- World Cup in Qatar | New game, new scheme, new future—— Recap of the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar
- 2022-12-04 07:42:29.0 Source: Xinhua Net Sports
Authors: Zhang Zewei, Liu Yang, Zheng Xin
New game, new scheme, new future: World Cup group stage recap in Qatar
The World Cup in Qatar closed out the competition for the group stage after producing all top 16 in 2nd. The 48 group matches were exciting and exciting enough: with new rules introduced and a new scheme evolving, football is welcoming a new future.
New rules and new ways to play: a different World Cup
This is the first time that the World Cup comes to the Middle East and is held in the northern hemisphere in winter. The application of many new rules and new game methods makes it different from the past.
As the team’s roster expands to 26 for the first time, the World Cup in Qatar has become the one with the highest number of athletes participating so far. And each match can have 5 substitutions, which also gives each team more room for adjustments. During the group stage, many teams ran out of 5 substitutions and adapted formation and tactics well.
Super long recovery time is a major feature of this World Cup. Compared to about 3 minutes of injury time in the past, it now takes 7 or 8 minutes. In the England team’s 6:2 win against Iran, there was also a total of nearly 30 minutes of injury time in the first and in the second half. FIFA’s move is meant to give fans more time to appreciate the game and crack down on the deliberate waste of playing time.
The use of new technologies ensures maximum fairness of the game. The semi-automatic offside detection technology first used at the World Cup in Qatar showed its power in many group stage matches, especially when Argentina’s three consecutive goals were disallowed in the match against Saudi Arabia. , is more popular because it is “more accurate” and “fairer”.
New competition and new model: The gap between strength and weakness is narrowing
Europe and South America are the most important territory of international football, and are also the regions with the greatest popularity and development of football. In the past and for a long time to come, Europe and South America may not be able to shake the strong position of Europe and South America in world football, but the AFC regions The upward trend has been revealed.
In the World Cup in Qatar, Japan, South Korea and Australia exited each group and advanced to the top 16. This is the first time in World Cup history that three AFC-affiliated teams entered the round of 16 of final, second only to the eight teams in Europe and South America. There are only two branches in Africa and Africa.
The Japanese team won the two former World Cup champions in a row in the “group of death” with the German team and the Spanish team, thus advancing as first in the group; 2:1 victory over the Portuguese led by Ronaldo, which knocked out Uruguay and moved into second place in the group.
On the one hand, there is the rise of emerging forces and on the other, the decline of traditional strong teams. The “four-star Germany”, the second Belgian team in the world, and the Danish team, semi-finalists of the last European Championship, not only lost by surprise, but also ended up in the group stage.
Statistics show that no team has won all three matches in the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar and there are only 5 undefeated teams. At the 1998 World Cup in France and the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, 12 teams went undefeated in the group stage. This shows that in world football the gap between strong and weak teams is gradually narrowing.
Legends grow old, new stars are born: football is ushering in a new future
No matter how thrilling and heartwarming the game is, the protagonist is always the athlete who is fully engaged and swaying. The group stage of the World Cup in Qatar wrote the legends of the veterans and saw the rookies grow.
37-year-old Ronaldo and 35-year-old Messi are responsible for trafficking the World Cup in Qatar. Despite not being young anymore, they’ve almost gone all out for this ‘last dance’. In the first match of the group stage, the Portuguese team narrowly beat Ghana 3: 2. Cristiano Ronaldo withstood the pressure and scored a penalty in the second half, which was the key to winning the match.
After the Argentine team lost to Saudi Arabia in the first round, they faced Mexico in the second round and fell into a stalemate. It was Messi’s “cut to the ground” in the second half that honked and activated the state of the team. The 2-0 victory brought Argentina back to the brink of elimination.
Portugal and Argentina both advanced to the knockout stage as group leaders. Messi and Ronaldo’s stage is still there, and the dream is still there! Along with “Melo”, there are veterans like Modric and Lewandowski, who are also indispensable for their respective teams.
And some veterans will say goodbye to the World Cup stage forever. Bale, Muller, Gotze, Hazard, De Bruyne, Suarez, Cavani… those who left after the elimination of the team must have a lot of reluctance and reluctance in their hearts.
Luckily someone is always young. The 23-year-old Mbappé showed his speed and attacking power in Qatar, scoring three goals in three games, leading the French side to break the “curse of the defending champions” and becoming the first team to advance to the top 16; 19-year-old Bei Lingham gave the team a lead in England’s first 6:2 win, 20-year-old Pedri and 18-year-old Garvey led the Spanish team into a “youth storm”…
Talented people come out from generation to generation. Rising stars are the future of football.
