Fifa World Cup

The 5 Most Unlikely Teams that Could Win World Cup 2022

Published

1 year ago

December 6, 2022

Salman

The 5 Most Unlikely Teams that Could Win World Cup 2022

Upsetting the World

word image 172622 1

https://www.pexels.com/photo/soccer-shoes-774321/

As the knockout stages get underway at the FIFA World Cup 2022, we’d like to look at some of the teams left in the competition.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out who the favorite team to win the World Cup is.

You only have to check the World Cup odds to see the same old faces listed.

So today, we are going to cast the spotlight on those unfancied teams that are looking to shake the world. Here are five teams looking to make their mark on history by upsetting the odds.

word image 172622 2

https://www.pexels.com/photo/aerial-view-of-football-stadium-14272729/

Japan – The Samurai Blue discovered during qualifying that they have things too easy in Asia, with few difficult tests to help them prepare for competing against the big players. Although they faced some setbacks, including an unexpected home loss against Oman, qualification was never in doubt. However, you would not have realized this when the tournament began as they came from a goal behind to beat one of the pre-tournament favorites Germany. Even a setback against Costa Rica didn’t faze them. They again came from a goal behind to beat another one of the European powerhouses, this time in the form of Spain, to qualify top of the group. Next up, they face Croatia, and while this is a tough test on paper, it is a winnable game. Should Japan win, they will create history by reaching the quarter-finals for the first time.
South Korea – Next, we will look at Japan’s close neighbor South Korea. With this being South Korea’s 12^th appearance at the championships, they are seasoned World Cup performers. However, they failed to win any of their first five competitions. South Korea didn’t win their first match until the 2002 World Cup when Guus Hiddink led the team to sensational victories over Italy and Spain in the knockout rounds en route to a fourth-place finish when they shared hosting duties with Japan. Since then, their fortunes have been mixed; they’ve made two attempts to escape the group stages without success. The Koreans started this campaign slowly, going winless in their first two games against Uruguay and Ghana. However, in their final group game against the already-qualified Portuguese, they burst into life, coming from behind to grab an injury-time winner. That has set up a dream match with Brazil in the last 16. While it’s doubtful they will beat Brazil; they will be encouraged after seeing Cameroon upset the South Americans in their previous match.
Croatia – It’s difficult to look upon Croatia as one of the outsiders, and many will argue they’re not. However, they are a team that has never won the World Cup, so based on this criterion, we will include them. Although Croatia was unbeaten in the group stages, they hardly set the world alight, drawing two games 0-0 and winning one game against Canada, who lost all three of their matches. However, they face Japan in the round of 16. They will have much more experience to draw upon than their Asian counterparts. They will look to keep things tight at the back after only conceding a goal in the group stages, and they will be encouraged by the fact that Japan has never scored against them.
Morocco – Morocco has arguably been the surprise package of the tournament so far and looked mightily impressive in the group stages as they went unbeaten in their three games. This included beating Belgium’s golden generation 2-0. But, unfortunately, their rewards for topping a problematic group have not been a reward at all, as they face Spain in the knockout stages. However, the last couple of times they met Spain, they managed to get on the score sheet twice, so history says they should make life difficult for them.
Switzerland – The Swiss fall into the same bracket as Croatia, and it’s hard to look upon them as outsiders given their lofty FIFA World Rankings. However, we are slowly running out of teams as the tournament progresses. Given the caliber of teams remaining, you have to think that Switzerland is one of the less fancied sides. Especially as they face Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in the next round, but they won’t be scared of the Portuguese, especially as they beat them as recently as June this year which is sure to be fresh in the memory of both sets of players. Switzerland also looked assured in the group stages, and only a late goal against them by World Cup favorites Brazil could derail them.