Steven Rubio's World Cup

day two

When I list a few players on each team, it's mostly for my own records. But I didn't do too badly with England-Iran. For Iran, I mentioned goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand and top player Mehdi Taremi. The keeper was injured early on, left with the score 0-0, and after his replacement took the field, England scored six goals. Meanwhile, Taremi scored both of Iran's goals. Among the England players I noted were Jude Bellingham (one goal), Bukayo Saka (two goals), and Harry Kane (two assists).

I didn't do too badly for Senegal-Netherlands, either. I mentioned Dutch players Cody Gakpo (scored the goal that put Netherlands ahead) and Frenkie de Jong (who assisted on that goal and was the best player on the field). It wasn't a great match, and the score does an injustice to Senegal, who held off the Dutch until the 84th minute (the second goal was unimportant).

Finally, I was half-good for USA-Wales. I said "Gareth Bale is known for rising to the occasion", and he scored the equalizing goal and was probably the best player in the match. I also singled out U.S. youngsters Yunus Musah and Gio Reyna ... Musah had a so-so match before subbing out in the 75th minute, while Reyna never appeared. The draw was a tough one for the Americans ... it was a fair result, they were outplayed in the second half, but now they've got England in a match they should lose, leaving them needing help to advance to the knockout rounds.

Reading material: "World Cup Teams Drop Armbands Supporting LGBTQ Community After FIFA Threats".

Tomorrow, the first four-match day:

Group C:

Argentina-Saudi Arabia. Argentina are strong contenders to win it all. The Saudis are not. Besides Argentina's incomparable Lionel Messi, look out for Lautaro Martinez and Enzo Fernandez. Salem Al-Dawsari might be the best Saudi player.

Mexico-Poland. I think Mexico is the team to beat here, but Poland has Robert Lewandowski and Nicola Zalewski, so anything is possible. Mexico has an old squad, but top player Chucky Lozano is only 27 and Orbelín Pineda only 26. I expect big things from Chucky in particular.

Group D:

Denmark-Tunisia. France, the defending champs, are in this group, so this match may be crucial for deciding second place. Denmark has one of the great stories in Christian Eriksen, while Tunisia has tall midfielder Anis Ben Slimane, born in Denmark, only 21.

France-Australia. The champs should have no problems here. Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Aurelien Tchouameni, and many others should shine, but the absence of Karim Benzema could be a reason the French don't win their second Cup in a row. Australia has the interesting Garang Kuol, who is only 18.

day one

I found a way to watch in 4K, which meant I watched an English-language broadcast, missing out on Andres Cantor. It reminds me of a few Cups ago, when HD was new, and the Spanish-language network hadn't gotten HD yet, so I watched in English. Not sure how this will play out over the course of the tournament ... there are multiple 4K options on replays. (Back then, I used two televisions, one with an HD picture on mute, a second without HD but tuned to the Spanish-language channel with the sound up, syncing the audio and video as best I could.)

If I don't have a rooting interest in a sporting event, I often don't know who I will support until a game has begun. So I'll be rooting for the U.S., and for Spain, and then for CONCACAF teams in general (Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica). I tend to root for Spanish-speaking countries, meaning anyone from South America except Brazil (and Brazil are pretty hard to root against). I probably assumed in advance that I'd take Ecuador's side in the opener, and I did, but not for the reasons I thought of beforehand. No, when Ecuador scored a goal in the third minute (that was disallowed), I threw my hands in the air ... because I want Qatar to lose.

Tomorrow:

Group A:

Senegal-Netherlands. Senegal will be missing the great Sadio Mane, the African Footballer of the Year, who is out for the tournament. Senegal captain, center back Kalidou Koulibaly (check out his essay on The Players Tribune, "You Are Welcome to Be a Senegal Fan, Too"), is familiar to fans of Chelsea, where he joined this season. The Netherlands are loaded (Cody Gakpo, Virgil van Dijk, Frenkie de Jong), and they are the best team in this group. They are a possible opponent for the United States in the next round.

