Matchday 1 of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in review
Saudi Arabia stuns Argentina while Japan makes their own headlines by defeating Germany; big wins for England and Spain
After a glittering opening ceremony, Qatar and Ecuador kicked off to kick-start the FIFA World Cup 2022. Qatar was well, pretty poor, and lacked coordination between themselves. Valencia, the Ecuador skipper took full advantage of the hosts' unseen marking and powered Ecuador to a 2–0 win.
England were on fire against Iran. Gareth Southgate’s men played fluid football, looking like an actual contender for the crown. Bellingham looked so comfortable on his World Cup debut as if he played in a couple of world cups beforehand. The BVB man was among the names on the scoresheet as well as Bukayo Saka who scored a couple of superb goals. Rashford, Grealish, and Sterling all joined in as the Three Lions racked up 6. Iran got 2 back through Mehdi Teremi but they were little more than just consolation.
The Dutch vs Senegal was a tight game as expected. It looked like anyone’s game but a mistake from Mendy in Senegal’s goal gifted Gakpo a goal to which the Netherlands added on in stoppage time. 2–0 final score as Van Gaal’s side took home all 3 points.
Undoubtedly, it was Saudi Arabia who caused the biggest upset of the matchday. They stunned Lionel Messi’s men sending shockwaves all around the globe. La Albiceleste took an early lead through you-know-who (Messi, of course) but Saudis were in no mood of giving up. They played bravely and in no mood to roll over, they replied with a couple of extremely well-taken goals, the second one was actually a brilliant goal by the Saudi skipper, Salem Aldawsari. Argentina were denied thrice in total by the offside flag and otherwise, when they raided forward, Owais, the Saudi goalkeeper repelled all their efforts in a man-of-the-match performance. Truly, this was an upset for the ages.
Mexico vs Poland and Denmark vs Tunisia resulted in goalless draws with all the goalkeepers coming out on top, especially in the former’s case as Ochoa (Yes, he’s back) saved Lewandowski’s penalty.
All eyes were on how France would react after losing key players like Benzema and Kimpembe to injuries. An early goal for the Socceroos threatened another upset but Giroud, aging like a fine wine, stepped up on the biggest stage. His brace made him Les Blues' joint all-time top scorer, a phenomenal achievement. Mbappe and Rabiot each chipped in with a goal and an assist to make sure France got off to a good start with a comfortable 4–1 win.
Morocco vs Croatia was yet another goalless draw. Modric’s men dominated the game yet couldn’t find that one moment of real quality that was needed to find the back of the net. The Africans, led by Saiss played well, good enough to gain a point — they’ll take that.
Now onto Germany vs Japan — Germany started well and repeatedly caused Japan problems through Raum and the left back also won the penalty. Gundogan scored from the spot to give Hansi Flick’s men a deserved lead which really should have been doubled. Musiala created a couple of chances out of nothing with his outstanding ability to dribble and maneuver space for himself but the Bayern Munich midfielder couldn’t apply the finish. Germans regretted not taking their chances when they came. A change of formation for Japan from 4–2–3–1 to 3–4–3 made them more threatening on the counter. Substitutes Minamino and Doan combined for the first goal and Asana added a superb second to help Japan to a memorable win over the European heavyweights.
Spain took full advantage of Germany’s slip-up by putting a staggering 7 past a helpless Costa Rica side while playing some mesmerizing football. Gavi and Pedri dominated the midfield and the whole Spanish side, as a unit, was just brilliant, a treat to watch.
Belgium vs Canada proved to be a 1–0 win for Belgium. Canada really deserved better though, they fought hard. 21 shots on goal, yet no goal for Canadians. Davies's penalty was saved by Courtois and I know it's easy to say that David should have taken the penalty but I feel that we should give credit to Courtois, this was his 5th penalty save of 2022, he could have potentially saved David’s penalty too. Overall, Canada was largely very impressive and Belgium were well below their best. One mistake — failure to deal with a long ball over the top from Alderweireld which resulted in Batshuayi scoring — cost Canada badly.
Embolo scored a fine goal to get the Swiss a victory over Cameroon and get their 1st points off the FIFA World Cup 2022.
Uruguay vs South Korea resulted in yet another goalless draw. Both teams matched each other and most of the time, the defenses came out on top. Fede Valverde nearly won it for Uruguay in the 89th minute but his shot came back off the post. Both sides opened their account with a point.
Portugal vs Ghana, particularly the second half proved to be a classic game of football. Cristiano Ronaldo (Who else but him?) scored to give Portugal a 1 goal cushion early in the second half. With this goal, Ronaldo became the first-ever men’s player to score in 5 consecutive world cups, yet another record in the glittering career of the Portuguese skipper. Ghana were always a threat on the counter and they got back on level terms as Kudos set up Ayew to net the equalizer. The game really opened up and the parity didn’t last for long. Bruno Fernando’s assisted Joao Felix and Rafael Leao in quick succession as Fernando Santos’s men imposed their supremacy. Ghana showed great character to make it 3–2 and could have even made it 3–3 had Inaki Williams not slipped. At the end of a thoroughly entertaining game, it was Portugal who bagged all 3 points.
Matchday 1 was wrapped up in Lusail stadium as Brazil took on Serbia. It was a dominant performance from the South Americans, not them at their very best yet enough to get the win. Serbia didn’t offer much threat going forward. Mitrovic was largely isolated, and even when there were chances to give Mitrovic something to attack, Serbia lacked that final ball. A brace from Richarlison, R9, as you might say after his 2nd goal. His first was a poacher’s goal but the second one was just exquisite. Initially, it felt that he miscontrolled the pass from Vinicius Jr but boy, how he scored with a scissor kick. The placement was picture-perfect giving Milinkovic-Savic no chance whatsoever. Richarlison had his doubters but he has silenced all of them in some style with the potential goal of the tournament.
So that's it, folks, that's a review of matchday 1 for you! I hope you enjoyed and thanks a lot for reading!
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