Group A Predictions 2022

The first group contains the host nation Qatar and therefore kicks off the tournament with the opening match of the tournament on the 20^th of November. Host nations have always made it out of their respective groups, with the exception of South Africa in 2010. Qatar, however, face a big challenge to get out of this group as it contains three tricky opponents in Netherlands, Senegal, and Ecuador.

Qatar

Qatar, as hosts, did not have to play any qualification matches for this tournament and instead had to base their preparation on friendly matches and their participation in the 2021 Gold Cup. Qatar are currently ranked 48^th in the world and will know that they must start their tournament with a win against Ecuador on the opening day, as their opponents are only four places ahead of them in the world rankings.

Qatar only have three wins from their last ten matches and their last set of friendlies ended in a loss against Canada and a draw against Chile. Qatar will need to rely on home advantage to make up for their weaknesses. And the fact they only played four matches leading up to the tournament is a worry. Current coach Felix Sanchez did lead them to their first-ever International triumph, winning the Asian Cup in 2019 and managed to get his team playing an attractive brand of Football along the way.

Ecuador

Ecuador come into this tournament with a young squad, they in fact had the youngest set of players during the CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers for this tournament. They are also strong defensively, with only Brazil and Argentina conceding fewer goals in their qualification. And when you combine that with the fact they had the second best goalscoring record, behind Brazil, you get a team to be taken seriously.

They qualified for the tournament in impressive fashion and have only lost one match out of nine in 2022. Ecuador are a technically gifted, well-organised, and defensively solid team but their downfall could be a lack of experience.

Senegal

Senegal are another interesting team made up of a good mix of players with plenty of experience in major tournaments as well as playing top-level club Football. They have recent experience of winning a major tournament as they won the African Cup of Nations, beating Egypt.

Goalkeeper Eduard Mendy was voted the best in the world in his position in 2021, forward Sadio Mane is in excellent form at Bayern Munich but there will be a concern over Kalidou Koulibaly as the central defender has yet to settle at Chelsea.

The experience gained when playing and winning knockout matches will surely help them in this high pressure environment and coach Aliou Cisse has experience at international level, including at the last World Cup. They will be confident of making it out of this group, going one better than at the last tournament, and making a good impression in Qatar.

Netherlands

The Netherlands are favourites to win this group and understandably so. The Dutch have been revived since Louis Van Gaal took over again and they certainly have a lot to make up for. Surprisingly, the Netherlands didn’t qualify for the World Cup in 2018 and they also missed out on Euro 2016 but they appear to have come through that challenging time. They have reached three World Cup finals but have yet to win Football’s highest prize.

The situation has been a bit unstable over recent years due to a number of different coaches, styles of play and a surprising lack of top-level players but all that seems to be resolved now. As is often the case, the Netherlands have a talented squad, but the question remains as to how well they can get together and play as a team. Since Louis Van Gaal returned as head coach, they have not lost in fifteen matches, winning eleven of them.

The squad is made up of players who play for some of the best teams in Europe but the slight concern might be the recent form of some of their star players, including Virgil Van Dijk at Liverpool and Memphis Depay at Barcelona. The Dutch are currently ranked in eighth place in the world rankings, comfortably the best team in the group and anything other than progress to the knockouts will be regarded as a failure.

Conclusion

Group A should be one of the most interesting and entertaining ones of the tournament. All four teams have much to play for with even the weakest on paper, Qatar, having home advantage on their side.

Senegal will be viewed as the African team with the best chance to progress into the latter rounds and Ecuador’s young and exciting squad will be interesting to watch. All of the expectations will be on the Netherlands to perform. The best match of the group should be the Netherlands against Senegal, it will be a tough test for both teams with many top players on show and the match which will have the most familiar faces on the pitch.

This will be the first match for both teams at the tournament so they will need to be sure to be ready and firing as defeat here will put them on the back foot. The most decisive match is likely to be that between Senegal and Ecuador though, as the winner of this encounter is likely to qualify for the next round along with the Netherlands.

This match takes place on the last gameday for Group A so, if previous results allow, it would be a decider and add to the pressure and excitement. Key players from this group which are most likely to light up the tournament are Sadio Mane for Senegal and Frankie de Jong for the Netherlands.

Overall, It would be a major surprise if the ‘Oranje’ didn’t make it out of this group but beyond that, it’s reasonably open. It should provide enough entertainment for any neutrals too with a number of top-quality match ups and some excellent players on show.