The group stage of the World Cup in Qatar was put to an end and during the first part of the tournament, there was no team with the maximum score of three victories. A scenario that has not been seen for almost three decades, since the World Cup in the United States of America in 1994, which was also the first in which victories were valued at three points.And now, for the first time in the recent history of the World Cup, there is no national team without a blemish in the group stage. The Netherlands, England and Morocco are the teams that won the most points with seven each, but they did not have a chance for the maximum before the third round, since the Moroccans started the championship with a draw with Croatia, and in the second round the English and Dutch played to a draw with the USA and Ecuador respectively.The only selections that could hope for a performance of three victories before the third round are France, Brazil and Portugal. Nevertheless, the coach of Les Bleus Didier Deschamps, as well as his colleague from the Selecao bench, Tite, decided to give a chance to the reserves after the knockout stage was secured, and rotated and sent on the field a practically completely changed starting eleven. The result was the defeat of France against Tunisia and the defeat of the Brazilians against Cameroon, the first in the group stage of the world championships since 1998 (against Norway 2-1 also after securing the round of 16). The Portuguese rotated a little less, but they were also defeated by South Korea.Knockout stages – here we go!Six World Cups were played between 1994 and 2022. In France, then Japan and South Korea, Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Russia, there were always at least two, and often more, teams that would sharpen their teeth in the first part of the competition, boost self-confidence and sweep the competition. And only in two of the mentioned six championships, the teams that would dominantly leave the group, ended up taking the trophy. This was done by France as host in 1998 and Brazil four years later. Therefore, a demonstration of force generally does not have to be a prerequisite for lifting the “Goddess”.France and Argentina ended the 98′ group stage with nine points. As we said, Les Bleus were the champions, and in the quarter-final against the Netherlands, the Argentinians were eliminated by one of the most beautiful goals in the history of the World Cup, directed by the refined goalscorer Dennis Bergkamp.Four years later, the Spaniards had all three wins in their group but were eliminated in the quarter-finals (to South Korea), and 100% -Brazil ascended to the throne. In 2006 four teams achieved the maximum nine points in their groups – Germany, Portugal, Brazil and Spain. As we know, none of them made it to the finals.A planetary survey in South Africa brought inspiration to Argentina and the Netherlands. These two selections walked through the group stage, but could not reach the trophy. Argentina fell in the quarterfinals to Germany (4-0), the Netherlands due to a late goal by Andres Iniesta, who in the 116th minute of overtime brought La Furia Roja the title of world champion.##NAJAVA_MECA_6861907##The first round of the championship in Brazil was marked by the Netherlands, Colombia, Argentina and Belgium. Four selections with maximum performance and all four played in the quarterfinals. Argentina imposed itself as a big beast and ate up the Belgians first, and then the Dutch in the battle for the final match in which they were knocked down by Mario Goetze.Uruguay, Croatia and Belgium shone in the group stage in Russia, all three placed among the top eight, but Croatia made a breakthrough and went all the way to the final.
