WORLD CUP 2022!!



 yOOOO


Yoooooo

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 ran from Nov 20 to Dec 18 in 2022, it FLEW by but understandably since it was literally like less than 30 days. It wasn't in the summer due to heat concerns in Qatar so they pushed it back to November. 


It's been a week since the BEST WORLD CUP FINAL IN HISTORY that I unregrettably woke up at 7 AM for.


Best Group Stage Moments

  • Qatar being trash. Qatar faced a ton of backlash for being a terrible host that offered unethical working conditions, wages, etc. It just seemed super sketchy for this small city-like country to be hosting 4 massive arenas, and they were still preparing some of the venues just days before the tournament was starting. Through all of this, it's safe to say that it's cool to see the middle-east host a World Cup, it's very unique to see the blend of their culture and clothing into the world cup presentation, and that aspect of the tournament was always refreshing to see. Unfortunately, they were the first host to lose their opening game in the world cup, and deservedly so as their soccer team was very underdeveloped and ended up literally being 1 of 2 teams that didn't win a single game (the other was Canada)
  • Saudi Arabia beating Argentina 2-1. For Argentina, this was their last world cup with Messi on the national team as he would become too old in 2026. Losing this first game made me really stressed, as judging from this alone I shifted that Argentina wouldn't make it far in this tournament. I predicted they would make the knockouts, but nowhere near the top 8 or top 4. This victory for Saudi Arabia, although involving like 2-3 Argentina offside overturns, brought the entire nation and Middle-East into a FRENZY. They declared that day a Saudi Arabian national holiday. Qatar is also pretty much Saudi Arabia home court because of how close Saudi Arabia is to Qatar.
  • Ochoa's brilliance again against Poland. Ochoa would save a goal against Lewandowski that ultimately prevented Mexico from going down 0-1 and led to the game finishing in a 0-0 draw. I didn't watch this game, but I did watch all the memes on twitter about how ochoa always just rises up in the world cup as a hero. I was a big fan of him from when I watched the world cup in 2014, and seeing him do the same thing 8 years later was so heartwarming. Mexico ended up putting their best effort and failing to advance after tying in GD and stuff with Poland, which was sad, but it's whatever.
  • Spain 7-0 against Costa Rica. I didn't watch this one but I thought it was worth mentioning
  • South Korea vs. Ghana. highlights. I remember watching the highlights during 3rd period civics and being like WOW that was a good game and just based off the highlights. I felt bad for South Korea as they couldn't complete the comeback, but it's whatever. They also called off the game before South Korea was gonna take the penalty kick and the entire South Korean team got rly mad lol especially the coach who isnt even korean and is white or something.
  • USA vs. Iran. I REALLY wanted USA to win this, especially cuz like just days before this, US stood for Iranian protestors in controversy. It would be symbolic for USA to win this one, but mostly because we needed to win in order to advance, and Christian Pulisic made a GREAT GOAL that ultimately won it for the USA to advance to the round of 16. 
  • My personal favorite goal from the 2022 world cup, Brazil's Richarlison scissor kick goal against Serbia.
  • Group H MADNESS. What A DAY. Let me break down this insane day
    • This is the group before they played their last matches(W-T-L):
      • Portugal 2-0-0
      • Ghana 1-0-1
      • Uruguay  0-1-1
      • South Korea 0-1-1
    • And basically from the South Korean perspective, if they want to advance, they need:
      • To win against Portugal
      • and for Uruguay to beat Ghana so South Korea can claim the 2nd place spot and advance
      • But ALSO, for Uruguay to not beat Ghana by THAT much since South Korea needs a higher tie-breaker in Goal Differential in order to advance over Uruguay.
    • It sounds like a miracle... but all three conditions were met.
    • What. A. Day. To be a Korean. Absolutely spectaculor. What an amazing day, what a miracle.
    • No one expected South Korea to advance to the finals, but they beat portugal in a desperate ADDITIONAL-TIME GOAL TO WIN 2-1. I WATCHED THIS REPLAY AND THE MOMENTS LEADING UP TO IT AND IT'S JUST AMAZING. Portugal had so much possession, they were dominating, the Koreans looked burnt out, gassed, tired, hopeless. But out of a misplay on a Portuguese corner kick Son-Heung Min FOUND HIMSELF RUNNING ON THE FAST BREAK and then DECISIVE dime to that guy to finish off the play. What a MIRACLE for KOREAN REPUBLIC to advance. 
    • SK vs. Portugal and Ghana vs. Uruguay were playing at the same time, and at that moment where SK scored, Ghana realizd that if they maintained their GD against Uruguay (they were losing 0-2), Ghana would drag Uruguay down and both teams wouldn't advance. Ghana and Uruguay ITSELF have so much beef and history dating back to the 2010 Saurez handball in the quarter finals. Group H was undoubtedly the CRAZIEST GROUP ever. Wow.
  • Morocco and Japan TOPPING their groups and playing fantastic. I was a big Morocco supporter because ProNaN from binarysearch.com was from Casablanca. It was so cool to see them advance....this was just the beginning in hindsight!!!!
  • Croatia vs. Belgium. Highlights. I've seen the LAKAKA meme on instagram reels before, but today was the DAY I witnessed Lukaku's demise. I watched the highlights and from the MOMENT they subbed on Lukaku he played TRASH. I just can't imagine being a teammate, it was hilarious. This guy was in point blank range from the goal and tried to chest bump it in at 0.05 mph. Even I wouldve finished that play with all due respect. The game ended in a 0-0 draw and LUkaku's CHOKEJOB must've been so depressing for the nation of Belgium as his shot attempts were straight comical. The score coud've easily been 3-0 or something if this guy actually played well. This highlight video is absolutely HILARIOUS LMAO.
  • Canada vs. Morocco. Highlights. I remember watching these highlights and laughing so hard after whatever type of collapse Canada had just 3 minutes into the game. It's like they had a miscommunication on 8 different levels lmao. I just thought that goal was worth mentioning. 
  • Polish goalkeeper blocking Messi's PENALTY ATTEMPT, I remember watching that in Civics class. If this was the way Argentina exited the world cup, with a Messi penalty miss, that would be SAD....  but turns out this was the best game to miss a penalty if they were to choose, as they continued to dominate. They had multiple great shot attempts but ultimately made two of them to win the game 2-0
That's all I remember from my experience watching the world cup in the group stages as I scrolled thru them. Very entertaining with lots of upsets, funny moments, and epic goals.

