The 2022 Qatar World Cup has come and gone, but the electrifying memories it has left us with will stay with us for a long time to come. It was a tournament that produced perhaps the greatest number of shock results in one edition and possibly the most pulsating final the world has ever seen.
The final game of the tournament between former defending champions, France and Argentina turned out to be a most dramatic encounter that left fans of both teams in the edge of their seats for long periods.
Despite being the first World Cup to miss many stars, the 2022 edition of the FIFA World Cup, hosted by Qatar is the first of its kind with the country being the first Arabic country to achieve this feat. The world witnessed a tournament that left indelible positive memories in the minds and hearts of every participant considering the level of preparedness and devotion shown by the host.
TOP STARS WHO MISSED QUATAR
Several star players missed the just concluded World Cup. Some missed either as a result of injury or because their countries failed to qualify for the tournament. Players like Mohammed Salah, Erling Haaland, Roberto Firmino, Martin Odegaard, Victor Osimhen, Reece James, Saido Mane, Karim Benzema, Timo Werner, Christophe Nkunku, Paul Pogba, and Ngolo Kante all watched from home.
CONTROVERSIES SURROUNDING HOST COUNTRY, QUATAR
Clearly, the State of Qatar has demonstrated that you can achieve anything you put your mind to. The 2022 world cup cost is about $220B, compared to the $11.6B Russia spent in 2018.
Controversies behind Qatar holding the World cup and Fifa president opening speech that shocked thr World.
At his opening speech on the eve of the World cup, the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, said in response to the public outcry on how Qatar treated their migrant workers which was confirmed by Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary general of the Supreme Committee for delivery and legacy, that it’s between 400 and 500 that died during the course of the world cup preparation and also rights of LGBTQ people in Qatar. He said: “What we Europeans have been doing for the past 3,000 years we should be apologizing for the next 3,000 years before we start giving moral lessons to people,” Infantino said to hundreds of international media.
NIGERIAN HONOURED BY FIFA
Nigerian journalist and publisher of Sports Village Square, Kunle Solaja, was honoured by FIFA, in collaboration with the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), for his coverage of nine World Cup tournaments.
The ace sports journalist was celebrated alongside 81 others in a ceremony held in Doha, Qatar.
Solaja and South Africa’s Mark Glesson are the only Africans decorated with the prize.
They were presented with a certificate of achievement jointly signed by Infantino, the FIFA president, and Gianni Merlo, the AIPS president.
Speaking on the achievement, Solaja said he is inspired by journalists who have covered more than 15 World Cups and described the recognition as fulfilling.
7 NIGERIAN BORN PLAYERS THAT PLAYED FOR OTHER COUNTRIES AT THE WORLD CUP
Interestingly, Nigeria had a large number of players who had naturalised and featured for other countries at the World Cup. Some of these top players are Bukayo Saka – England
Noah Okafor and Manuel Akanji – Switzerland
Jamal Musiala and Karim Adeyemi – Germany
Ike Ugbo and Samuel Adekugbe – Canada
RECORDS BROKEN AT THE WORLD CUP
Several records were broken at the just concluded mundial. Some of these records had been existing for long, but like they say, records are meant to be broken.
For instance, Messi became the first player since the introduction of knock outs after Jazinho to score in all the rounds. He scored in the group stage, round of 16, quarter finals, semi finals and finals.
Mbappe became the second player to score a World cup final hatrick
Argentina became the second team since Spain in 2010 to win the World after losing their first match
France and Argentina became the first finalists to lose at the group stage
Messi broke the all-time record for most games played at a Men’s FIFA World Cup.
The final was Messi’s 26th World Cup game, beating the previous record of 25 set by former Germany midfielder Lothar Matthaus.
First Ever Two-Time Golden Ball Winner
Messi was presented with the Golden Ball award after the final, having been voted as the official Player of the Tournament.
He had also won the award at the 2014 World Cup. No other player has received the prize twice.
Most Player Of The Match Awards – 11
Messi was named as the official Player of the Match in five of Argentina’s seven games at Qatar 2022.
He has now won 11 World Cup Player of the Match awards during his career. The previous record was seven set by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Most Player Of The Match Awards At One World Cup – 5
The only games at Qatar 2022 to feature Messi and not result in him winning the Player of the Match were Argentina’s 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia and their 2-0 victory over Poland.
Mohammed Alowais and Alexis Mac Allister won the awards in those games.
Most Goal Contributions – 21
Messi is only joint-fourth on the all-time World Cup list of leading scorers with 13 goals.
But he is now top of the pile in terms of goals + assists with 21.
First Player To Register An Assist At Five World Cups
Ronaldo became the first player in World Cup history to score at five different tournaments when he netted for Portugal at Qatar 2022.
Messi has only scored at four World Cups but became the first man ever to record an assist at five tournaments – 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.
Most World Cups Played For Argentina
Messi became the first Argentine in World Cup history to perform at five different tournaments.
Diego Maradona and Javier Mascherano both played in four World Cups. Angel Di Maria joined Maradona and Mascherano on four by playing at Qatar 2022.
10. Most World Cup Goals For Argentina
Messi more than doubled his tally of World Cup goals during Qatar 2022 by scoring seven times.
That took his all-time World Cup goal count to 13, breaking the previous record of 10 set by Gabriel Batistuta.
Morocco became the first Africa country to reach the semi finals and defeated the World #1 team (Belgium).
Cameroon became the first African country to beat Brazil at the World Cup
First time two Nigerians performed at the World cup. Kiss Daniel and Davido
Qatar built the first dismantled stadium ever. The 974 stadium was build with 974 containers used in shipping materials that was used in building stadiums used for the tournament. Its also Qatar’s International calling code. It was shipped out to Mexico after the last match played there between Netherlands vs Argentina.
UPSETS OF THE TOURNAMENT There were some really shock results at the tournament. The first big upset was the German versus Japan which ended 2-1 in favour of Japan. Second major upset was the Saudi Arabia versus Argentina match which ended 2-1 in favour of the Saudis. Morroco was the giant killer of the tournament. They beat Belgium, Portugal and Spain and ended up fourth best team in the world. Cameroon beat Brazil while Korea also beat Portugal with the last kick of the match
