[한국강사신문 한상형 기자] According to Yonhap News, all 16 teams out of 32 that participated in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar have been featured.
Korea is also one of 16 teams that passed the group stage. The 2022 FIFA World Cup, which opened on November 21st Korean time, finished the group stage on December 3rd. Sixteen countries, half of the participating countries, are preparing for a ‘single game’ by going through the group stage.
A total of 8 matches will be held in the round of 16, starting with the match between the Netherlands and the United States at the Khalifa International Stadium on the 4th at 0:00 Korean time.
Argentina-Australia (4 am on the 4th), France-Poland (0:00 am on the 5th), England-Senegal (4 am on the 5th), and Japan-Croatia (0:00 am on the 6th).
Korea, who have advanced to the round of 16 as runners-up in Group H, will face Brazil, who are number 1 in the FIFA rankings and the strongest candidate for the championship, at Stadium 974 at 4:00 am. the 6th
After that, Morocco-Spain (0:00 on the 7th) and Portugal-Switzerland (4:00am on the 7th) will take place.
The theme of Qatar’s World Cup group stage was ‘Asia’s blast’. Six members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the most in World Cup history, came to Qatar, and Korea, Japan and Australia progressed to the round of 16.
This is the first time three AFC member countries have reached the round of 16. Korea and Japan, who jointly hosted the 2002 World Cup, reached the round of 16, and at the 2010 tournament in South Africa, Korea and Japan also progressed to the round of 16.
Once again, Korea and Japan progressed to the round of 16, while AFC member Australia also went through the group stage. Korea, Japan and Australia won their last game in dramatic fashion in the group stage and secured tickets to the round of 16.
Seven out of 13 countries (Netherlands, England, Poland, France, Spain, Croatia and Switzerland) have progressed to the round of 16.
Remembering the time when 10 European countries advanced to the round of 16 in Russia in 2018, it can be said that Europe failed in the group stage of this World Cup in Qatar.
In the Confederation of African Football (CAF), two of the five countries, Senegal and Morocco, advanced to the round of 16. In the Confederation of South American Football (CONMEBOL), traditional powerhouses Brazil and Argentina tickets to the round of 16, while Ecuador and Uruguay have packed their bags.
Of the four Confederation of North and Central American Football (CONCACAF) teams, only the United States passed the group stage. Mexico, who progressed to the round of 16 seven times in a row, failed to pass the group stage this time. Among the teams that failed to progress to the round of 16, the highest FIFA ranked team was Belgium (2nd).
On the other hand, Australia, which is in position 38, achieved the feat of advancing to the round of 16 among the strong players. There was no ‘absolute powerhouse’ in this Qatar World Cup group stage. Even Brazil was caught by Cameroon in the 3rd match of Group G, and no team had an outright win (3 wins) in the group stage.
Opta, a soccer statistics company, said, “This is the first time in 28 years since the 1994 World Cup in the United States that no team has won 3 wins in the group stage.”
