FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: an Overview of the Highlights

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the 2022 World Cup happening in Qatar. It took place from November 20th to December 18th and it was held over a reduced time frame of 29 days with 64 matches played in eight venues across five cities. For those of you who aren’t quite familiar with the format, here’s a quick breakdown of how it works:

The FIFA World Cup is an international soccer tournament held every four years that features teams from countries all around the world. The format of the tournament has changed over the years, but currently the World Cup consists of 32 teams that are divided into 8 groups of 4. During the group stage, each team plays the other teams in its group once, with 3 points awarded for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage, which consists of a single-elimination bracket. The knockout stage begins with the round of 16, where the group stage winners play the runners-up from a different group. This is followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final. The team that wins the final match is crowned the World Cup champion.

Though there were 64 games that were played over the span of around a month, this article highlights some of the more notable games, records, and accomplishments.

Games:

Morocco 1 - 0 Portugal

After their 6-1 win over Switzerland, Morocco shocked yet another team–having beat teams like Belgium and Spain–and became the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Germany 1 - 2 Japan

With Germany 1-0 up and threatening to score several more with 20 minutes remaining, no one gave Japan a fighting chance; however, after manager Hajime Moriyasu made several substitutions to try and change the game, Ritsu Doan equalized, before former Arsenal forward Takuma Asana scored the winner.

Argentina 1 - 2 Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia pulled off one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history after beating two-time winners Argentina. The game started with a penalty goal by Lionel Messi; however, shortly after Saudi Arabia coach’s halftime speech Saleh Al-Shehri and Salem Al-Dawsari scored goals to turn the game around. Mohammed Al Owais also made several huge saves to ensure Saudi Arabia clung on for the win.

Netherlands 2 - 2 Argentina (3 - 4 on penalties)

This enthralling quarter-final featured: 17 yellow cards, one red after the final whistle, four goals and three missed penalties in the shootout.

We also had some Messi magic that led to an opener scored by Nahuel Molina, Leandro Paredes trying to kill the Netherlands bench, and a leaping header from Wout Weghorst before he scored the 100th minute equalizer.

Emi Martinez also came up big on penalties to help Argentina win.

Argentina 3 - 3 France (4 - 2 on penalties)

Now widely regarded as one of the best World Cup finals of all time, this match had everything: 2 goals in the first half followed by 2 goals in succession (80 and 81st minute) by Kylian Mbappe to equalize. Then a second goal by Lionel Messi and a hat trick penalty by Mbappe to tie it again. After a 4 - 2 penalty shootout win by Argentina, Messi, at last, won the World Cup.

Although there were many other games that will be talked about for years to come, these were games that were most memorable. Below are some of the records, first-times, and accomplishments that took place during the 2022 World Cup:

First time Saudi won their opening match in a World Cup final competition

Highest number of goals at a FIFA World Cup