A quartet consisting of World Cup runners-up, ‘eternal’ talents deserving a trophy but never getting one, the Atlas Lions, and a vast country that is at the planetary tournament for the second time in history.BELGIUMThe last attempt of the “golden generation” of Belgian football, which threatens to be remembered as the “bronze” generation. At the peak of their strength, they were among the favorites for the highest ranking; in the end, they won “only” third place at the World Cup in Russia, and played another world quarter-final and two European ones.More was expected from a team that had De Bruyne, Hazard, Lukaku, Courtois, to name just a few. Now the expectations are lower, although most of the aforementioned aces are still there. The circumstances are quite different.Starting with Romelu Lukaku. Since they don’t have a proper replacement up front, Lukaku found himself on the plane, although he will probably be fully ready only in the knockout phase. Until then, Batshuayi, who has always been excellent as a joker from the bench, but not when he needs to carry the whole attack, or Openda, inexperienced, although very good in Lens. Christian Benteke has dropped out.🚨⚽️ | NEW: The Belgium national team departing for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. pic.twitter.com/SXr7MjhdRz— Coolsport @Qatar22 (@Coolsport13) November 15, 2022 Further, there is Eden Hazard, he once formed a tandem with De Bruyne that no one could guard, now at Real Madrid he is a pale shadow of his former-Chelsea-incredible-self. Among the fans it can be heard that Leandro Trossard should take his place in the starting 11, as he is excellent in Brighton.Age is weighing on both Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld. The former has lost a lot of speed and is struggling in Anderlecht. Alderweireld is still solid in Antwerp, but he plays center back in a formation with three, which is the position that still requires the least amount of running. On top of that, Jason Denayer went after millions to Al Ahly in the Emirates and was dropped from the team. Thomas Meunier has been out of action for a long time due to a fractured cheekbone, although Timothy Castagne is there, so that issue does not worry the fans too much.Given that they meet Spain or Germany in the round of 16, many see the end of Belgium there already and cheer for the new generation. De Ketelaere, Debast, Doku and Onana show promise, but it is considered too early for them.Five players of African origins in Belgium’s World Cup squadCROATIAMandžukić and Rakitić are no more, as much as six players who played in the final in 2018 are not on the list, but there is the one who can pass through anything. Luka Modrić is everything in the Croatian team, with all due respect to aces like Perišić, Brozović and Kovačić. It would probably be the same if he played for Brazil, because there are stronger and faster, but hardly more intelligent masters of the game.Luka will have the aforementioned trio of senators with him, and some new force to teach them. Of course, Croats also have their dilemmas.It is unlikely that aged Vida or Lovren will play alongside Guardiol at stopper, since Sassuolo’s Erlić and Dinamo’s Šutalo impressed in the Nations League in which the Croats shone and qualified for the final tournament in competition with France, Denmark and Austria.World Cup Preview: 🇭🇷 CroatiaCoach: Zlatko DalicPlayers to watchM Luka ModricM Mateo KovacicF Ivan PerisicSchedulevs 🇲🇦 Morocco 11/23vs 🇨🇦 Canada 11/27vs 🇧🇪 Belgium 12/1Previous World Cup appearances: 5Best finish: 2018 (2nd) pic.twitter.com/TuxQ76xZnZ— Sidelines – Soccer / Football ⚽ (@SSN_Futbol) November 16, 2022 The problem is also simmering in the midfield, Brozović did not play in October due to an injury, so there is speculation as to who could replace him in case of emergency. Eintracht’s Kristijan Jakić passed the last filter. Doubt on the winger positions – Majer had notable performances on the left, but his primary position is in the center, and there is no space there, so he will compete with Pašalić to get his minutes. Oršić hopes for the right wing, he played phenomenally in some European games for Dinamo, but his handicap is that Perišić is untouchable there.There has been a debate about their striker for a long time, because Petkovic is a striker who works for the team, but is not a guarantee of goals. Kramarić is solid in Hoffenheim, although it seems that Marko Livaja will win that race, as he carries the whole of Hajduk on his back. Antonio Colak has been shining in the Rangers shirt this season, but he was dropped at the last cut, because he was not a member of the team until now.In Group F with Belgium, Morocco and Canada, passage to the round of 16 should not be a problem but for everything further – a big question mark. Not because Croatia can’t do it, but because they meet up with Group E, from which the Germans and Spaniards should proceed to the knockout round.37-year-old Luka Modrić is heading to his fourth World Cup after being confirmed in the Croatia