The group stage said a lot about each confederation under the FIFA umbrella. Some saw shame as only one team from the area advanced. Others set records for the number of teams that reached the round of 16.
The group stage of the 2022 World Cup was wild. Within minutes, a couple of teams were able to move forward safely. So, they were left out of the World Cup. As a result, Germany, Uruguay, Denmark, Mexico and Belgium are all out of the World Cup. Looking back at the experts’ predictions, all but one had Denmark, Germany and Belgium advancing.
Those three teams come from UEFA, which is generally understood to be the strongest and deepest confederation for FIFA. To be fair, each of those nations had another strong European team in their group. Denmark had the defending World Cup champions, Germany drew Spain on matchday two and Belgium did the same with Croatia in the final group game.
For reference, this is the first World Cup since 1994 in which no team won all three group stage matches. Therefore, parity is common throughout the table. On one hand, the teams welcome the wild nature of the tournament. On the other hand, some teams lost their security blanket of consistency by reaching the round of 16.
So what does a ‘confederation table’ look like after all 32 teams have concluded their group stage matches at the World Cup? Well, Asia looks strong, fittingly, since it’s an Asian World Cup.
Breakdown of each confederation after the World Cup group stage
Uefa
OVERALL RECORD: 11-15-13 (56 points, +16)
Half of the teams in the round of 16 come from UEFA. That’s not too surprising. In addition to quality coming from the continent, UEFA provided more teams than any other at the World Cup.
That being said, this tournament has considerable disappointment as a continent. As stated, Denmark, Belgium and Germany should have qualified outside of their respective groups. Certainly a portion of that credit goes to teams like Australia, Morocco, and Japan, who took those spots.
Germany and Belgium, both eliminated from the competition, tied with the Europeans in their group, Spain and Croatia. The Asian teams, as would be the case with several opponents, proved difficult. Spain and Germany lost to Japan. South Korea defeated Portugal and drew with Uruguay. Iran defeated Wales in dramatic fashion. These are games these teams hoped to win. However, they proved crucial in elimination.
CONMEBOL
OVERALL RECORD: 6-3-3 (21 points, +7)
Going into the final day of the group stage, there was a good chance that every CONMEBOL team would have been able to advance. Brazil already secured a spot, Argentina and Ecuador just needed not to lose, and Uruguay needed a win over Ghana and a draw or loss for South Korea. Argentinian delivery only. Both Ecuador and Uruguay suffered heartbreaking results to exit the competition early.
The South American teams defended themselves. Uruguay was the only team to lose to a European opponent, a 2-0 defeat against Portugal. Argentina defeated Poland, Brazil eliminated their two European rivals and Ecuador achieved a good result to tie with the Netherlands.
To be fair, Brazil deserved to finish first. With their fate as group winners all but assured, Brazil vastly changed their line-up against Cameroon. That was Brazil’s only loss in the group stage.
cost and freight
OVERALL RECORD: 7-3-5 (24 points, +2)
This is a great taste of Africa. The highlight of that is undoubtedly Morocco, which topped a volatile group with Belgium, Croatia and Canada. In both games, Morocco looked strong. In fact, they severely outscored Belgium in their 2-0 win over the third-place team from 2018.
Senegal also looked like a team ready for the challenge of a World Cup. Considering that Senegal is without Sadio Mané and that their only loss was against the Netherlands with two late goals, Senegal is a deserved second place.
Ghana, the lowest ranked team by FIFA in the World Cup, still competed quite well. Of course, the two losses do not help. But two close games against South Korea and Portugal, in which both advanced, is decent. In the end, the talent from the other sides was simply too much to handle.
I also respect Cameroon, who beat Brazil to leave the tournament with their heads held high, even though they failed to advance from the group.
CONCACAF
OVERALL RECORD: 3-3-6 (12 points, -13)
This is a bleak taste of North America. The three wins weren’t too surprising. The United States defeated Iran, Mexico defeated Saudi Arabia, and Costa Rica defeated South Korea. Perhaps the latter is the biggest surprise. In any case, CONCACAF was the only confederation to discover Asian teams in the World Cup group stage.
Few could have expected Costa Rica to drop out of their group with Spain, Germany and Costa Rica. Therefore, three points is not all bad. The goal differential is, however. As Alexi Lalas vehemently pointed out, a 7-0 loss to Spain in the first group game looks bad for North American soccer as a whole.
Canada is still waiting for its first World Cup point. In only their second World Cup appearance, the Canadians have never done better than a loss in their six matches.
The United States is now the confederation’s only hope of success, facing a Dutch team that has yet to lose in this tournament.
AFC
OVERALL RECORD: 5-1-10 (22 points, -11)
The teams from the Asian confederation had a mixed bag in the group stage. That’s the good part, three teams from Asia qualifying for the round of 16. This is the .
There is also the bad. Qatar is the first host nation not to score a point. It is only the second to not make it past the group stage. The other is South Africa in 2010, and even that team had four points, including a win over France. Without a doubt, Qatar is the worst-performing host in the history of the competition.
Even Iran and Saudi Arabia, which did not advance either, had strong moments. Saudi Arabia surprised Argentina and Lionel Messi. However, he lost his next two games. Iran had a legitimate chance to reach the round of 16. Christian Pulisic’s goal on matchday three broke the hearts of the Iranian players.
Still, the main talking point for Asian teams is the performance of Australia, South Korea and Japan. These teams were all in tough groups. However, each found a way out. South Korea picked up a big win over Portugal on matchday three to clinch a spot. They also drew against Uruguay. Australia stunned Denmark to leapfrog the European team in the group table.
The best performer, however, is Japan. Yes, Japan lost to Costa Rica. However, that does not take away from the impressive and historic victories over Germany and Spain. Thus, there are three Asian teams competing in the knockout stages of another World Cup hosted by Asia.
PHOTO: IMAGO/Xinhua
World Cup 2022 Guide
Here are some resources to help you make the most of the biggest event in soccer!
