On June 14, as Costa Rica relied on Campbell's 1-0 win over New Zealand to get the last ticket to the World Cup, the round of 32 of the Qatar World Cup has been created, meaning that football-loving fans have entered "Qatar time".
Looking at the list of this tournament, it can be said that there are several joys and sorrows, including Australia's escape from the death of winning by penalties in two rounds of play-offs, and the magic of Wales' passive and reliable resilience to return to the World Cup after 64 years, there are two Liverpool teammates Mane and Salah who can only smile and leave, and Portugal is struggling to escape in the "most difficult play-offs"...
In addition, there are those who are frustrated, the ST European champion Italy play-off was eliminated in the first round, the four-time tournament winner has missed the group stage twice in a row, a generation of blue players may return with resentment, Chile's "golden generation" is getting old and being surpassed by Ecuador and other teams in the case of green and yellow, and the Chinese team has returned to calm after a short period of naturalization and crazy gold dollar era, as Chinese fans are once again facing a World Cup without a real home team.
The production of the top 32 has also given birth to a lot of interesting records, Wales has finally returned after half a century, Canada has also waited for 35 years, the elites of the group stage who have the smoothest road out, who is the most bumpy, who is the most difficult, today will be taken to everyone to take stock.
The smoothest team: Brazil set a new all-time high score
Five-star Brazil's performance in the World Cup in Russia is not outstanding, and it was eliminated by Belgium in the quarterfinals, but the Brazilian Football Association still chose to renew the contract with coach Tite, while Tite also reformed in the team, constantly trying new formations and tactics to liberate the pressure of Neymar, and more newcomers also get opportunities in this World Cup cycle.
Then we saw the Brazilian team, which had the best record in history in the South American qualifiers, and brazil got the World Cup ticket six rounds in advance after the victory over Colombia. It also became the third team to qualify through the qualifiers after Germany and Denmark, and Brazil won 45 points with an unbeaten record of 14 wins and 3 draws in the entire 17 round-robin rounds, setting a record for the best in the history of South America, with the most goals scored, the fewest goals conceded, and more importantly, the old rival Argentina by 6 points.
The most twisty: Australia won the two intercontinental play-offs by penalties
With the smoothest Brazil, there is the most tortuous Australia, when they are in the top 10 with Japan, Saudi Arabia and China and other teams, and finally Australia struggled to get the third kangaroo army in the group and needed to compete with the United Arab Emirates for half a World Cup ticket, that game is also a single game format, a certain win or loss.
On June 8, at the Hamad Bin Ali Stadium in Doha, Qatar, Australia and the United Arab Emirates in the Asian zone play-offs, the two teams played very anxiously, until the 84th minute of the game, the two sides were tied 1:1, it seemed that extra time or penalties were inevitable, but at this time, Australia was favored by the goddess of luck, Australia opened a corner kick and was released, Andhustic shot from the line of the box, hit the UAE defender and swung himself, and Australia completed the deadlock 2:1.
The Uae won only half a ticket, and on June 14, Australia and Fifth Peru in South America will compete for a full Ticket to the World Cup, facing an opponent ranked 20th higher than themselves in the world, the Australians spent the final moments, they played their toughness to keep the score 0:0 until the penalty shootout. In the end, it was won 5:4, and through two rounds of transcontinental play-offs, one kill and one penalty, the World Cup was finally won.
The darkest horse: Canada's ranking soared after 36 years to play the World Cup
Canada won the first place in the North American and Caribbean qualifiers, they beat Mexico with a goal difference advantage, you may imagine that 2 years ago in the 2020 FIFA year-end rankings Canada ranked 70th, China ranked 76th, when Canadian football was almost the same as Chinese football, but 2 years later their ranking soared to 33rd.
Canada is definitely likely to achieve a bigger dark horse myth, this World Cup they and Belgium, Croatia and Morocco in the same group, the strength gap between these teams is not so large, Canada has the ability and hope to "do things", while the team of Alfonso Davis, Jonathan David, Larin and other players continue to grow, they have grown into a strong football team in North America.
Toughest: Cameroon advanced from home to an extra-time away game
The rules of the African Qualifiers are that the top of the 10 groups appears in groups to fight in two or twos, and the winner of the two rounds breaks into the Group Stage of the World Cup, so that the African Lion Cameroon and the Desert Fox Algeria meet, facing the powerful stars such as Mahrez, Benasser, Sulaimani, and the old African powerhouse Cameroon weakened with the retirement of Eto'o and others, and the national team record holder Rigobert Song became the new coach of the team in March 2022.
In the first leg at home, Cameroon failed to withstand the Algerian's offensive attack with Srimani's header to take away three points, which also means that Cameroon's second leg will be very difficult, away, backward, weaker than the opponent, facing these African lions rely on the bottom of the sky to change their lives.
Algeria blasted 27 shots throughout the game, and Shupomotin's goal equalized the score and the two teams were frozen until extra time, algeria scored an almost fateful goal in the 117th minute, Toba's header broke the score to rewrite the big score to 2:1, Algeria was only a few minutes away from celebrating the victory, but at this time in the 124th minute, Ekambi scored a goal that sent his opponent from heaven to hell, and cameroon struggled to qualify with the advantage of away goals.
The cruelest: Senegal eliminated Egypt's Mane and Salah on penalties
In addition to Cameroon and Algeria, another play-off match between Senegal and Egypt in the African zone is also very interesting, Mane and Salah, two Liverpool teammates, only one of the two can get tickets, and the just-concluded Africa Cup of Nations final is also a contest between these two.
The first leg at home to Egypt with Salah's wonderful performance Egypt won 1:0, but away to Senegal, this game Senegalese riveted a lot, and the biggest attraction of the game is undoubtedly the contest between Mane and Salah, only three minutes after the second leg Senegal scored, senegal continued to attack, but once missed a chance to score.
The 1:1 score was maintained until extra time, with multiple players from both teams fighting until cramps, and the game was also stopped and stopped, which was quite unsmooth. In the end, this fateful battle came to a brutal penalty shootout, and the 12-yard-forward match would determine the fate of Mane and Salah. It was very impolite for the home fans to interfere with the Egyptian players with laser pointers in the penalty, and Egypt was also out of balance under pressure, Salah also conceded a penalty, and in the last round of Mane's hit, Senegal finally won a World Cup ticket after a battle.
The longest: Wales' 64 years of waiting to blossom has gone through generations of players to fulfill their dreams
Wales last appeared on the World Cup stage in Sweden in 1958, when Pele was just 17 years old. Since then, the Red Dragon has fallen into a long-term dormancy, and wales have not seized a single chance in the life-and-death battle of the 1978, 1986 and 1994 World Cups or European Qualifiers, during which there have also been stars of the ranks including Rush, Giggs and Mark Hughes, but Wales is "out of tune" from the World Series.
In 2016, they entered the European Championship Final Four, the new Welsh led by Bale is eager to make history, and on June 6, facing Ukraine in the midst of war, Wales finally eliminated their opponents 1:0 to advance to the World Cup, finally fulfilling the dream of a gap of 64 years.
The Ukrainian rebounded with 27 shots in the whole game, but goalkeeper Hennessy saved nine saves to keep the city safe, and on the offensive line Bale did his best to let Ukraine score a free kick in the 34th minute, with which Wales broke into the World Cup, and in 64 they also became the longest-distance participating team.
The above is the list of Qatar's top 32 impressive experiences, or magical, or difficult, these are also the charm of football, go all out will eventually create miracles, even if the weak side in a game of winning and losing can still change their fate through tactical changes and player status, I don't know which team you support the most after 6 months? Who do you hope to win the World Cup?