The North African and Asian Spring

November 22nd and 23rd, 2022 will go down in the history of the World Cup as the days of the underdog. When the story of Qatar 2022 is told; Tuesday and Wednesday will be specially celebrated as the day football royalty truly fell.

Saudi Arabia and Japan have set the Asian confederation on a frenzy, after the exploits of their national teams. It is not usual for two of football’s powerhouses to lose in back-to-back days to teams ranked and considered as complete outsiders.

The Saudi’s led by Frenchman Herve Renard defeated a Lionel Messi-led Argentine team that many consider favourites. This victory was reminiscent of Cameroon’s victory at Italia ’90 of then World Champions, Argentina led by the legendary Diego Maradona. Nobody, absolutely no one gave the men from the Oil rich nation a chance to get a draw not to talk of a win. It was a performance of not just grit, discipline, and tenacity; they added some flair; especially with the quality of the goals they scored. It was party time in Mecca and its environs; the Saudis have arrived in Qatar and they mean business.

They say lightning doesn’t strike twice at the same spot; well in this case, I guess it’s safe to say that notion is at an end. Japan helped rubbish this notion with a performance for the ages against football aristocrats; Germany. Japan had in their lineup a number of Bundesliga based players; so this was somewhat personal for the Blue Samurai and they deserved their win. Germany and Argentina were both disappointing; they failed to find that cutting edge and with some smart tinkering from the Herve Renard and Hajime Moriyasu during the halftime interval; both teams were able to exploit gaps in their opponents defence.

Tunisia, who I had completely written off going by their past performances at the World Cup put up a spirited display against a highly rated Danish to grab a well deserved draw to finally have points on the board. Their fellow North Africans Morocco were quite bold in their overall approach as they faced 2018 finalists, Croatia, also playing a 0-0.

Finally the African teams are off the mark but yet to score; two points from a possible 9 doesn’t make for good reading but has a semblance of progress to get everyone excited for what’s to come with Ghana and Cameroon still to play. This World Cup has shown that anything can happen and it’s already happening. My prediction of Senegal and maybe Ghana getting through might just be changed as I like the look of Morocco; they are mobile, adventurous and look like they can take on anyone.

On the strength of what I have seen in Group F; the Atlas Lions stand a good chance to get at least four more points to make it through to the next round.

This World Cup is still unravelling and I am loving it.

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