On November 20, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar gets underway. Being the first of its kind to take place in an Arabic nation and during the winter months, it’ll certainly be a novel experience for soccer fans. When the first kick-off gets the tournament underway, though, few fans will care about anything not taking place on a 112-yard plain of finely cut grass.
Indeed, the tournament will dominate sporting headlines from Japan to Germany to Canada, even in countries that didn’t make the cut. Unfortunately, Nigeria is one such country. Despite the strength of the Super Eagles team, they just couldn’t do enough to get past the final step of qualification. People across the country will certainly still be tuning in, getting wrapped up in the massive tournament, making predictions, and playing along.
For the spectacle alone, which features the first-ever movable World Cup stadium, you won’t want to miss out on the revelries and sheer volume of world-class talent putting on a show each day through to December 18. Here’s a look at what you can look forward to at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, a few hot picks to look out for on the pitch, and how you can catch World Cup Fever before the first kick-off and throughout the biggest single-sports event on the planet.
A very close race for the World Cup
The 2022 World Cup, rightfully, will feature the glut of the best players in the sport who have propelled their nations to Qatar. France, Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, Portugal, and Spain are turning up with superb squads. Coming over from Africa, it’ll be Senegal, Cameroon, Morocco, Tunisia, and the team that narrowly beat Nigeria, Ghana. One of these nations looks to potentially be in line to make World Cup history.
Even though Nigeria won’t have a team competing – but music sensation Patoranking will be performing at the Opening Ceremony – it would be great to see an African nation make a big impact. Senegal, by a huge margin, is the best African team at the tournament, and has a relatively easy group. Thrown into Group A with the hosts, the Netherlands, and Ecuador, many expect the African and the European side to progress.
From there, if Senegal’s star-studded team can escape the group in second, they’ll face the winner of Group B, which features Iran, USA, England, and Wales. All of those teams are beatable by this side on the right day. However, the quarter-finals would likely bring Senegal into battle with Argentina or France. Bowing out here would tie this Senegal side with the furthest progress of an African side at the World Cup.
While the middle of the season for European competitions hasn’t been overly helpful to many, with injuries stopping Reece James, Diogo Jota, Timo Werner, Arthur Melo, and defending champions N’Golo Kante and Paul Pogba will also miss out. It’s also possible that Angel Di Maria, Son Heung-min, Romelu Lukaku, Paulo Dybala, and Ronald Araújo won't be able to go either due to injuries.
Even factoring these injuries in, France is still among the favorites. That said, France, England, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands are all chasing Brazil and Argentina as the tournament favorites. It’s possible that the two South American sides will meet in the semi-finals. If they do, Argentina has developed a knack for beating Brazil in the big Messi vs. Neymar showdown.
Getting into the World Cup spirit
The first step for getting into the World Cup spirit is to blast some tunes, and what better way to do it than by playing some Patoranking? He’ll be taking the stage at the massive tournament, so people all over the world will be able to experience his music. Love You Die, No Kissing Baby, Girlie ‘O’, or Abule might feature, so best add them to the playlist today to get ready.
If you want some additional entertainment while the football’s on, there are some online platforms making accommodations for such preferences. At the online casino, you can both play classic table games and watch the scores come in. Live Football Roulette (both versions) and Football Studio are going to be packed with soccer fans who also want to play some real-time casino games opposite a professional croupier. As you spin, you’ll get updates on major events in the games and get to chat with fellow fans in the live game.
In a separate realm of entertainment, the biggest soccer product in the world is adding World Cup content for free. The FIFA 23 video game was given a whole heap of FIFA World Cup 2022 modes and players on November 9, including the Live game mode and the classic Tournament Mode. Perhaps more importantly, FIFA Mobile also received a FIFA World Cup update. The Tournament Mode lets you play through the competition, and it’s still free to start.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is finally here, and many of the best players in the sport are competing. Even with Nigeria not attending, people are going to be going soccer mad!
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