Best Round of 16 Moments

  • Netherlands beating USA 3-1, USA just was clearly not utilizing their talent enough, they looked trapped, and ultimately defeated. I remember when it was 2-0 and US scored that spinning goal, I knew that it wouldn't matter highlights
  • Brazil beating South Korea 4-1. Their team dancing after every goal was straight hilarious, I also remember watching this during civics class. Pretty much every Civics class I was watching world cup. highlights
  • Portugal beating Switzerland 6-1 after benching ronaldo. THe guy who started instead of Ronaldo, I think Ramos or something got a hat trick in a speak out game. highlights
  • Japan being ATROCIOUS in penalty kicks. I remember watching these penalty kicks in the beginning of 2nd period in AP Human Geo. I literally had my computer out during passing period before that. Japan went out so SAD with the misery of penalty kicks, but croatia deserved to advance over them tbh. Still would've been cool to see Japan in quarterfinals. highlights
  • THE VERY NEXT DAY in AP Human Geo AGAIN, we watch penalty kicks from Morocco vs. Spain. I literally had my computer out during the passing period before this AGAIN. But this time I ended up on the winning end as Morocco won the penalties DECISIVELY with the heroics of the moroccan goalkeeper!! 
    • ProNaN from binarysearch and I celebrated together as Morocco won that game against Spain with such gritty defense. highlights

