Comparison of confederation results

I would add Japan beating Colombia by 2:1 to the list. Granted Colombia played a 10-player match, but it still was a surprise.
Iceland tying Argentina is another one I didn't expect.

I expected more from Tunisia against England.

The championship so far is pretty entertaining and already had a few upsets, with potential for more.

 

Expected Morocco to beat Iran and they were better but just like today their finishing was piss poor. African teams are in tough groups but Senegal did great and they were the only ones that I expected to have a chance to qualify.
Asians, other than Japan are rather awful. My least favourite confederation by far.

 

Japan and Senegal claimed wins over decent rivals, so they can break the rule.

 

There are 14 UEFA teams but 2 of them (Spain - Portugal) met in the first round and tied. So when I compiled these stats I counted that as 2 UEFA ties and the total record was 8-4-2.

 

I don’t expect this to continue. We will have five more Uefa-only matches in the group phase and therefore Europeans will take points off each other. Brazil and Argentina will bounce back and Uruguay are still may favourite to top Group A.
Btw, group B has already guaranteed to have at least one European to go through

 

CONMEBOL's cup so far has been as good / as bad as AFC's. Today's game will show whether there is an upturn today or not.

 

How is Iran "in trouble". We hold our destiny in our own hands and qualify regardless of any other results if we beat Portugal by any score. We may even qualify with a draw, but that will require unlikely things to happen (Morocco beating Spain by 2 goals). Regardless, given that our odds of advancing are now higher than they were before the games were underway, that is a peculiar comment when there are many sides who don't even hold their own fate in their hands as they go into their last match.

To be sure, I consider this thread premature. All that is clear right now is that one of the AFC teams, Saudi Arabia, one Concacaf team, Costa Rica, one CAF team, Morocco, and one Conmebol side, Peru, have already been eliminated. There are a few others who face elimination if they lose their matches in the 2nd day of the tournament, and a few others who will need results from other games to decide their fate. But any side that holds its fate in its own hands after Match Day 2 cannot be said to be in "trouble". There are plenty of teams in this tournament that would love to be in Iran's shoes when they go into match day 3.

 

Nah, the thread is just fine.

We can compare confederations as group phase progresses. Thus avoiding long comparative posts at the end of group phase.

What is premature is to say that whole confeds have already left this tournament. We are almost there, but not yet.

 

Call me biased but both Peru and Morocco are way better than many teams that will probably make it out of the group stage. Morocco vs the euro champions without CR goal looked like a Barca vs Getafe game.

 

Two Concacaf teams out. Man it's going to be funny watching 6 of them in the world cup in 2026

 

But..but.. I was told on Big Soccer four years ago that Concacaf are better than Uefa and that Uefa should give up spots for them. Might those posts have been incorrect?

 

Not out yet Comeback of the century in the second half.

That said - USA would never be this weak.

 

I never said that I always compared Concacaf to Caf and AFC but moving forward. Concacaf is go to be interesting because Costa Rica , USA and Panama will all have new generations

 

Nah, wasn’t talking about you, I just remember the endless debates four years ago about Concacaf deserving more spots. That’s what happens when people don’t judge a fluke as a fluke but as the new norm

 

I don't remember them being endless. Besides most people saw it for what it was - a one World Cup blip.

There is Mexico, the potential of USA and an odd dark horse potential like Costa Rica. Mexico's consistency skews CONCACAF's stats.

 

Mexico are obviously a different beasts, they’re consistently strong performers at World Cups. Generally I love seeing as many teams from different continents as possible, it’s what makes World Cups so special and different. However I’m not sure how Panama’s performance in Russia, both in footballing terms and discipline, is supposed to help anybody or bring the football in that country forward in any way.
Take Tunisia as a counterexample. Not the greatest side in term of ability but they played positive, entertaining football.

 

This is just flat out not true. A fluke would be something that occurred purely out of randomness. That's not what happened in 2014.