Group B:

England-Iran. England (Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka) should have no problems with Iran (goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand, FC Porto's top player Mehdi Taremi).

USA-Wales. I think the U.S. will finish second in this group. They need a good start. Look for young players Yunus Musah and Gio Reyna. Gareth Bale is known for rising to the occasion ... this is his first chance to do so in a World Cup, as Wales returns for the first time since 1958.

football manager does the world cup

In my most recent FM23 save, the World Cup was won by ...

Those advancing out of the group stage were Qatar, Netherlands, England, Wales (no USA), Mexico, Argentina, France, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Croatia, Morocco, Switzerland, Brazil, Portugal, and Uruguay.

In the second round, Qatar crushed Wales 5-2, three matches went to penalties (Holland beat England, Argentina beat France, and Germany beat Morocco), and Mexico, Switzerland, Spain and Brazil also advanced.

In the quarterfinals, Qatar was finally eliminated, 1-0 in extra time against Mexico, Switzerland beat Germany, Argentina defeated the Netherlands, and Spain won 1-0 over Brazil.

In the semifinals, Switzerland defeated Mexico 2-1, and Spain got past Argentina 3-1 in extra time.

Argentina beat Mexico on penalties in the third place playoff.

And Spain defeated Switzerland 2-1 to win the Cup.

Silvan Widmer of Switzerland was the Best Player, Unai Simón of Spain the Best Goalkeeper, Nicola Zalewski of Poland the Best Young Player, and Kylian Mbappé the Golden Boot winner.

final pre-cup thoughts

Sticking just to the play on the field.

Who I think will win: Brazil.

Who I will root for: USA, then Spain.

Who I hope will win other than USA or Spain: Argentina.

Tomorrow's opening match is between hosts Qatar and Ecuador. Qatar is the worst of the four teams in Group A, and even given the home-field advantage, I expect them to lose all three matches. Akram Afif should shine in defeat. Ecuador has plenty of young talent (Piero Hincapie, Moises Caicedo, Gonzalo Plata), and they could conceivably squeak past a Senegal team missing Sadio Mane for second place in the group.

human rights soccer 2022

I did this four years ago. Might as well do it again, given that the Cup is being held in Qatar.

Can't decide who to root for in this year's World Cup? Here's a list that can help you feel good about yourself: all 32 teams, ranked by "degree of civil liberties and political rights". The list is dodgy ... the primary source is the annual Freedom in the World report, which is not perfect ... none of these lists are, they are all susceptible to one extent or another to ideological biases. But I admit I was being lazy, and just checked out the most available report to go by. I adjusted for "ties" using the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. All to be taken with a large grain of salt, but I decided, why not? So here they are, the 32 World Cup teams, ranked first to last in terms of civil liberties and political rights.

1 Netherlands
2 Canada
3 Uruguay
4 Denmark
5 Australia
6 Belgium
7 Japan
8 Portugal
9 Switzerland
10 Germany
11t Wales (UK)
11t England (UK)
13 Costa Rica
14 France
15 Spain
16 Croatia
17 Argentina
18 South Korea
19 United States
20 Poland
21 Ghana
22 Brazil
23 Senegal
24 Tunisia
25 Ecuador
26 Serbia
27 Mexico
28 Morocco
29 Qatar
30 Iran
31 Cameroon
32 Saudi Arabia

No one doing these things seems to want to split up the UK, so Wales and England's ranking are actually the UK ranking. Also note that the opening match, between Qatar and Ecuador, will be the worst match of the first batch of matches. Finally, perhaps nice guys finish last ... the best country using these rankings in 2018 was Sweden, who did not qualify this time around.

some pre-cup reading and viewing material

Jonathan Wilson, "Just like the hat, football’s grip could suddenly go out of fashion after Qatar".

Dave Zirin and Jules Boykoff, "The Tragic Absurdity of Qatar's World Cup Sportswashing".