NZME’s world-renowned football blog Goalmouth Scramble is back. Our rotating stable of football writers will offer daily hot takes on all the action from the World Cup in Qatar. Today, Christopher Reive ranks the five biggest upsets of the 2022 tournament.
5. Tunisia 1 France 0
Controversy and sport: Whata pairing. This was a match that had zero impact on the tournament; Tunisia were already eliminated and France had already secured their place as the group’s top qualifier (barring a many-goal win for Australia over Denmark). But that didn’t take anything away from the drama that unfolded.
A much-changed French team fell behind midway through the second half as No 30 ranked Tunisia looked to bow out with a famous win. That hope was snatched away eight minutes into stoppage time, then given back moments later. French star Antoine Griezmann hammered one home to draw level in what seemed to be the final act of the game.
The controversy came in what followed as it appeared Kiwi referee Matthew Conger whistled for the ensuing kickoff, then quickly blew for fulltime, before a VAR check ruled out the equaliser for offside. While the fulltime whistle doesn’t prevent a VAR review, the referee should hold play rather than blow time, if possible, while a review is taking place.
It wasn’t a popular decision and the French FA have since filed a complaint to Fifa against the disallowed goal, insisting that Conger allowed Tunisia to restart the game. Regardless, the result was another massive upset and a meaningless match turned spicy.
4. Australia’s ascent
Australian players celebrate Craig Goodwin's goal against France. Photo / Getty Images
Who would have thought our neighbours from across the ditch would become one of the stories of the tournament? Drawn alongside France (world No 4; World Cup winners in 2018), Denmark (10; third in Euro 2020) and Tunisia (30), the Australians (38) were the lowest-ranked team of the quartet and had some big names to contend with.
But from Craig Goodwin’s opening goal against France nine minutes into their campaign, any notion they were just making up numbers was thrown out. Yes, they went on to lose that one 4-1, but impressed against the defending champions. From there, their campaign has been a showcase of belief and taking opportunities.
They went into their matches against Tunisia and Denmark as underdogs, and a look at the stats suggests that was a fair reflection. But it only takes one; a superbly taken goal in each match guiding them to 1-0 victories. Their reward? A date with Argentina and arguably this generation’s greatest talent, Lionel Messi, in the round of 16. Good luck to them.
What a way to start the tournament! Argentina travelled to Qatar as one of the favourites to hoist the trophy, and their opening match against Saudi Arabia should have been a showcase. Instead, it was a slip-up.
It was all going to plan in the first half. Messi had converted from the penalty spot, and Argentina were dictating the match. But a goal on the counter-attack from Saudi Arabia’s Saleh Alshehri with little room to work in brought the minnows level just three minutes after the break, before a wonder strike from the top of the box from Salem Aldawsari put them ahead five minutes later.
It proved to be the decisive strike as Argentina couldn’t find an answer and began their campaign by providing more questions than answers. Saudi Arabia had just two shots on target to Argentina’s six, while only having 30 per cent of the ball, but they made it count and set the tone for what was to come in the group stages.
2. The death of Belgium’s golden generation
In 2018, I tipped Belgium to win the World Cup in Russia, sold on the story of the ‘Golden Generation’. With the squad they had and the form their players were in, it seemed as good a tip as any. They finished third, which was an improvement on their quarter-final exit from the previous tournament.
Of their 26-man squad for Qatar, 16 were there in Russia so the narrative was an easy one to build; a group that had been playing together for years with one last chance at the Cup before ageing players moved on. While they might not have been as fancied as they were four years ago, they should still have given the tournament a shake. But that’s hard to do when you can’t put the ball in the goal.
Across their three matches, Belgium had 41 attempts at goal, but only nine hit the target and one found the back of the net. A shock 2-0 loss to Morocco meant they needed to win their final group match against Croatia to progress and, as they squandered several chances and finished the match 0-0, the group dubbed the ‘Golden Generation’ tumbled out of the tournament in the group stages, becoming a tale of what could have been.
1. The Japan trilogy
Yuto Nagatomo and Ritsu Doan celebrate Japan's win over Spain. Photo / Getty Images
If there was an award for the most fun team to watch at the World Cup, surely Japan would have that wrapped up. In a group with football giants Spain and Germany, it wasn’t expected they would progress to the knockout stages. But Japan topped the group with two wins and a loss, beating both football giants.
Kicking off their campaign with the tournament’s second major upset with a 2-1 win over Germany, the result saw more questions asked for the Germans than praise for the Japanese, who won with just 26 per cent of possession. However, that all seemed warranted when they lost 1-0 to Costa Rica and their ‘park the bus’ game plan.
It set up a grandstand finish for the group with every team still having a chance to progress, though the top-ranked teams were again expected to move on given the seemingly friendly fixtures. The two heavyweights opened their accounts early too, both taking 1-0 leads inside 12 minutes and holding those until halftime. While Germany went on to beat Costa Rica 4-2, Japan again had the final say — scoring two goals in the space of three minutes and holding Spain out to take a 2-1 win. While their second goal will be debated as the ball looked to have gone out of play in the build-up, Japan proved they’re not to be counted out.
On the flip side — and the reason this entry takes the No 1 spot — Germany crashed out of the tournament in the group stages for the second time in a row, after having never missed the second round of the tournament since being allowed to re-enter in 1954. Between 1954 and 2014, they won four World Cups (1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014) from eight finals, with three third-placed finishes as well.
