The wait for the 2022 World Cup is finally over! This year’s World Cup is being held in Qatar. The World Cup competition began with Group play. Early on, Germany and Belgium got eliminated; they were early favorites to win but did not make it past Group E and F, respectively. In group play, 32 teams play in 8 brackets of 4 teams. To advance, you have to be 1st or 2nd place in the bracket in 3 games played. The teams that advanced into bracket play (top 16) were the Netherlands, Senegal, England, United States, Argentina, Poland, France, Australia, Japan, Spain, Morocco, Croatia, Switzerland, Portugal, South Korea, and the World Cup favorites to win it all, Brazil.

So far, in bracket play, the Netherlands played the United States and beat them 3-1, which eliminated the U.S. Later, Argentina played Australia and beat them 2-1, eliminating Australia. Argentina will face the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. France played Poland and beat them 3-1 eliminating Poland. England played Senegal and beat them 3-0, eliminating Senegal. France will advance and play England in the quarterfinals. Brazil faced off with South Korea and beat them 4-1. Croatia faced Japan and Croatia won by penalties. Penalties are played when both teams tie after the full 90 minutes and two 15-minute intervals. If they are still tied, then the teams go to penalties. Penalties are free kicks in the middle of the goalie box. Whoever wins penalties in a best-of-five wins the game. Croatia won in penalties, and therefore they are moving on to play Brazil in the quarterfinals. Later, Morocco played Spain, and that game also went to penalties. Morocco won in penalties against a World Cup favorite team, and Morocco shocked the whole world. Finally, Portugal played Switzerland and Portugal won 6-1. Portugal will play Morocco in the quarterfinals. Now that the round of 16 is over, eight teams are advancing, and eight teams got eliminated. The advancing teams are the Netherlands, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Croatia, Morocco, and Portugal. The eliminated teams are the United States, Australia, Poland, Senegal, South Korea, Japan, Spain, and Switzerland. The teams facing off in quarterfinal play are Brazil vs Croatia, Netherlands vs Argentina, Morocco vs Portugal, and England vs France.

Somebody who enjoys sports and plays sports, Elijah L, has an interesting opinion about the Cup. “He thinks that the World Cup is very solid with great players, and it has its attributes. He says it’s a great overall sport and predicts Brazil will win it all. He thinks Neymar Jr from Brazil is the best player in the tournament and wishes he could be there to watch a game in person.”Another statistical genius who knows everything about sports, Luke W, has a big prediction about the Cup. “He would also love to witness a World Cup game. He thinks Brazil will win in a close match against Lionel Messi and Argentina and can’t wait for the World Cup to come to the U.S. in 2026.” Interestingly, both interviewers had Brazil winning the Cup.

In Conclusion, the journey to the Cup winner continues, but it would be a failure if Brazil fell short in the end. Qatar is a beautiful soccer city despite losing all three games. It’s one of the best host cities the World Cup has ever had, and they look to keep impressing.