Best Quarterfinals Moments

  • Croatia MIRACLE beating brazil on penalties. Neymar scoring that monumental goal in extra time to lead 1-0 made me SO HAPPy as i watched that during math class im pretty sure... but then croatia equalized, and brazil choked the penalties. I still wish Brazil advanced, but maybe they would've beaten Argentina or something, so whatever. Still so sad, I hope neymar plays in the 2026 world cup.
  • Argentina THROWING AWAY their 2-0 lead. The first 80 minutes of this game was comfortable Argentina offense and defense, but they THREW AWAY THEIR LEAD and left the door WIDE OPEN for Netherlands to cut it to 2-1, and then make the EQUALIZER IN THE 90 + 11'TH MINUTE OF ADDITIONAL TIME. One of the CLUTCHEST moments of the world cup. There was also a ton of beef throughout this game from Messi's antics to that Argentina guy kicking the ball into the Netherlands bench LOL that was so funny. 
    • I literally remember watching this during lunch. Our entire lunch table was huddled around Allen's small iphone, I remember being like "why are we still watching this game" cuz it was pretty much over.... but then THE DUTCH CONVERTED THE FREE KICK. THEY PASSED IT UNDERNEATH PAST THE GROUND BLOCK GUY AND THE FINISH. LITERALLY SCORED IN THE LAST POSSIBLE PLAY OF THE GAME. Literally everyone thought that the game was over pretty much. For Netherlands to equalize that was absolutely insane. We watched extra time in music theory NERVOUSLY. At the end of the day, Argentina won, but I still remember being absolutely stressed for Argentina to blow away the whole game like that. Holy cow.
    • highlights
  • Morocco beating Portugal to advance as the first African team to make the Semifinals. Absolutely GLORIOUS. I already elaborated on how loyal I am of a Moroccan fan and this just makes me even more proud. I didn't watch this game, I forgot why but probably because i was unable to.
    • Portugal had 74% possession yet lost the game 1-0, so it was probably a very similar game plan as the Spain match. Cold, dirty, scrappy defense to frustrate the offense, and then doing their best on the fast breaks. And this time they converted on one of those opportunities to win 1-0!! 
  • France beating England 2-1. I didn't watch this game but Kane CHOKED his second penalty kick. Must suck to be him honestly, they could've potentially won in ET/PK.

Best Semifinals Moments

  • Argentina absolutely CLAPPING CROATIA. I didn't watch this game somehow lol.
  • France beating Morocco. Only watched the highlights, France seemd to play exceptional defense as Morocco had some solid attempts. Mbappe had such great control on that second goal to assist it.

Best Thirdplace Moments

  • Didn't watch this game, no reason to

Best Finals moments

  • Amazing. I woke up at 6:50 to watch this and I LIVED THIS GAME.
  • highlights
  • It's been like 3 weeks, but I remember so vividly just watching this in my room and then in the living room. Argentina for like the first 75 minutes was pretty much MAD CHILLING. They looked so great and they looked like they had so much control over the game. The first goal was a penalty by Messi drawn masterfully by Di Maria. That guy is just so likable man. 
  • Then the second goal was SERIOUSLY AMAZING. Literally BEAUTIFUL. The ball movement across the entirety of the pitch as literally like everyone contributed. Absolutely SENSATIONAL goal. 
  • di maria goal. This angle is MAGICAL. Man what a GOAL
  • I literally remember going out of my room to the living room to watch Mbappe's penalty in the 79th minute, my dad was like "france still lost" and then literally like a minute after that France has their OWN MAGNIFICENT GOAL ON DISPLAY. Great ball movement, control, and just straight up trust. This game revolves around so much trust for ur teammates, it's so beautiful. Mbappe volley'd that which was the perfect play as the defense was scrambling. Amazing goal, but I was very unhappy because ARGENTINA DESERVED TO WIN THIS.
  • SO then, it went to additional time and then extra time. Messi scored it at 3-2. There's so many moments that I cna't find footage of. THe 5 minute highlight from FOX sports is an absolute DISGRACE to this game...it's THE FINAL GAME WHY ARE YOU MAKING IT 5 MINUTES LONG. IT WAS EXTRA TIME AND PENALTY KICKS WITH 6 GOALS SCORED HOW DO YOU THINK U CAN FIT THAT IN 5 MINUTES. There's so many moments that are dug up, such as Messi's shot attempt that would've been PERFECT at the end of regulation time. Argentina would've won 3-2 and Messi would've won the golden boot too, but more importantly it would've been a COLD goal to win the WORLD CUP. Then there was Martinez' save. I literally watched that play and couldn't breathe. I thoguht France had that. It would've been depressing if France scored that goal. If you just think about it...
  • I definitely missed so much, but there was so much emotion in that game, and with 6 goals it was highly entertaining too. Seriously the best World Cup Final of all time, and to me, the best soccer/futbol game of all time.

Lyric(s) of the Post: 
"Look who we are, we are the dreamers"
 - Jungkook Dreamers


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