World Cup returns after four years in Qatar

World Cup returns after four years in Qatar

Bella Lee, Staff writer

Every four years the World Cup occurs and gets fans excited on all sorts of levels. Aside from the Summer Olympics, there are not many events that soccer fans have, so the World Cup is a big deal.

Since the beginning on Nov. 20 in Qatar, there has already been a lot of excitement and upsets. For the first time since its first tournament in 1930, the host country was eliminated after the first two rounds when Qatar lost 2-0 against Ecuador and then 3-1 against Senegal.

Many soccer fans made fun of Qatar over their defeat, especially in the wake of situations such as making a deal with Budweiser like all host countries do, then backing out of the deal just 48 hours before the games began and not allowing vendors to sell beer in or around the stadium. During Qatar’s match against Ecuador, Ecuadorian fans were chanting “we want beer” in Spanish in protest.

There has already been a variety of upsets that have occurred since the games began last week. On Tuesday, Nov. 22, Saudi Arabia delivered a shock upset to Argentina by winning 2-1. Additionally, on Nov. 23, Japan upset Germany 2-1. However, the Japanese team and fans alike stole the hearts of fans by staying behind and cleaning the stadium following the match.

The Japanese team additionally left the locker room spotless, leaving behind 11 origami cranes (a symbol of honor) and a note saying thank you in Japanese and Arabic. Besides Qatar, Canada has now been officially eliminated from contention as well, having lost to Belgium 1-0 on Nov. 23 followed by a loss to Croatia 4-1 on Nov. 27.

They still have one last game, against Morocco on Dec. 1, but it will not be enough to get them to qualify for the next round. The biggest deficit in a score so far came from the Spain-Costa Rica matchup on Nov. 23, when Spain ran Costa Rica into the ground with a final score of 7-0.

The United States maintained a streak of never losing to England when their matchup ended in a draw on Nov. 25. This also made England the laughingstock of soccer fans, especially those in the United States, since out of their three matchups (the other two being in 1950 and 2010), the United States has won once and there have been two draws. This has led to jokes among soccer fans that since England could not defeat the United States, it should now be called soccer since that is what the United States refers to the sport as, instead of football.

Overall, the World Cup has been a blast for everyone involved and for everyone watching. Fortunately, it is not going away anytime soon, since the final match is not scheduled until Dec. 18. It is going to be a lot of fun wondering who will win the FIFA World Cup Trophy this time around!