The Un-qualified

Well, the last four teams from Europe have qualified. Personally, very disappointed that Denmark did not qualify, but at the same time gotten a bit tired of Danish news and commentators saying that Denmark were a better team.

They were not. 

Denmark had three straight chances of qualifying. Had they defeated Belarus at home, they would have qualified, but they tied. Had they not lost to Scotland away, they would have qualified. They lost after penalty kicks to the Czechs, who were both more cold-headed when taking penalties, but also seemed to want it more.

If you have that many chances and you don't make it, it is not because you are a better team. You are simply not good enough to be in the World Cup!

And if you really believe you are a better team, but did not make it, then the Manager is to blame. Mr. Brian Riemer repeatedly said that Denmark should and would qualify to the World Cup, but in the absence of qualification, he should take responsibility and leave.  

Other sides were successful in their qualification: Sweden took advantage of its Nations league option, even though they ended last in the World Cup qualifying group, to defeat Poland and make it to an unlikely World Cup where, frankly, they do not belong. 

Czechia, who lost to the Faroe Islands in the group stages, may have defeated my favourites Danes, but are not a team that will add anything in terms of football or fans to the World Cup; they are just there to take up space. 

Turkey, defeating Kosova, are in their first World Cup since their memorable 2002 World Cup, but have struggled to be there, and is unlikely to add anything either. 

Finally, while one has to respect Bosnia-Herzegovina for their heroic win against Italy, they will be nothing but an addition to a tournament with too many teams. Italy, again disappointing with another hapless qualification, is simply not good enough to be in a World Cup, despite Mr. Gattuso's previous criticism that South Americans had it too easy to qualify... I saw Bolivia play, and they were surely better than any of the eight European sides who were in the last round of play-offs, and would surely have added more to the World Cup that even the last four European teams who qualified.

The World Cup has too many teams with 48; but it has way too many European teams as well, and in a tournament of 48, it would have benefited much more with four less teams from Europe, and four more from the rest of the world. 

Report from the last qualifying match in Monterrey, NL

At half-time between Bolivia and Iraq I was a bit sad mid the great atmosphere at the BBVA stadium in Monterrey: both teams deserve to be in the World Cup, not least for the great atmosphere the fans created, complemented by many happy Mexicans who just wanted to enjoy the atmosphere of the World Cup. 

With 48 teams in the World Cup, the last spots should rather be given to non-European sides with great fans and commitment to their national sides, rather than the entitled and mediocre European sides that qualified in the European play-offs.

But it had to one of the teams, and it turned out to be an entertaining match to find the last qualified to for the World Cup. Iraq took an early lead on a header by the Luton striker Ali Al-Hamadi, and poor defending by the Bolivians. It led to the Bolivians putting pressure on the Iraqis, and following a period of dominance by the quick and technically gifted South Americans, Moises Paniagua equalized on a splendid strike. As the first half ended 1-1, the Bolivian fans had reason to be optimistic, as they were dominating, but in the second half Iraq came out more organised, and soon enough scored on a counter-attack: Aymen Hussein (extraordinary player with a difficult personal history) came ahead of a poorly placed Bolivian defender, bringing joy to the Iraqi fans, many of whom had come over from the USA.

Bolivia attacked an attacked the rest of the match, but despite possession and pressure, never managed to open up a disciplined and committed Iraqi side, who in Mexico qualified for their first World Cup since 1986, in Mexico.

Sad to see the Bolivian exit, but fans took it in good spirit, as the Iraqis were applauded and celebrated. Personally I loved being there, in a beautiful stadium, in the fantastic city of Monterrey, who will be great hosts this World Cup. 

This match represented what the World Cup will be about: celebrating, and be sure I will have a soft spot for Iraq as the face France, Senegal and Norway!

Monterrey countdown

 Monterrey, a lovely city that will also host matches in the World Cup, is also counting down:

Step one

I took the afternoon off work in Mexico to watch Denmark take its first step towards the World Cup. After a nervous first half, the Danish dominance was rewarded in the second half nevertheless, and with goals from Mikkel Damsgaard, Gustav Isaksen with two goals, and an Olympic goal by Christian Eriksen that was credited to his namesake Nørgaard, Denmark won a comfortable victory. It looked good; the Danes dominated, pressured and had possession. There is reason to be optimistic about the final against Czechia, who had to come back from 0-2 and penalty kicks to defeat Ireland.  

That said, it will be a completely different match with big strong Czechs who play hard and have an advantage in the air against unseasoned Danish defense. But Denmark are the better side, so if the manager sets the right team and they can keep their head cool, Denmark has a fairly good shot at coming here to Mexico.

Kom nu.

Greatest World Cup Matches: Morocco-Portugal (2022)

Morocco have always been at the forefront of African football. In 1986 they were the first African nation to qualify from the group stages by defeating a European side, Portugal. 36 years later Morocco was to play another historical match in a World Cup quarterfinal to become the first African nation to make it to a World Cup semifnal. And yet again the adversary was Portugal.

But this Portugal, led by the great Cristiano Ronaldo, was considered one of the strongest teams in the world, and had in 2016 won the European championship. The young Diogo Costa, from Porto, had replaced the veteran Rui Patricio as goalkeeper, while defense was led by the ex-Real Madrid, now Porto, Pepe. He was flanked by Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot, Manchester City’s Ruben Dias and Joan Cancelo, PSG’s Danilo Pereira, and Dortmund’s Raphael Guerreiro. There were some fantastic and experienced midfielders: Ruben Neves from Wolverhampton, William Carvalho from Betis, Bruno Fernandes from Manchester United, and the young Vitinha, from PSG. Besides Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo the attacking power included Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva, Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix, AC Milan’s Rafael Leao and the young Benfica striker Goncalo Ramos. 

