Avoid Germany and meet America… Qatar World Cup ‘There is no flower road’

‘Avoid the two-port Germany!’

The group draw for the 2022 Qatar World Cup finals will be held in Doha, Qatar at 1 am (Korean time) on the 2nd.

In the World Cup, 32 teams are divided into 8 groups of 4 teams, and the top two teams in each group advance to the round of 16 tournament.

In Korea, where qualifying for the round of 16 is the most important task, the draw is an important event that will determine the fate of the World Cup.

The group lottery will be held in eight countries, from port 1 to port 4, in the order of the FIFA ranking to be announced on the 31st, and the allocation of 3 pots for Korea has been virtually confirmed.

In Port 1, world-class strong teams such as Qatar, the host country, Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain, and Portugal are lined up.

Powerhouses from Europe, South America, and North and Central America are concentrated in Port 2 as well. Mexico, the United States, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Uruguay, Switzerland and Croatia are in port two.

According to ESPN, Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland and Tunisia will be assigned to Port 3 along with Korea.

Tunisia was initially expected to be assigned to Port 4. However, in the final match of the North and Central American qualifiers held on the 31st, Canada, which was expected to enter port 3 as the last, lost to Panama 0-1 and fell to port 4, and Tunisia saw a reflex benefit.

Pot 4 contains Canada, Cameroon, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia and Ghana, the top team in Group A of the European play-off (PO), and the two teams that win the intercontinental PO.

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◇ ‘Are you confident of winning again?’… If 2port Germany meets, ‘worst group’

Soccer experts agreed that in order for Korea to advance to the round of 16 with relative ease, the first thing to do is to avoid Germany, which has two ports.

According to the continental arrangement principle, Korea cannot be paired with Qatar, which has one pot. In the end, one of the seven strong teams in one pot is always placed in a group.

In the midst of this, if you are in a group with Germany, which boasts the strongest power among the two-port countries, it will be more difficult to advance to the round of 16.

Korea has good memories of winning against Germany, such as a miraculous 2-0 victory in the group stage match in Russia in 2018, but the reality is that it is difficult to expect another ‘event’.

Soccer commentator Han Jun-hee emphasized, “The German team at the end of Joachim Löf’s administration four years ago and the current Germany led by the new head coach Hanji Flick are completely different teams.

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In particular, it would be ‘worst group’ for Bentuho if they were in a group with Germany, Brazil with one pot, and the top team in Group A of Europe with four pots.

In addition, if Wales take first place in European PO Group A, it will be difficult for Korea to get one point.

Wales, where super striker Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) plays an active part, is showing good results in recent major tournaments, such as the semi-finals at the 2016 European Championships (Euro 2016) and reaching the round of 16 at Euro 2020 last year.

If Ukraine instead of Wales rise to the top of European PO Group A, it could make it more difficult to get through the group stage.

This is because Ukraine, which is at war with Russia, will go to the ground armed with strong mental power.

Commentator Park Moon-seong said, “If we belong to a group with 1 pot Brazil, 2 pots Germany or the Netherlands, and 4 pot Wales, it’s really a ‘group of death’. disappears,” he said.

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◇ It’s better if it’s a 2-port US… “There is no ‘flower road'”

If so, what is the number of cases of walking the ‘flower road’ leading to the round of 16 after receiving the ‘best group formation’?

In such a case, the common opinion of experts is that there is ‘no’.

Korea must be in a group with two strong teams in pots 1 and 2, and none of them seem to be easily overcome by Korea. No matter what team you are in, getting 2nd in the group is inevitably very difficult.

The best grouping would be to be in a group with the US in two pots.

The United States, which has rapidly entered the center of world football, has many good players that can fill all 23 entries in Europe alone.

However, if you look at the players face, it is evaluated that they lack experience and have a lot of ups and downs in their performance.

Commentator Han Jun-hee said, “The United States is not an easy opponent to see, but it seems to be a better match for Bentuho because his power is somewhat weak compared to other two-port countries and the trust in the coach is not high.”

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In the first port, Belgium, Portugal, and Spain are evaluated to be slightly easier to play against than Brazil, England, Spain and France.

Commentator Han Jun-hee said, “Eight months later, the young ‘golden generation’ such as Joao Felix (Atlético Madrid) are expected to perform better, and Belgium, whose key players are aging, may be better off than Portugal, who also has a great goalkeeper called Cristiano Ronaldo. there,” he said.

He also analyzed, “Among the four-pot African teams, with the exception of Kamaldin Sulemana (Stad Ren), Ghana, who seems rather dull in attack, seems worth trying for Bentu.”

Commentator Park Moon-seong, who also selected the United States, which is also in the 2nd port, as the most promising opponent, said, “It is better to have Spain and Ecuador in the 4th port, rather than Portugal, where there are many big club players in the 1st port, and Ecuador in the 4th port.” But no matter what, there is no such thing as a happy group.”

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