Claudia Garcia, Reporter
@cgarciacourant
Soccer fans around the world had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the famous FIFA international tournament, which began almost half a year later than expected due to the high temperatures in Qatar during June and July. The World Cup is the main international men’s soccer tournament in which the best national teams around the world compete. This sporting event is held every four years and is organized by the International Football Association Federation (FIFA). The 2022 World Cup was held in Qatar, this year being the 22nd time it has been held since its inception in 1930.
The FIFA World Cup is one of the most watched events on the planet; it does not go unnoticed by anyone. “I’m from Brazil so I pretty much watch soccer every week, if not everyday, but the World Cup is the best moment of soccer,” said senior and Brazilian native Giuliano Notari. “We just love the World Cup in Brazil and it’s crazy everytime,” he said.
After the World Cup began, students felt the excitement of the tournament in school, from watching it on the cafeteria televisions, to gathering in class and in the library to watch the game. Many students supported different teams from their respective countries. “Since I’m from Mexico, I wanted to see Mexico qualify, but unfortunately they lost to Argentina so they didn’t, ” said senior Alberto Reyes.
Giuliano Notari’s hopes were on Brazil. He wanted them to play against Portugal because Ronaldo is on Portugal’s team. “That would have been a crazy final. Some of my friends wanted Argentina to play against Portugal because of Messi and Ronaldo, but I disagreed because of my support of Brazil,” he said.
According to sophomore Lucas Williams, “America isn’t known to be a ‘soccer nation’, but a lot of people were always watching the World Cup in the cafeteria. There were a lot of people who were getting more involved and that is really cool to see,” he said.
During this event, making brackets and competing with friends to see who predicts the most game’s results right became a kind of tradition. “I have actually made a bracket with my friends and my bracket was pretty off by the end of the tournament,” Alberto said. “I thought Germany was going to qualify. Unfortunately they didn’t, and also that Spain was going to get pretty far, but they lost the first game in the quarter finals which was pretty unfortunate.”
The World Cup brought many surprises this year, with positive and negative results from many national teams. Lucas was surprised that Morocco beat Spain in penalties. “Their goal keeper was really good, and then America was out to Netherlands, which I kind of expected, but Saudi Arabia beating Argentina was really unexpected, so a lot of big games were surprising,” Lucas said.
Several students ended up disappointed this year because their teams did not meet the initial expectations. “I’m disappointed with Mexico for not qualifying of course. It’s very hard because it’s the first time in a very long time that we are not going past the group stage.” Alberto said.
After many countries were eliminated, fans had to choose to support other teams that were not their first choice from the beginning. “For me the USA was obviously number one but it was a big downfall,” senior Aqwell Ionescu said. “Now, it’s probably Argentina because this is Messi’s last world cup and I do want to see him take that trophy home.”
The 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar could go down in history as the end and beginning of an era since several prominent players have announced that this was their last World Cup. “I feel like it’s sad to see legends like Messi, Ronaldo or Neymar leave.” Aqwell said.
At the same time younger players made their debut this year such as 23 year-old Kylian Mbappé playing for France, 18 year-old Pablo Gavira playing for Spain, and 19 year-old Jude Bellingham playing for England.
Alberto felt fortunate to see Pedri, Gavi and Mbappé play in their first World Cup. “I do see them filling the shoes for the ones who are leaving in the future,” Alberto said.
While some believe that new players could live up to those leaving, others think that no one can replace the generation of players moving on from the sport.
“We have some really good players, but I don’t see them replacing Messi or Ronaldo. For example, Vinicius Junior is really good but it’s not the same. No one can really replace the ones leaving because they are the best players,” Giuliano said.
The finals came faster than anticipated, and on December 18, from fanatics to just casual soccer watchers witnessed the final between France and Argentina. “ This was probably the best World Cup final considering the 2014 final with Argentina as well,” said senior Gabriele Pozzolini. “ I expected a win from Argentina but I didn’t expect it to be this close”.
The turnouts weren’t such a surprise with Argentina beating France 4-2 on penalties. “The way I see it, it was Mbappé against Argentina,” said Aqwell. “Even though Argentina won, which I am so happy about, Mbappé played really well, scoring two goals in literally 97 seconds, which is a record.”
One of the defining things about the world cup is how much it brings people from all parts of the earth together. Every emotion in this season was shared by all watching, from hugging and celebrating to mourning loss, “The Moroccan team made the semi finals for the first time ever, and we saw Lionel Messi make the finishing touches of his outstanding career with Argentina’s champion title” said junior Carolina Malagoli. “We all shared these moments together and in the case of this world cup, we all witnessed history,” she said.