Portugal had not qualified directly to the World Cup. They made second spot behind Serbia in the group stages, and had to go into play-offs, defeating Turkey and North Macedonia to qualify. Despite this, they were still top seeded, and drew a difficult group with Ghana, Uruguay and South Corea. They won the group following victories over Ghana and Uruguay, but losing to South Corea. 

They had thus not shown their best, but they certainly did in the last-16; facing the traditionally strong defense of Switzerland, the Portuguese had a field day, winning 6-1, and checking in as one of the favourites for the title as they were to face Morocco in the quarterfinals. 

Morocco had returned to the Russia World Cup in 2018 following a pause of 20 years. In Russia they had also faced Portugal in the group stages, losing 0-1, but it was a very different Morocco in 2022. The Bosnian manager Vahid Halilhodžić had taken over the side in 2019, and started using many promising young players as Morocco qualified in awesome style, winning all their group matches and dispatching RD Congo in the final play-off match. Despite the success, the Bosnian manager was fired over disagreements with the Moroccan federation only three months before the tournament, and he was replaced by the French-born ex-player and Wydad Casablanca manager Walid Regragui. 

Regragui counted with a squad that was almost entirely Europe-based: on goal was Sevilla’s experienced goalkeeper, Yassine Bounou. The captain of of the team was the veteran Besiktas defender Romain Saiss, alongside one of the best defenders in the world at the time, PSG’s Ashraf Hakimi, as well as Bayern Munich’s Noussair Mazraoui, West Ham’s Nayef Aguerd, and Valladolid’s Jawad El Yamiq. On midfield the squad included Fiorentina’s Sofyan Amrabat, Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech, Angers’ Azzedine Ounahi and Sofiane Boufal, Standard Liege’s Selime Amallah, and the young but untried talents Anass Zaroury from Burnley and Bilal el Khannous from Genk. It was not an offensive team, and the few strikers included the Sevilla veteran Youssef-En-Nesyri, another veteran in Al-Ittihad’s Abderrazak Hamdallah, as well as youngster Abde Ezzalzouli from Osasuna and Sampdoria’s Abdelhamid Sabiri. The few Moroccan-based players were from Wydad Casablanca, including Yahya Jabrane and Yahia Attiyat Allah. 

By the time they were to face Portugal, Morocco had already pulled outstanding surprises: they had won their group ahead of Croatia, Belgium and Canada by defeating the highly rated Belgians 0-2, Canada 1-2, and tying Croatia. In the last-16 they faced the mighty Spaniards, who had come from losing to Japan, and in a huge upset the won a defensive match after penalty kicks. 

So Portugal had been warned, but still entered the match with a degree of arrogance against the African side. Cristiano Ronaldo had not started in against Switzerland, and his young substitute Goncalo Ramos had scored three goals. So Manager Fernando Santos had decided to start with the same lineup, benching Cristiano Ronaldo. 

The Moroccans came into the match with energy and perhaps to the Portuguese surprise, with pressure. Already after 5 minutes En-Nesyri missed a big chance following a corner kick, and Morocco had more shots than the Portuguese, except for a Joao Felix shot that the Portuguese player was unlucky did not go into goal after a deflection. Towards the end of the first half En-Nesyiri scored after a cross from Yahia Attiyah Allah, getting high above Pepe in the Portuguese defense, and Morocco were deservedly leading at halftime. 

Not much changed in the first minutes of the second half as Morocco had a big chance to score a second goal, and the Portuguese appeared lost. Cristiano Ronaldo came in a few minutes later alongside Joao Cancelo, and the dynamics changed as Portugal put more pressure on the Moroccans, who naturally pulled back and began to rely on their very dangerous counterattacks (they came very close to scoring a second on one of these counterattacks). But strong disciplined defense and a splendid Bonou kept Portugal away. Bonou in particular made a save on a shot from Joao Felix that was perhaps the best save of the entire tournament, and other good saves that gave his defense the necessary tranquility to fight against the Portuguese pressure. In the end it was a strong fight, and a second yellow for Walid Cheddira in the dying second underlined the passion that for the first time ever put an African side in a World Cup semifinal!

Morocco lost 0-2 in the semifinals, and then 1-2 to Croatia in the bronze match, but nothing could erase the historic victories over Spain and Portugal.

Match Stats:

• December 10th, 2022, Al-Thumama Stadium, Qatar
• Attendance: 44,198
• Referee: Facundo Tello (Argentina)  

Morocco-Portugal 1-0
Goals: Youssef En-Nesyri (42) 

Teams: 
Morocco: Yassine Bounou; Achraf Hakimi, Jawad El Yamiq, Romain Saiss (Achraf Dari, 57), Yahia Attiyat Allah; Azzedine Ounahi, Sofyan Amrabat, Selim Amallah (Walid Cheddira, 65, RD, 93), Hakim Ziyech (Zakaria Aboughlal, 82); Youssef En-Nesyri (Badr Benoun, 65), Sofiane Boufal (Yahya Jabrane, 82). Manager: Walid Regragui 
Portugal: Diogo Costa; Pepe, Ruben Dias, Diogo Dalot (Ricardo Horta, 79), Raphael Guerreiro (Joao Cancelo, 51); Ruben Neves (Cristiano Ronaldo, 51), Bernardo Silva, Otavinho (Vitinha, 69); Goncalo Ramos (Rafael Leao, 69), Joao Felix, Bruno Fernandes. Manager: Fernando Santos.