At 0:00 Beijing time on April 2, the 2022 Qatar World Cup group draw ceremony will be held in Doha, Qatar. Whether Messi and C Ronaldo will draw nemesis again, and whether there will be a death group in the World Cup, has become the biggest highlight of the World Cup draw ceremony.
29 teams have advanced
So far, 29 teams have received World Cup tickets. As hosts, Qatar became the first team to qualify for the World Cup. In Asia, Iran, South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia have already received World Cup tickets.
In the European zone, 10 teams from Germany, Denmark, France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England, Switzerland and the Netherlands qualified as the first in the qualifying group, and Portugal and Poland received World Cup tickets through the play-offs.
Due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the European Zone play-off Group A match was postponed to June, and the last ticket will be generated between Wales, Scotland and Ukraine.
In South America, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Ecuador have received four World Cup tickets, and fifth-placed Peru will face asian zone play-off winners (Australia vs. The United Arab Emirates) in a two-legged play-off.
In the African zone, Ghana, Tunisia, Morocco, Cameroon and Senegal qualified for the World Cup. In Central and North America, Canada, the United States and Mexico have successfully advanced, and Costa Rica, who ranks fourth, will face Oceania division winner New Zealand in the intercontinental play-offs.
The last three places will be created in June, with two intercontinental play-offs in Qatar on 13 and 14 June, namely the Asian Play-off Winner against Peru, Costa Rica vs. New Zealand, and the European Zone Play-off Group A Winner will also be held in June.
Lottery rules
According to FIFA regulations, the 32 teams participating in the World Cup in Qatar will be divided into 8 groups of 4 teams each. As hosts, Qatar will be placed in Group A as seeded teams.
The other 28 teams that have advanced will be divided into four tiers according to the FIFA rankings announced on March 31, with the top seven teams becoming the first team. Teams ranked 8th to 15th became second-pot teams, teams ranked 16th to 23rd became third-pot teams, and teams ranked 24th to 28th and the other 3 teams advanced through play-offs became fourth-pot teams.
According to the rankings, Qatar, Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain and Portugal became the first team, and Mexico, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Uruguay, Switzerland, the United States and Croatia became the second team.
Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, South Korea and Tunisia became the third team, and Cameroon, Canada, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana and the three play-off winners became the fourth team.
According to the rules, teams from the same FOOTBALL league except European teams will not be drawn into the same group. UEFA's 13 teams will be divided into 8 groups, of which 5 will have two UEFA teams.
Highlights of the lottery ceremony:
(1) Germany and the Netherlands or the group that made the dead
Germany, the Netherlands, Croatia, Denmark and Uruguay became the second team, Africa Cup of Nations champions Senegal and Levan led Poland became the third team, the fourth team also had a strong team like Ecuador and Canada, and Wales led by Bale may also advance through the play-offs to become the fourth team.
This means that the World Cup is expected to have a death group, and if France, Germany, Senegal, Ecuador or Brazil (Argentina), Germany, Senegal and Wales are placed in the same group, then the competition in this group will be very fierce. If France, Uruguay, Poland, and Ghana are in the same group, they will also become the group of the dead.
2, Messi, C Ronaldo who will encounter Germany again
Since Argentina and Portugal are both seeded teams, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will certainly not face each other in the group stage. However, Argentina is still likely to be in the same group as Croatia and Poland, which means that Messi, Modric and Levan, the three potential favourites of the Ballon d'Or, will face each other head-on.
However, the most interesting thing is perhaps Argentina, Germany, Poland are in the same group, in 2006, 2010, 2014, Messi was eliminated by Germany three times in the World Cup, especially in 2014, Messi-led Argentina lost to Germany in the final, and rubbed shoulders with the World Cup.
Like Messi, Germany is Ronaldo's nemesis. In the 2006 World Cup third place battle and the 2014 World Cup group stage, Portugal, led by Ronaldo, lost to Germany twice, and lost 0-4 in 2014. In the group stage of Euro 2020, Portugal lost 2-4 to Germany, and Cristiano Ronaldo scored the German goal for the first time in this campaign.
3, Asia's top 5 who can break the siege
At present, Qatar, Iran, South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia have qualified for the World Cup, which is the first time in history. The United Arab Emirates and Australia will play in the play-offs, and these two teams may have difficulty defeating Peru in the intercontinental play-offs. In terms of strength, these five Asian teams may have a hard time creating miracles, and may even replicate the scene of the 2014 World Cup collectively stopping the group stage. In the last World Cup, Japan became the only Asian team to qualify for the group stage. The ability to draw a good draw will be one of the key factors for Asian teams to qualify.
4. Whether Qatar can continue the host tradition
In the 2018 World Cup, host Russia reached the quarterfinals. After four years, it is still unknown whether Qatar, which has reached the World Cup for the first time in history, can replicate this achievement. In the history of the World Cup, South Africa in 2010 was the only host team to stop the group stage, and 12 years later, Qatar may repeat the same mistake.
World Cup format
Due to the hot weather in Qatar, the 2022 World Cup will be played in winter for the first time in history. The opening ceremony of the World Cup will take place on 21 November, and the final will take place on 18 December.
The group stage will last for 12 days, with four matches per day from 21 November to 2 December, with the top two teams in the eight groups advancing to the round of 16.
The quarter-finals will be played from 3 to 6 December, the quarter-finals will be played on 9 and 10 December, the semi-finals will be played on 13 and 14 December, the third place battle will be played on 17 December, and the final will be played on 18 December.