’s shocking 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday meant the five longest periods of stoppage time for a single half of soccer at any World Cup were all played in Qatar since Monday, according to statistics site Opta Joe. England and Iran went into the 15th minute of stoppage time in the first half Monday and the referee added almost 14 minutes in the second half. A head injury for Iran’s goalkeeper explained the first, but the second raised more eyebrows.
Even more surprising were the Netherlands-Senegal and the United States-Wales games each entering the 11th minute of time added at the end for the myriad types of stoppages in modern soccer. The American game, which started at 10 p.m. on Monday in Doha, ticked over into Tuesday when the final whistle blew. 
Saudi Arabia defender Yasser Al-Shahrani has suffered a fractured jaw, broken facial bones and internal bleeding, after his collision with goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais during their historic 2-1 win over Argentina on Tuesday. Al-Shahrani was eventually stretchered off and gave the thumbs up to the crowd as he left, but the extent of his injuries were revealed once he got to the hospital. Gulf Today has reported that t Mohammed Bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, ordered that the player be flown by private jet to Germany for treatment. [Read More]
Faced with the disturbing prospect of enduring an entire World Cup match with no alcohol after Qatari authorities banned the sale of beer in and around the stadiums, Matthew Wyatt did what any England fan would do in a similar emergency. He deployed his backup plan.
“He was under pressure to find an appropriate establishment,” explained his friend Mel Kenny.
One option was to consult the Qatar Alcohol Map, a list of drinking venues that had been devised by a concerned American and was spreading like samizdat as fans poured in to this tiny, mostly alcohol-free, nation. But Wyatt and Kenny instead made their way to the Red Lion, a pub discreetly tucked inside a Doha hotel, and one that, the Daily Star tabloid back home helpfully reported, offered “beer-starved England fans a boozy oasis in the desert.” It was already heaving with fans. [Read More]
There were no words exchanged at the locker room in the bowels of the Lusail stadium, dubbed the ‘vagina stadium’. At the mixed zone, where reporters wait for passing footballers, sullen Lionel Messi could only summon “they are dead” about his team-mates initial reaction of deep disappointment.
“The truth? Dead. It’s a very hard blow because we did not expect to start in this way.’ We expected to get the three points that would have given us calmness. Things happen for a reason. We have to prepare for what is coming, we have to win, and it depends on us,” he would say at the mixed zone. [Read Full Article]
Robert Lewandowski had never scored at the World Cup and Guillermo Ochoa simply refuses to pick the football from his own net when the biggest tournament comes around. Therefore it was no real surprise when the Mexican custodian saved the star striker’s penalty, the only real attempt either of the teams had on goal, in a 0-0 draw in their Group C encounter at Stadium 974 on Tuesday. The Poland-Mexico clash skyrocketed in importance after Saudi Arabia took one look at the script and decided that their role in this World Cup needed a rewrite or two. The game began exactly as one believed Poland would operate. They were content when Mexico kept the ball, allowed them to stay on the flanks and waited for crosses to be dropped in from those areas or the Mexicans to cut in and take a few pops at Wojciech Szczęsny’s goal. [Read More]
Jorge Valdano writes about football as eloquently as he played. Four years ago during the World Cup in Russia, the former Argentina playmaker, who is now one of football’s foremost philosophers, mused in his Guardian column about his love for the game. “We want calculations to be proven correct before the game has even started,” he wrote. “Big data and mathematical projections are making their way onto the field of play to tell us things I don’t want to know. We love football for its imprecision, its moments of genius and its mistakes.” Valdano’s words resonate more than ever at this World Cup. Just a couple of days ago, another great thinker of the game, Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s chief of global development, launched a data science and performance metric initiative that made football look less like a sport and more like a project for someone pursuing a Math major. Perhaps, Wenger has taken his moniker of “the Professor” a little too seriously. [Read Full Article]
Top goal scorers at the #FIFAWorldCup
🇪🇨 Enner Valencia – 2
🏴 Bukayo Saka – 2
🇫🇷 Olivier Giroud – 2
🇮🇷 Mehdi Taremi – 2
Showcase game- Belgium vs Canada (Group F)
It was on home soil at Euro 2000, where an indifferent Belgium team was knocked out of the group stage, that the seeds of their ‘golden generation’ were sown. Academies at all levels evolved their approach to be able to boost individual attacking talent, committing to a philosophy that relied on keeping the ball. At the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the world had taken notice of a talented, mercurial side of players in their ranks. They would lose in a tight quarterfinal to Argentina, followed by a lacklustre showing at Euro 2016, falling to Wales at the same stage. It was in Russia in 2018 where Belgium lived up to the billing, with some of the best players in the world – labelled the country’s ‘golden generation’ – in the form of their life. A team that included Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, and Dries Mertens. [Read More]
Hello and welcome to yet another exciting day of football action in FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. On Day 4 today, Croatia face Morocco, Germany clash against Japan, Spain to play Costa Rica and Belgium to close the day against Canada. So stay tuned for latest updates and analysis on FIFA 2022.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi reacts disappointed during the World Cup group C soccer match between Argentina and Saudi Arabia at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar. (AP)
EIGHT SECONDS short of 14 minutes in stoppage time, the referee blew his whistle. It could have been the most beautiful tune that Saudi Arabia’s tenacious wonder-men would have heard in their lives. Some of them knelt and kissed the boot-crushed grass of the Lusail Stadium. Some spread their arms to catch hold of their leaping teammates. Some sprinted to a section of the joyous crowd, furiously waving the country’s flag and hurling their jerseys.
How they found the energy to celebrate was baffling. For, they had shed every drop of sweat, stretched every sinew of muscle and expended every ounce of courage in grinding out one of the most shocking defeats in World Cup history. [Read more]
