All About The Beautiful Game
The 2023 Women’s World Cup is underway, and the hosts couldn’t have asked for a better start. New Zealand and Australia both recorded 1-0 victories over strong opposition, giving them great odds of advancing to the Round of 16 already. New Zealand, ranked 26th internationally, opened the tournament against Norway, ranked 12th. Neither team scored … Read more
Well, that was exciting. The World Cup group stage is officially over, with 16 of the original 32 teams moving to the knockouts. Many of those 16 teams were not expected to advance: just look at Australia, who stunned Denmark to advance. South Korea advanced over Uruguay, Japan over Germany, Morocco over Belgium: the list … Read more
Group G has some of the typical World Cup powerhouses. Brazil, obviously, are fixtures in the tournament — they’ve never missed one and have more wins than any other country. Switzerland, too, are regulars at the tournament, having only missed the tournament once since the turn of the century. Cameroon missed out on qualification in … Read more
In 2018, France won the World Cup after navigating through a tricky group that consisted of Peru, Australia, and Denmark. Four years later, they return to the tournament again being considered the favorites in a similar group. Not only are Denmark and Australia returning, but Australia additionally had to beat Peru in the World Cup … Read more
Group B is easily one of the most exciting groups in the World Cup, if not the most. The USA is returning to the tournament for the first time since 2014, with a completely new group of players. Wales, too, is returning from a (much longer) absence at the tournament, led by star Gareth Bale. … Read more
The World Cup has long been a proving ground for football’s most exciting talents. In 2006, FIFA created an award acknowledging this: the FIFA Young Player Award (YPA). In each tournament, the best player under the age of 21 would be given the award. So far, there have been some notable winners. In 2006, the … Read more
Australia is heading to their fifth consecutive World Cup, having bested Peru on penalties earlier in the year. Unfortunately for the Aussies, they also have struggled at the tournament: five total appearances and they’ve made it out of the group stages once. That was in 2006 when they promptly lost in the Round of 16. … Read more
The US national team has upgraded substantially over the past few years. Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson, and more have all demonstrated the increase in development that the US’s federation has emphasized. However, there’s one position where the team is unclear: striker. In the US’s last ten games, four different strikers have … Read more
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar is just a few short months away, but a lot of factors remain to be determined. One of the most pressing questions is that of hosts Qatar – will they be able to progress through their group, despite having a mainly domestic-based untested squad? I’ve already done a review … Read more
It’s hard to believe that it’s been four years since the last World Cup, but it’s just a matter of time before the 2022 edition kicks off. While some nations remember the 2018 tournament fondly, others aim to build on forgettable tournaments—Spain and Germany, among others. But who will they play, and what are their … Read more