Here's what 2014 presented you with:
1. Mexico being Mexico as always (getting out of the group and losing in the Round of 16)
2. USA being what the USA is slightly more often than not (out of the group but then out in the round of 16)
3. Costa Rica's first golden generation since 1990 and 1998-2003 doing what I predicted at the time they'd do, advance as group winner or runner up.
4. Honduras being the pretty crummy side it normally is away from home (physical and not much else when they are on the road)

This was Costa Rica's best team in a decade playing in South America where they've played in a pile of Copa America's and are totally comfortable versus a group with little to no experience in South America, and definitely underestimating Costa Rica as I expected.

NOT A FLUKE.

The argument that Concacaf deserved more spots was idiotic, but understandable as all the lesser confederations argue for more spots after a good World Cup, hell some argue for more spots after a bad cup. Was it justified, the argument? No, of course not. Concacaf traditionally has this tier:

Tier 1:
Mexico
USA

Tier 2:
Costa Rica

Tier 3:
Honduras
Panama

Tier 4:
Jamaica
Trinidad and Tobago

Tier 5:
Canada
Guatemala
and whomever happens to have a 1/4 competent side

That's not remotely enough talent, or depth to justify more than 3 spots, but we get 3.5 and will get more when the cup expands which will make the fed look even worse than it does now, and doubly worse when you realize that Panama and Honduras are in down cycles and Costa Rica's golden generation is about to age out. I'm not sure what will be the standard eight years from now, I know that the weaker sides in conacaf are more competitive today than 10-20 years ago because the confederation is more competitive, but I also know that the traditionally 2nd and 3rd tier sides are also likely to be weaker at least in '22.

 

Personally I was not terribly excited for outsider chances in the cup as I felt:

#1: CAF did not send their best teams
#2: Concacaf did not send their best teams
#3: I didn't get the sense that AFC's sides were all that good (Iran has been better than I expected)
#4: Conmebol left it's repeat Copa America 2015/Centenario Champion at home.

The only sides I had any sort of hope for were Egypt pre-Salah injury and Senegal. Other than that, my expectations were that Mexico would go out in the Round of 16, and Nigeria had a good chance of being a casualty of maybe the toughest group and that was about it. Iran and Morocco surprised me, Morocco in both of their matches, Iran in their match with Portugal, but otherwise, I haven't been surprised at what's transpired other than maybe Argentina proving that their horrific qualifying campaign was an accurate indication of the fall off in their top end talent outside of a handful of attacking players.

 

To be honest Nigeria, Morocco and Senegal are the three best teams in Africa at the moment. Tunisia had the luck of the draw and took it. I think Ghana has ore depth than Egypt and better structure, had they made it they would have represented better.

 

For now, 3 CAF sides have been eliminated and 2 are still in contention (Nigeria, Senegal). 1 AFC side (Saudi Arabia) has been eliminated, 2 (Japan and Iran) hold their destiny in their own hands, and 1 (Australia) needs to win its last game and look for other results in its group. South Korea, although pointless so far after 2 games, have some mathematical chance. For Conmebol, 1 team (Peru) is eliminated and 1 (Uruguay) has already clinched. Brazil look in good shape to advance, but they still need to at least get a point against the Serbs. Argentina and Colombia are in trouble, although Colombia could bounce back if they beat Poland later tonight and Argentina could still advance if they beat Nigeria and Croatia doesn't lose to Iceland. As for Concacaf, 2 of their sides (Costa Rica and Panama) are eliminated but one of their sides (Mexico) has 6 points even though they haven't clinched yet. The picture for UEFA shows all their teams in contention with several having clinched.

Head to head, this World Cup was to present 3 match ups between AFC and CAF. They two confederations went into this tournament with a dead even head-to-head record. Right now, the record favors the AFC after 1 win and 1 draw. The last match up between CAF and the AFC is Egypt against Saudi Arabia.

Last, I am sure most Saudi Arabia fans were rooting for England in today's game against Panama. The World Cup started with a contest who is the weakest side in the tournament between the two of them and right now, the Saudis have reason to point fingers at Panama. But, of course, there is still one game left and things can look different after that game.

 

I'm pretty sure that will even up