FIFA WORLD CUP QATAR 2022

It is coming (20 November – 18 December).

This World Cup is already very controversial even before the ball is kicked. From the manpower issue building stadiums in Qatar to the restrictions imposed on fans in Qatar to FIFA as an organization for the reputation of corruption allegations to the issue of Ukraine with Russia war that questions Iran's participation, I believe there is no tournament in the past that had more issues than this. Still, I believe sports have to be independent from politics which is extremely difficult as you cannot easily detach the two. Double standards and shifting goalposts exist depending on who you are supporting and unfortunately this is how it is in the real unideal world with different alliances. 

Hopefully, the tournament will run smoothly. The groups below with those in bold to be expected to move to the knock-out stage. Brazil, France & Argentina are the strongest teams on paper to win the tournament. It will be Messi's and Modrić's last tournament. CR7 was silent but I don't think he will be able to play in the next tournament considering his current age. 

https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/qatar2022

Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands

Group B: England, Iran, United States, Wales

Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland

Group D: France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia

Group E: Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan

Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia

Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon

Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea

I'm a fan of Valverde and Modrić so I hope Uruguay and Croatia can go far in the tournament, punching above their weights. The path to the end is more difficult for Croatia as they have Brazil in their path to the final. Uruguay has Switzerland, Germany and France on their path to the final. We have potential mouth-watering Brazil VS. Argentina and Germany VS. France semifinals to look forward to before the final.

The other criteria that may impact performance is weather. Nations that can accustom to it will have an advantage. I checked Wikipedia for Doha and the air temperature is at record high of 32.7degC (average high of 24.4degC with a daily mean of 20degC) in December with average RH of 74%. This is considered mild actually given that the record high is the typical weather we experience in hot and humid climate of SG & MY.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doha#Climate

The soundtrack and official songs are listed below. I felt the MTVs are quite soulless and spiritless without much colour of the football fans existense that we are so accustomed to in the past. Nevertheless, enjoy them!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXXe-G-_lxI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyDjFVZgJoo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HKNdrBYS5k