2022 FIFA World Cup Recap: The Event That Made History!

Current EventsPop CultureSports
Written By Brianna Paulino

Once every four years, a single event is broadcast and streamed, making tens of thousands of people glued to their seats. The event gets people rooting for their country, hoping that one day, they will make history and add a new record to their immense success. This event is the FIFA World Cup and the 2022 edition left viewers at the edge of their seats as history continued to be repeated, making a permanent mark in their nation’s books.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup took place in Qatar from November 20th up until December 18th. Teams from every continent (with the exception of Antarctica of course) represented their country with pride as they played to the best of their abilities with high hopes of achieving the grandest prize football could offer: being able to claim the world cup during this historical time.

MOST TALKED ABOUT GAMES

After the dazzling opening ceremony of the world cup, the game opens up with Qatar vs. Ecuador, Ecuador winning 2-0 as the first team to win a game in the 2022 World Cup. Additionally, Qatar became the first host country of the World Cup to lose an opening match.  Throughout the event, the games progress into more highlighted moments that ones could find in their TikTok feeds or through sports broadcasts. Below is a timeline of highlights that have fellow sports fans and regular viewers conversing in a frenzy:

November 22nd: Saudi Arabia beats Argentina by one point, putting an end to Argentina’s 36-match unbeaten run, leaving thousands of people in shock by this turn of events! The Argentina team, ranked number 3 on FIFA, were flabbergasted while the Saudi Arabia team, ranked number 51, celebrated the achievement that left people speechless. While Argentina believed they would win based on the goal Lionel Messi struck in the first ten minutes, Salah Al-Shehri and Salem Al-Dawsari scored the two final points for Saudi Arabia within five minutes in the second half. 

November 23rd: Japan’s victory in their game against Germany is another underdog story highlighted. Their story is very similar to the Saudi Arabia v. Argentina game, leaving the final score of 2-1. This was upsetting for German fans as it was abrupt the streak that Germany was keeping up, as it was “the first time since 1994 when Germany lost a World Cup match after gaining the lead at either half”. Not only that, Japanese attendees and players have dedicated their time to cleaning up the stadiums, showcasing the respect that they hold globally. 

December 9th: Croatia knocked tournament favorites Brazil out of the World Cup in this intense quarterfinal game, beating the five-time champions 4-2 in a penalty shootout after the score was tied after 120 minutes. In the shootout, Croatia’s Livakovic saved Rodrygo’s spot kick and with Marquinos’ kick hitting the post, Neymar and his teammates were left in tears with their heartbreaking elimination from the World Cup.

December 9th: To those who tuned in to watch the surprisingly violent Argentina vs. Netherlands game, there’s no doubt that it was raining yellow cards upon these players. This game held a record of a grand total of 18 yellow cards and 1 red card combined from both teams. It has also held an additional record of 15 players receiving a card in one World Cup game. Despite the craziness happening on the field, the game finishes with a tie 2-2 between the two teams, with Argentina winning 4-3 on penalties.

THE SEMI-FINALS

December 17th: The first half of the semi-final games, Croatia and Morocco, left their mark in the third-place game. In a 2-1 game, Croatia claimed the third-place victory with pride. However, despite Morocco claiming fourth place, they have made history with the immense progress they’ve made in the event, being known as the “successful underdog” of the 2022 World Cup.

December 18th: The anticipated event that’s deemed as the “fairytale ending” or “best world cup final” by many people globally: the final game between Argentina and France! Viewers while watching the game can agree it was the game to have one at the edge of their seat. The first half has Argentina in the lead at 2-0. Then, Kylian Mbappé scored two goals for the France team in the second half within 90 seconds. With a tie in their hands, extra time was the one to end it all! However, Argentina’s Lionel Messi scored a goal in the second half of the 30 minutes of extra time which was quickly returned by Mbappe’s penalty kick in the 118th minute due to a hand-ball. Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez made a last minute save in the 123rd minute (3 minutes of extra time) that would have ended the country’s dreams of the world cup. Now tied 3-3, with extra time played, the penalty shoot-out became the way to determine the winner of the grand prize. With excellent shots and saves by the Argentinian team, Argentina claimed the victory, having the penalties score 4-2, making it their third World Cup win since 1986!

THEIR LAST GLOBAL DANCE

This World Cup is no stranger to being deemed as the last world cup many beloved football players participated in before their retirements. Examples are Pepe from the Portugal team, Edison Cavani and Luis Suarez from the Uruguay team, Luka Modric from the Croatia team, Angel Di Maria from the Argentina team, Thomas Muller from the Germany team, Sergio Busquets from the Spain team, and Thiago Silva and Dani Alves from the Brazil team. The two most notable players that have clarified that 2022 is their last time playing in the World Cup are Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Lionel Messi of Argentina. Argentina’s World Cup win earns the title of the “perfect, fairy-tale ending” due to the hard work and dedication that Lionel Messi has done throughout the years, officially making him, what many people consider as, the GOAT of football.

CONTROVERSY

Despite the thrills that these games have held on various football fans, we can’t ignore the problems that have arisen with having Qatar as the host country for this year’s world cup. The first concern was the exceeding summertime temperature, reaching over 100 degrees. Because of this issue, FIFA decided to host the games during the months of November and December to prevent the issues that may rise among the players and attendees. Even with that, stadiums are required to have built-in air-conditioning due to the country’s hot climate. Qatar resorted to labor force during the building of the stadiums, having at least 90% of their workers as migrant workers. Conditions for them were incredibly dangerous, which resulted in a significant number of deaths during the building process. More than 6.5k migrant workers died, which according to npr.org, is equivalent to “five South Asian countries”.

However, FIFA and Qatar have claimed otherwise, with Qatar claiming that only three people have died at the construction sites. Aside from the issue of migrant labor, there have also been many controversies regarding the strict laws that Qatar has within the LGBTQ+ community, contradicting the world cup’s message of accepting anyone and everyone globally to celebrate the four-year tradition.

With the pros and cons of this event, North American fans are ecstatic for the 2026 World Cup, which is known as the first game to ever have three countries as the tournament’s hosts: the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In the next four years, we will see what that edition of the World Cup will hold!

Brianna Paulino
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