Hello everyone, I’m here once again and this time I’m bringing to you my thoughts on this year’s World Cup in Qatar. Today I will share with you my thoughts about the performance so far in the World Cup and ultimately, which country I think will be taking the trophy home.
First of, I would like to say that this year’s World Cup might go down in history as one of the best world cups. It has brought as so many great entertainment and high level of football, we have also experienced so many upsets in the tournament this year. For me, the group stage matches were simply worth watching every game. I don’t think you could even afford to miss out on any game, it was almost unpredictable with every match. Teams we all assumed as the underdogs surprised us with dramatic winners even on comebacks against the big teams in the tournament.
After my country(Ghana) was knocked out, all my support was diverted to Portugal since Cristiano Ronaldo and a couple of Manchester United players play for Portugal. Lemme just say that I’m “Ronaldo FC” to cut things short. With this tournament, I was very pleased with the results from my country because I never expected even a single win but when I watched our first game, I felt like we could have progressed to the knockout stages. Anyways things didn’t go so well for us.
One of my my favorite matches in the tournament was the one between Argentina and Saudi Arabia, it was simply the best for me. After which we saw Germany and Spain both losing to Japan in the same group, Morocco also beating Belgium in their group, France and Brazil also losing to Tunisia and Cameroon. Well I must say, that is one way to bow out of the tournament in group stages for Cameroon and Tunisia.
In the group stages the team that really impressed me the most was Morocco after coming out of group stages on top of their group. Also teams like Croatia, England and other European nations put on quite an impressive performance.
During the group stages some young players that stood out were Mohammed Kudus from Ghana, and I feel like our team was over reliant on him for his creativity in the attack. He is one player to watch out for during the transfer window.
Bruno Fernandes is a player I feel like he literally carried Portugal through out their campaign in the the tournament. He is one player you can’t afford to put on the bench. Other players we can talk about are Julian Alvarez and K. Mbappé, these young players have had their impact in the tournament and I think much credit should be given to them.
The knockouts came along with a triller of matches and my hopes was that we could experience a Portugal and Argentina match final. Morocco decided to take this tournament to another level by knocking out one of the favorites for this World Cup which is Spain. As usual Argentina (Messi) got an easy route to the quarter finals by beating Australia while Portugal had to beat Switzerland and I think it was just time for Goncalo Ramos to introduce himself on the big stage by scoring a hat trick for his team.
Then came the quarter finals, and yet again Morocco put another impressive performance to knockout my second team Portugal (Ronaldo) I was sad and happy at the same time, because they were making the whole of Africa proud.
The Netherlands versus Argentina game was one to watch out for in the quarter finals, Argentina leading by 2 goals to nil and then there came a super sub of Wout Werghost who came on to give the Netherlands a late 2 goals equalizer. The came ended in a penalty shootout which saw Netherlands out of the tournament.
Another match was the Croatia versus Brazil, an exciting match to watch which was separated by a penalty shootout after late goals in the the extra time of the match. Honestly I do think, Brazil should have qualified and they would be better opponent for Argentina. France and England game for me I think was one sided and believed that England were the better side in terms of play and possession but France were more clinical in their attack. This saw them beat England by 2 goals to 1, the last minute penalty which was missed by Harry Kane could have helped them keep their hopes of qualifying. I guess it is not “coming home” after all…
The semi finals games didn’t disappoint either, field with exciting matchups between Argentina and Croatia then Morocco against France. For the Argentina match, I saw Croatia have more of the ball and possessing very decently but they lacked the attacking experience up front and couldn’t utilize their chances. For one of the teams with the very best defensively conceding 3 goals was very shocking to me and all I can say is that Croatia were poor defensively, Argentina put on a great performance and deserved the final match spot.
At this point, I’m rooting for France to bring us some peace by beating Argentina in the finals. Messi lifting this trophy will be the end of the GOAT debate and us Ronaldo fans wouldn’t have much to say now. But before that, the France-Morocco game was more about how clinical you can be in the forward position and France were more clinical in the game as they utilized their goal chances very well. Morocco on the other hand, I believe were the better team in that match and I think their players lacked stamina or should say fatigue caught up with them. With Romain Saiss, being substituted and Aguerd not present in the match lineup due to injury they put on yet another stellar performance and should have made it through to the finals.
Soufyan Amrabat and Ounahi from the Moroccan team are ones to watch out for in the coming weeks of transfer window. Many teams have their eye on them and I can that have proven to be a good addition in any team they might find themselves next.
The final match is one we’re are all anticipating, two very good teams battling it out for the one famous trophy. Who takes home the grand prize of the tournament? Argentine I think are very solid defensively and may try to hit France on the counter break. But I think with Raphael Varane have a great leader in their defense and his experience will come to play. In the attacking areas, L.Messi and K. Mbappe are both on 5 goals as the top scorers in the tournament. Messi in this Argentina team has been all over and he has shown to the world what he can do, he really deserves all the praise given to him (take this from a strong Ronaldo fan).
With the midfield area, Argentina have a better one with McAllister and Enzo Fernandes and De Paul as one the unsung heroes in this tournament. As compared to that of France, their best midfield pair so far in the tournament consists of A.Rabiot, Tchaoumeni and Griezmann. My support all goes to France and really wish they don’t disappoint and praying for K. Mbappe too so he can be crowned the top goal scorer of the tournament.
L. Messi is just one step away now from achieving it all in is career, will he be able to achieve such greatness of lifting the World Cup? All eyes on Sunday on the final match in Qatar. All is welcome to bring their thoughts in the comments section, let’s discuss.