squad 🍷 pic.twitter.com/LrO5Dn2UXT— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 9, 2022 MOROCCOTrue football aesthetes. Moroccans feed their egos with funny dribbling and lucid passing, their restless spirit gives them the freedom to try things that are considered sacrilegious in some more mature, albeit less talented, countries, but… At the same time, that same spirit does not allow them to accept that the modern game is no longer a game, but a tactical competition in which the end justifies the means, and it is the exact opposite of everything that made us fall in love with the football pitch.Moroccans, to be clear, much prefer football as a game, not as a profession with all those rules that go with the job. And that’s why they will replace the coach, even if he is the best, just so they can continue to do what they want. And the people love that football insolence so much that they won’t be upset when the National Association expels Vahid Halilhodzic because of not inviting Hakim Ziyech.For the first time in history, all African countries qualified for the World Cup will be led by coaches from their country: – Rigobert Song: Cameroon 🇨🇲 – Aliou Cisse: Senegal 🇸🇳 – Walid Regragui: Morocco 🇲🇦 – Otto Addo: Ghana 🇬🇭 – Jalel Kadri: Tunisia 🇹🇳 Big deal 👌 pic.twitter.com/gCvy059lSG— POOJA!!! (@PoojaMedia) November 16, 2022 It is in vain for the popular Vaha that he managed to teach them defensive discipline and that he finished the group stage of the qualification with a maximum of 18 points with a goal difference of 20:1, it is in vain that he destroyed the really good side of Democratic Republic of Congo in the playoff match, Halilhodžić’s “deadly sin” is that that kicked Ziyech out of the team, among other things, because he was late for the gathering of the squad and then allegedly faked an injury.Ziyech was not the only problem, because for similar reasons there was no place for Bayern’s Nusair Mazraoui and the experienced striker Abderazak Hamdala. The federation and the people chose all those undisciplined players over Vaha, who was replaced for the third time after the successful qualifiers, and before the World Cup.How it will affect the team is difficult to say, but this Morocco has something to threaten with, because in addition to the ones listed, there are also Hakimi, Boufal, Amrabat… It’s just that in competition such as Belgium and Croatia, we are not sure that it is enough, especially because they lack a proper striker.Bold prediction: Eto’o sees Cameroon and Morocco in the World Cup finalCANADATheir women’s team are Olympic champions, and their men’s team is led by Alphonso Davies to their only second time at the World Cup – the first time since Mexico in 1986. But instead of talking about the golden age of football in the land of the maple leaf, the situation in Canada, one of the most developed and well-ordered countries in the world, well… reminds of the months before major tournaments in some African countries.Instead of the Canadians peacefully rejoicing and celebrating the historic success of their football team, they are forced to hold their heads in shame. Courtesy of the Canadian Soccer Association. They first scheduled a test match with Iran, then canceled it because back in 2020 – 85 Canadian citizens lost their lives when a passenger plane was shot down over Tehran. Then they scheduled a match with Panama, and canceled that too, because the national team members went on strike due to the unfair distribution of incentives for qualifying for the World Cup, including tickets for the matches.However, everything worked on the field, with a little trickery, so the Canadians achieved one of the most important victories in the qualifiers over Mexico in Edmonton at minus 10 degrees Celsius. Accustomed to the sun, the Mexicans were shivering from the winter, and that match was ironically nicknamed “Ice-teca” after the famous Azteca Stadium.Not that Canada doesn’t have much to be proud of. Alphonso Davies gave them a scare with a recent injury but he will be fit, as will Lille’s Jonathan David. Along with captain Atiba Hutchinson, who started his career in the national team even before any of his teammates signed their first professional contract, and goalkeeper Milan Borjan – it is the backbone of the team.The rest are nowhere near that level, although there are some interesting names. Let’s say, Derek Cornelius, who was only promoted from striker to center defender in the 2017/2018 season and is now a regular in the starting eleven.Then again, the knockout phase is not even thought about. They will have to bring in and adopt many more immigrants if they wish to aim for something higher than the group stage.WORLD CUP – GROUP FWednesday, Nov 23rd13:00: (4.20) Morocco (3.40) Croatia (1.92)22:00: (1.42) Belgium (4.50) Canada (8.00)Sunday, Nov 27th16:00: (1.55) Belgium (4.00) Morocco (6.25)19:00: (1.80) Croatia (3.50) Canada (4.70)Thursday, Dec 1st18:00: (3.80) Croatia (3.45) Belgium (2.00)18:00: (3.45) Canada (3.15) Morocco (2.25)***odds are subject to change***
