World Cup Qatar 2022: The Book of Highlights (Part 1)
Image Credit: History of Soccer
By: Anthony Tazbaz
December 18, 2022—Argentina defeats France 4-3 on penalties following a thrilling 3-3 score line after 120 minutes of football. La Albiceleste’s victory seals Lionel Messi’s fate and the contentious narrative surrounding his status as the GOAT (greatest of all-time) in football.
While Argentina claimed their third World Cup title, Leo Messi won his second Golden Ball (best player) and fellow countryman goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez won the Golden Glove (best goalkeeper). Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain teammate and French international Kylian Mbappé won the Golden Boot (8 goals), while Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernandez succeeded Mbappé by securing the Young Player of the Tournament award.
While many, including The Go-Ahead Goal, agree about the recipients of these individual awards, let’s take a look back and reflect on highlights and winners of (imaginary) awards given to nations who contributed into making this World Cup tournament into perhaps one of the finest.
Best Qualifying Run
Winner: Canada
Before discussing the World Cup tournament, give credit to the qualifiers, particularly those who many did not expect to book their ticket to Qatar. Despite incurring three losses in as many matches and scoring only two goals (including an own goal), the Canadian Soccer Association as well as any Canadian should be proud of their squad’s qualifying run. While most nations endured one or two qualifying rounds, Canada played through three rounds, including the final round which consisted of 14 games, more than every UEFA nation had to play through.
Beginning their quest for the 2022 World Cup at 73rd (1,332 points) in the Men’s FIFA World Rankings, Canada had to play their first-round games in neutral territory in the United States. Since the first round of World Cup qualifying in CONCACAF was played on neutral ground, all nations faced each opponent only once, rather than the typical home-and-away matchups. With five nations per group, Canada began their qualifying campaign in Group B with a perfect run of four wins in many matches. It all started with wins versus Bermuda (5-1), the Cayman Islands (11-0—their biggest win all-time), Aruba (7-0), and Suriname (4-0).
The second round comprised the six group winners (A-F), where one nation would face another in a two-legged matchup. In Canada’s case, they faced Haiti, with the first leg being played in Port-au-Prince and the second leg in Bridgeview, Illinois. While El Salvador crushed Saint Kitts and Nevis by an aggregated score of 6-0 and Panama edged Curaçao 2-1, Canada defeated Haiti 4-0 on aggregate—1-0 and 3-0, respectively.
Canada entered the final round—alongside El Salvador and Panama—as an underdog facing the CONCACAF giants of Mexico, the United States and Costa Rica, World Cup veterans Honduras, and a young Jamaican squad filled with many players from England’s top leagues. Each nation played 14 games – seven at home and seven away – with the top three nations clinching automatically and the fourth qualifying for a winner-takes-all inter-confederation play-off.
Despite being written off by many pundits and the average football fan, Canada rose to the top (literally), finishing first in the third round of CONCACAF. Ascending from obscurity, Canada qualified for the World Cup within one year, finishing with a total record of 14 wins, four draws, and two losses. This incredible run landed them at 38th place (1,479 points) in the March 2022 World Rankings, the concluding month of the third qualifying round.
This long and incredible run completed with flying colours and clinching a berth to only their second World Cup finals ever makes them undoubtedly worthy of such an award.
