An Overview of the World Cup 2022

While it has been thrilling to watch the World Cup, it is coming to an end! Let’s go over a few things about the cup!

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 takes place from November 20 to December 18. It is the 22nd World Cup and this year it takes place in Qatar, making the first time a World Cup takes place in Western Asia/Middle East.   

Now, the tournament is almost over leaving us with barely a few days to enjoy what is left of the cup. Let’s dive into more of the cup, and some thoughts from Lotus. 

Recap

The 32 teams that participated in this year’s World Cup are:

• Argentina (ARG)
• Australia (AUS)
• Belgium (BEL)
• Brazil (BRA)
• Cameroon (CMR)
• Canada (CAN)
• Costa Rica (CRC)
• Croatia (CRO)
• Denmark (DEN)
• Ecuador (ECU)
• England (ENG)
• France (FRA)
• Germany (GER)
• Ghana (GHA)
• Iran (IRN)
• Japan (JPN)
• Korea Republic (KOR)
• Mexico (MEX)
• Morocco (MAR)
• Netherlands (NED)
• Poland (POL)
• Portugal (POR)
• Qatar (QAT)
• Saudi Arabia (KSA)
• Senegal (SEN)
• Serbia (SRB)
• Spain (ESP)
• Switzerland (SUI)
• Tunisia (TUN)
• United States (USA)
• Uruguay (URU)
• Wales (WAL)
  

As of writing this article, here’s our latest updated bracket:

Some of the Stadiums where games were played include:

Thoughts from Mr. Pang 

Being a coach for the High school boys’ soccer team, Mr. Pang is very passionate about the sport. Mr. Pang was rooting for the U.S., Japan, and Morocco as they are a big underdog teams. He said it was tough to see the U.S. get eliminated as they had the youngest team in the tournament. He told me, “the game that they lost, they had more possession more shots, more shots on target but it’s clear that they lacked a little bit of quality and the Netherlands knocked us out so it’s good that we got to the stage we got to, hoped for a little more, the youngest team in the tournament. It’s a great thing when you think in 4 years the World Cup will be here in the U.S. Mexico and Canada so bodes well for the future.” What amazed him is how many students are interested in the World Cup, something he described as an “interesting geopolitical climate.” He predicted that Brazil was going to win the World Cup. And for the next World Cup, he hopes to see it in person as it will take place here in the Americas. 

Thoughts from Mr. Romagnoli

Mr. Romagnoli, our P.E. teacher was also willing to offer his opinions on the cup. He was going for the U.S. and Argentina. “I think so far they’ve been doing pretty well, I’m content with the USA. I knew they weren’t gonna get too far. I’m just glad they got out of the group stage,” Mr. Romagnoli responded when asked how he felt about the U.S. team. He said that Argentina has to show up and if they play well they will advance and if they don’t then they won’t. The Morocco and Saudi Arabia teams have amazed Mr. Romagnoli. He also mentioned that the Richarlison goals have amazed him.

For predictions, he predicted that Brazil and Portugal would win. And of course, he wishes that Argentina wins. In the next World Cup, he hopes to see the same consistency with the refereeing and offside rule being changed a bit. He also hopes to be able to go and watch the game live for the next World Cup.

Thoughts from Lotus Students

Arthur, a high school student commented that he is going for Brazil and if not Brazil, then Argentina. He believes that his teams have been doing phenomenally. When asked what surprised him he responded, “You know what I’m surprised by? How Morocco made it this far, how Portugal has been playing super good even when Ronaldo has been benched.” He stated that he wants to see Messi win a World Cup as he has not yet won one. For what he wants to see in the next World Cup he exclaimed, “I wanna see Ochoa get a damn World Cup trophy. Man is built like a wall but its team are built like- a paper in water… I’d like to see Mexico qualify for the round of 16.” Interesting comment, but a welcome one. 

Another fellow Lotus student told me that they were rooting for Brazil and Mexico. When asked about Mexico’s elimination, they said “it hurts,” as watery tears poured out causing their eyeballs to turn into waterfalls. For Brazil, they thought that they were powerful. They stated how they were really amazed how the underrated teams were making it so far into the tournament. Everyone seemed to be taken off guard by teams like Morocco this year. When asked about the next World Cup, all they said was that they wanted to see more exciting goals. I mean, don’t we all?   

That’s all soccer fans and those with short attention spans! Who do you think is gonna take the cup home? Place your bets and hope for the best.