[골닷컴] Reporter Dong-Hoon Kang = The moment when the fate of the Bento is decided has arrived. The draw ceremony for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, which begins in November, will be held at the Exhibition and Convention Center in Doha, Qatar, at 1 am (Korean time) on the 2nd.
This group draw was divided into 4 pots of 8 countries each while seeding based on the FIFA world rankings in March, and one country is drawn from each pot. While Qatar is automatically assigned to the first place in Group A, the remaining 7 countries in Port 1 are selected in turn and placed in the order of Groups B to H. Then, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th pots are drawn by lot and divided into groups A to H.
Port 1 includes Qatar (51st), Brazil (1st), Belgium (2nd), France (3rd), Argentina (4th), England (5th), Spain (7th), Portugal (8th) above) belonged to Port 2 is followed by Mexico (9th), Netherlands (10th), Denmark (11th), Germany (12th), Uruguay (13th), Switzerland (14th), USA (15th), Croatia (16th) above) was organized.
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Senegal (20th), Iran (21st), Japan (23rd), Morocco (24th), Serbia (25th), Poland (6th), Tunisia (35th) is tied to port 3. The final 4th port includes Cameroon (37th), Canada (38th), Ecuador (46th), Saudi Arabia (49th), and Ghana (60th), and the three playoff (PO) winners will be included. Asia and South America intercontinental PO winners, North Central America and Oceania intercontinental PO winners, and Europe PO winners fill in.
First of all, because Korea is on the same continent as Qatar, it is impossible to meet them, so it is inevitable to meet world powers at Port 1. Therefore, if port 1 is considered as an out-of-the-box subject, it can become a ‘group of death’ depending on which country the port 2 and port 4 belong to, and a slightly ‘easy group’ can be created.
In particular, Port 2, where European powerhouses are located, is the most important. Germany was eliminated from the group stage for the first time in history by losing 0-2 to Korea in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, but now it is completely different. After Hanji Flick (57, Germany) took over as manager, he regained his status and passed first place in Group F in the European qualifiers, becoming the first to qualify for the finals except for Qatar.
The Netherlands and Denmark are also considered as targets to be avoided due to their recent trend and strong power. Mexico and Uruguay are also tough opponents. Among port 2, it is worth trying to meet Switzerland, the United States and Croatia, which are ranked second in the FIFA world rankings. Among them, the United States has the best record in history (5 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses).
Port 4 is an opponent that must be defeated in order to pass the group stage because there are mainly teams with a lower FIFA world ranking than Korea. There is no team that is as easy as the teams that went through the tough preliminary rounds, but there is no team that can’t beat it.
For Korea, the ideal picture would be to be in the same group with Ghana, which has the lowest FIFA world ranking, or the PO winner between North Central America and Oceania. In the intercontinental PO between North Central America and Oceania, Costa Rica and New Zealand face off, and in terms of objective power, Korea deserves a win for both teams.
On the other hand, it is better to avoid Cameroon, which is called the African ambush, and Canada, which caused a sensation by passing first place in the North and Central American qualifiers. Here, Wales is also a target of caution that should not be met if it comes up through the European PO.
