The sheer dominance of Europe and South America in the greatest show on earth was not on full display during the group stage of Qatar 2022 as countries from other continents too made their mark through some extraordinary performances to remember for a long time to come.
Five former champions and favorites – Brazil (5), Germany (4), Argentina (2), France (2) and Spain (1) – have lost at least one of their three opening round matches against weaker opponents who are ranked much lower than them in the Fifa rankings.
Other former winner England managed to remain unbeaten in their group fixtures but they too faced strong test and resistance against the United States in their second match.
No team however, managed to keep 100% winning record.
A country usually plays majority of its international games against continental counterparts throughout the year, and the Fifa rankings are updated according to those matches.
World Cup is the occasion where countries from different continents face off against each other, and never before in the tournament's history has it happened that representatives from as many as six continents advanced to the knockout stages.
In the group stage of upsets, Saudi Arabia caused the first one, beating Lionel Messi's Argentina with a breathtaking five-minute show in the second half on the same day Denmark and Poland were held by Tunisia and Mexico respectively.
Japan were next as they stunned Germany in their very first game with a scintillating display and tactics which the Germans did not see coming, while Morocco held last-time finalists Croatia to a goalless draw on the same day.
Also Read: How Japan beat world champions Germany and Spain
Canada, only the second team after Qatar to lose all three matches, were beaten by Belgium by a goal in the opener and it was one of the best matches so far, while South Korea fought neck-to-neck with Uruguay for a share of the spoils.
The second round of matches saw Ecuador draw with the Netherlands, Iran defeat Wales, Saudi Arabia give hard fight to Poland despite losing, Morocco shock Belgium 2-0, and Cameroon and Serbia fight out enthralling 3-3 draw.
It appeared that those were not like freak results as soon as the final round of group stage began when Tunisia stunned defending champions France 1-0 and Australia beat Denmark with similar margin.
Japan again carried out a splendid performance to beat Spain, South Korea outplayed Portugal and Cameroon became the first African country to beat Brazil at the World Cup, but none of the losing sides fielded best Xl and realized their top benched players are not loftier to those of the opponents.
At the end, Asia and Africa got two each while North America and Oceania achieved one each along with eight from Europe and two from South America to make it a diverse Round of 16 fixtures.
“These upsets are showing the world that the quality of football is improving everywhere,” six-time Bangladesh Premier League champions Abahani's Portuguese head coach Mario Lemos told Dhaka Tribune.
“Asians getting better, Africans getting better, and there are South America and Europe. That shows the quality. You cannot take any game easy,” said Lemos.
“Japan beat European teams, Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina. That means the countries are developing and getting better. There is no easy game in the World Cup.”
