Golazo! The World Cup has been a tradition since the 1930’s, and it is a highly sought after tournament by national soccer teams all over the world. America has been participating for numerous years on both the mens and womens side. The United States women’s soccer team has won the World Cup the past two times, and the United States men’s soccer team has never even advanced to the finals. However, the 2022 men’s World Cup has kicked off and the group stage has officially come to an end.
After a extremely close match on Tuesday, Nov. 29, over 12 million United States soccer fans were relieved to see that their team and country would move on to the round of 16 after not qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. In the round of 16, there are only 16 countries left and whoever wins continues to move on. If anyone ties, both teams go into overtime to decide the winner, and the best team will move on to the round of eight, then four and finally the championship match.
“I really like that so many people watch it and it brings so many people together,” junior Lawre Bradley said. “It’s just a cool thing. I was really excited that the U.S. won, but I think it was a really close game. It was really sad that Christian got hurt. I think they [U.S.] will make it to quarterfinals.
In the 2018 World Cup, France took home the prized trophy in a 4-2 win against a major underdog country, Croatia. Similar to Croatia, there have already been some major upsets. A few surprising teams that moved on to the round of 16 include Japan, Australia, Morocco and Senegal.
“I think France is going to win the World Cup because they won the previous one,” sophomore Colin Edwards said. “They also have many talented players.”
The United States will play the Netherlands on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 10:00 a.m, and if they win, they will play the winner of Argentina versus Australia in the round of eight. The World Cup championship game will take place on Dec. 18 at 10:00 a.m.
“It’s just fun to see all the different countries and fans get together,” Mr. Kupiszewski said. “I always like to root for the underdogs regardless of the group they are in. Obviously I’m a U.S. fan but there are typically the underdogs that suit my viewing pleasure.”
