South America wants to knock Europe down: this is how the Qatar 2022 World Cup goes at the confederation level

The World Cup Qatar 2022 is in the middle of the race. All those selected have already played their first two matches, giving logical results and some surprises. Beyond representing a nation, the participants are also the ambassadors of each of the five confederations (Conmebol, UEFA, CAF, AFC and CONCACAF) that participate in this championship. These members of FIFA are primarily responsible for ensuring the development and future of football at a global level.

In the 22 World Cup editions, UEFA and Conmebol have shared the titles. The European organization is the one that dominates with twelve titles, four of them achieved in the last four World Cups. The South American body follows in its footsteps with nine trophies. On Qatari soil they will seek to break the dominance of those from the Old Continent. Hopes are pinned on Brazil or Argentina.

Qatar 2022

During the 32 matches that have been played in Qatar 2022, the South Americans have taken the lead. Conmebol won 58% of the points it played. It did so through Brazil (6 pts.), Ecuador (4 pts.), Argentina (3 pts.) and Uruguay (1 pt.). He registered four wins, two draws and two losses. The latter the one suffered by the Argentines and Uruguayans, against Arabia and Portugal, respectively.

UEFA, the one with the most teams in the tournament (13), only reaches 53%. It cost him a lot the low performances of Germany (1 pt.), Wales (1 pt.), Denmark (1 pt.) and Serbia (1 pts.). Especially what the Germans have been showing, a team that will have to fight to stay in the race on the last day when they face Costa Rica. France, Spain and Portugal are the other side of the coin with two victories.

In the third square appear the Africans. having Morocco as its best weapon. The Atlas Lions are one of the surprises of the championship after drawing with Croatia and defeating Belgium, Senegal and Ghana also won, getting into the fight for their respective groups. The big disappointment is Cameroon, a team that hasn’t won in nine World Cup games.

The Asians became news during the first date. This is due to the blows that Saudi Arabia and Japan gave, beating the world champions Germany and Argentina. Despite this, they could not sustain their returns and fell on the following day. South Korea is still in debt and barely added one point. A separate case is the novel Qatar, a group that qualified for being the organizer, but showed a very poor level.

Concacaf is passing this championship through the shadows. Canada has not scored points. Mexico is still unable to score and barely register a unit. Then comes the United States and their two lackluster draws against England and Wales. The next three organizers have a lot to reconsider. Beyond comes Costa Rica with two totally opposite performances. They lost 6-0 at the hands of Spain and then narrowly beat Japan.

What happened Russia 2018?

If we take into account what was happening four years ago on Russian soil (with two disputed dates), we can see a different picture than today. Because then the Europeans led the table with 61% of the points at stake. This because five of their teams (Russia, France, Croatia, Belgium and England) had a perfect score, something that only France and Portugal could achieve in Qatar. Finally, this great start ended up marking the way to stay with the first four places in the tournament.

South America suffered with the performances of Peru and Argentina. La Blanquirroja could not score against Denmark and France. At the same time, Argentina only equalized with the debutant Iceland and fell thrashed with Croatia. Uruguay did measure up and got all the points against Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The others that also won were Brazil (4 pts.) and Colombia (3 pts.).

Qatar 2022 will end the tradition of having 32 teams. Starting in 2026, the confederations will add more options to compete for the world championship, reaching 48 participants. We will see what maximum entity of global football manages to have the last monarch of the format that will cease to exist.