By: Emmanuel Yao Nkansah
When the news about Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup broke, it was met with a lot of controversy and doubt. Would the small Arabic desert nation be able to host the tournament successfully?
News of the tournament happening during the months of November and December, the period within which the popular European leagues and tournaments really begin to ramp up the hype and excitement, the doubts intensified.
Could Qatar succeed in providing a visual and footballing spectacle so brilliant that it would provide football fans around the globe with the same levels of excitement that they would get from the Champions League, English Premier League and the other top football leagues?
Fast forward to 2022, all 64 matches have been played, the champions of the world have been crowned, and the curtains have closed on what has proved to be one of the most entertaining, dramatic, controversial and excellent World Cup tournaments ever.
Argentina beat France in a six-goal thriller with the victors finally overcoming the dogged resistance of their opponents in a penalty shootout.
Hattrick hero Kylian Mbappe’s heroic effort for France was unfortunately not enough to deny Lionel Messi his first ever World Cup trophy win. It was a match that epitomized the allure of football and was the perfect way to bring an end to a tournament that has constantly delivered top level entertainment right from the start.
For all the hullabaloo over the choice of Qatar as World Cup hosts, they certainly and emphatically proved their naysayers wrong by their successful hosting of the tournament. Having invested an estimated amount of USD 220 billion into the construction of facilities and stadia as well as other related necessities to host the tournament including constructing an entirely new city (Lusail) to host the final, the investment certainly proved to be worthwhile as the stadia were magnificent footballing edifices, the facilities for the World Cup visitors were top notch and the tournament proceeded and ended without any notable troubles.
Speaking of the main issue with regards to the World Cup, the football played, this year’s tournament more than delivered. There were some rather curious/troubling occurrences that to some extent left football fans around the world scratching their heads.
The curious occurrences being the high amounts of injury time added in several matches and more importantly, some of the glaringly dubious refereeing decisions. The erroneous decision by the VAR officials to disallow Ecuador’s Enner Valencia’s goal against the hosts in the 5th minute of the opening game of the tournament was only the first of a slew of questionable decisions by match officials. while these odd decisions are a bit of a stain on the on the tournament, they did not detract much from the overall enjoyability of the matches played.
There were a quite a number of upsets as well as a few shocking performances from some pre-tournament favorites. Eventual tournament champions Argentina succumbed to a shocking defeat against Saudi Arabia in their opening match, Japan defeated both Spain and Germany in their group fixtures, and Cameroon beat Brazil by a lone goal, these are just a few examples of some of the notable upsets that occurred. Germany crashed out of the tournament in the group stage along with Belgium and Uruguay and Mexico, making a quartet of nations expected to make it to the latter stages suffering unexpected failures.
The Atlas Lions of Morocco who made it all the way to the semifinals before eventually finishing in fourth place were the dark horses of the tournament as they racked up a series of upset wins against highly fancied opponents such as Portugal, Spain and Belgium en route to making history as the first African side to make it to the semifinal stage. Morocco and Senegal, who made it to the round of 16 where they were unceremoniously dumped out of the tournament by England, were the only African nations to make it out of the group stage with Ghana, Tunisia and Cameroon failing to advance. The Cameroonians beat Brazil by a lone goal in their final group fixture, while Tunisia beat France also by a lone goal in their final group fixture, two massive victories for unfancied sides. Cameroon also made a small bit of history by becoming the first ever African side to defeat Brazil.
While the Black Stars of Ghana failed to make it out of the group stages, surprisingly or unsurprisingly depending on your point of view, they did provide lots of entertainment and drama in the three matches they played. First, a controversial loss against Portugal before overcoming the fancied-to-win Koreans in their second group fixture. On the cusp of possible qualification as long as they managed a win or draw against Uruguay which would be sweet revenge for their quarterfinal exit at the hands of the Uruguayans in the 2010 edition of the tournament, they failed and lost the match by two goals to nil. They may have lost the battle and blown their chances of qualification, but they gained a measure of revenge as they held strong against their opponents preventing them from scoring a third which effectively eliminated them from the tournament as well as the South Koreans beat Portugal in their final group fixture. Luis Suarez wept; Ghanaian fans celebrated, they might have crashed out, but they dragged Uruguay down with them. Sinking the ship to kill the captain seems to be a pretty apt description of this pyrrhic footballing ‘victory’.
There were tears aplenty in this year’s World Cup. Tears of joy and also tears of pain. Luis Suarez wept, Cristiano Ronaldo wept, Neymar Jnr wept, Son Heung Min wept, as their dreams of title glory shattered before their eyes. Robert Lewandowski was unable to carry the Polish team on his back to shine at this year’s edition in what is most likely his swansong on the international stage, Luka Modric inspired his Croatian teammates but they were ultimately unable to claim the gold, settling for the bronze instead. Gareth Bale and his Welsh mates will be disappointed with their World Cup outing. Eden Hazard and his Belgian teammates definitely know they could have and should have done much better than they did at this year’s tournament. Some talents shone brightly, others shone not-so-brightly, and quite a few notable names ‘ghosted’.
Ronaldo failed in what perhaps was his final bid to win the one title he coveted but was yet to claim and wept after Portugal’s quarterfinal elimination against Morocco. With his only rival for the title of ‘Greatest of All Time’, Lionel Messi, claiming the World Cup trophy, that debate has seemingly been finally put to rest with Messi coming out on top in this race between two of the best players to ever grace football pitches. The future of football is bright with talents like Mohammed Kudus, Jude Bellingham, Youssoufa Moukoko, and Kylian Mbappe showing the world glimpses in some cases of just what they are and will be capable of in the years to come. As one era comes to an end with the careers of both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo entering their twilight periods, another gets into full swing as Kylian Mbappe who will most likely be in the running for more honors and perhaps more World Cup titles as well other young football talents take center stage.
Qatar 2022 was a festival of football, and a very beautiful and magnificent one at that. While some non-football related matters continue to dominate some sections of the conversation about this tournament, as far as the action and entertainment is concerned, this year’s edition of the FIFA World Cup delivered excellently and to an extent overdelivered. FIFA president Gianni Infantino labeled this year’s tournament as the greatest ever and whether you agree or disagree, there is no denying that Qatar were terrific World Cup hosts and gave us a great spectacle, a feast for football loving eyes, one that even the casuals can look upon with appreciation. May the next edition of the tournament be as good as or even better than this year’s tournament.
