World Cup underdogs changing face of FIFA tournament

Riyadh: As the World Cup enters its final stages, the world’s biggest sporting event has lived up to the motto, “in football, anything can happen.” The Qatar tournament’s underdogs have challenged the status quo by recording wins against some of the highest-ranked teams in the competition.

The predictions of fans and pundits have been thrown out of the window according to former England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand.

He told Arab News that it had been the best World Cup he could remember due to the number of shock results.

“It’s because of the games, the different types of outcomes, the underdogs are winning. For instance, you think about Saudi Arabia beating Argentina, Tunisia beating France, you look at these games, Japan beating Germany.

“And Morocco, beating Spain, Morocco beating Portugal — these results are crazy, and these are teams that no one expected to be able to do this,” Ferdinand said.

With 28 teams out and four remaining, all eyes are on Morocco after their win against Portugal in the quarterfinals. The Atlas Lions have been the surprise package of the tournament, advancing from the group stages and beating Spain to go further than any African nation in World Cup history and set up a semi-final showdown against reigning champions France on Dec. 14.

With underdogs beating the likes of Argentina, Brazil, and Portugal, Ferdinand said he felt the gap was closing between national teams.

“I think you’ve seen that, and I think it’s great for football that it gives underdogs an opportunity and belief outside of football.

“Even young children that play the game believe that actually we can win if you work hard, if you’re together as a team and you have all the good values and it’s proven