After group stages, a change of guard in football

Saudi Arabia’s goalkeeper #21 Mohammed Al-Owais and teammates react to conceding the opening goal of the Qatar 2022 World Cup Group C football match between Saudi Arabia and Mexico at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha on November 30, 2022. (Photo by Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP)

Football is not described as ‘the Beautiful game’ for nothing. In Qatar, it has thrown up everything that is beautiful about the game – drama, shocks, suspense, surprises, tears (of joy and of defeat) and football of every hue, from the good to the ugly. The only thing missing from Qatar 2022 is a dull moment! 

I am thoroughly enjoying the championship even though it is the downloaded version on the big screens of the Sports Lounge, in Panseke, Abeokuta, shown every day since the championship began. The African teams, mostly, are on my mind. Tunisia have left for home already at the end of their group matches, but not without the scalp of the defending World Champions, France, whom they defeated 1-0 in a massive upset in their very last match.     Senegal are the first African country to qualify for the knockout stage playing some free-flowing, undiluted, fast-and-furious attacking football typical of West African countries. They are continuing with a great legacy – getting to the quarter-finals in 2002, and being eliminated at the Group Stage in 2018 only by default, with a newly introduced ‘fair-play’ rule. They were tied with Japan on points, goals aggregate, head-to-head and the eventual qualifier was the team that committed the lesser number of fouls during the first round. 

Senegal now seem to know how to play better at this level. With a little bit of luck, and with the depth of talent in the squad, they may go deep into the final stages