The 2022 FIFA World Cup will be held in Qatar in November/December. It will be the first time the World Cup will be held in the Middle East and the first time it will be held during the winter months rather than in the summer period. The preparations for the World Cup finals have been ongoing for the last few years, and the Qatari authorities are determined to showcase their ability to organise such a prestigious tournament.
At the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, thirty-two teams in eight groups will compete, vying to win the trophy. Missing from this year’s tournament is Italy, who failed to make it to the finals and four times champions of the World Cup and Russia for political reasons. The absence of these two national teams is compensated with the presence of strong teams like Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, and France, just to mention a few. In the meantime, if you plan to bet on the 2022 Qatar World Cup, you will find ample ‘How to Bet on the World Cup’ guides to boost your bets and wagers.
The history of the English National football team
England’s national team has a special place in the history of football being from the British Isle, where football is believed to have been invented in the Middle Ages. It is also one of the very first teams involved in the first football matches ever played between countries. The national team of England was formed in the same period as Scotland’s, and this makes England and Scotland two of the oldest national football teams in the world. They organised the first match between themselves way back in 1870. The game was played in The Oval in London and finished in a 1-1 draw.
Before the world harnessing football, England and other British nations played and contested each other in the annual British Home Championship. The first editions of the tournament saw England fare second to the Scots, and win for the first time in 1888. The game existed for a century, seeing England winning the competition fifty-four times. Since then, football has evolved immensely across the globe, and countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany and Spain rose to the occasion and paired the ability of English football. Despite the widespread embracing of football, England remains the birthplace of the game, and today the English Premier League is probably the most popular and most followed football competition in the world.
Players that left a mark on English national football
Throughout history, England managed to produce some of the most talented and skilful footballers like Sir Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, Roger Hunt, Peter Shilton, Harry Kane, and Marcus Rashford. Housing some of the world’s most successful and famous football clubs, likeManchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea. The history of English football is rich in tradition but is it enough for the current national team to beat their rivals in Qatar and carry the trophy back to London?
England first participated in the FIFA World Cup in 1950 and since then has been present fifteen times in the finals, including the edition held in Russia in 2018. England participated in the World Cup and only managed to win the tournament in 1966 when the finals were held there. Back then, the English national team beat West Germany in the final. England’s second-best performance in the World Cup was in Italy in 1996 and in Russia in 2018. On both occasions, the English national team reached the competition’s semi-final.
Will this year be the year that England wins the World Cup?
Travelling to Qatar, the English team hopes to end the fifty-six-year drought of not winning the trophy since their success in 1966. Although England’s team is normally placed as one of the favorites to win the World Cup, it is often the hope and perception of English punters placing their bets on the team rather than the reality that the team will not make it to the end. However, this time round, the English team seems more compact and defensively, much more solid than before. Perhaps this is due to the substantial number of foreign players and managers working within the structure of the English Premier League. Foreign human resources have brought a new vision to the English game and more structured football tactics. Lessons learned, English managers like Gareth Southgate and English players have absorbed the new mentality and philosophy incorporated into the English game. This, together with the talent available in England’s national team, has convinced bookmakers to rank England in third place for winning the tournament.
In the Group stage, England will play against Iran, the United States of America, and Wales. On paper, it seems that the English team will have no difficulty flying past the opposition and going to the next stage. If the expectations are fulfilled, England would have to face the country that finishes second in Group B, which houses the Netherlands, Ecuador, Senegal, and Qatar. Again, the second stage does not seem too surmountable for England to navigate safely in the next stage of the finals.
England has a tough road to the finals
The hard part of the tournament commences after the second stage is dusted and done. In the run to the final, England would have to face much tougher competition, such as France, Brazil, Germany, Spain, and Argentina. At this stage, the challenge will not be limited to facing a team but also world-renowned players like Lionel Messi, Neymar, Paulo Dybala, Karim Benzema and Alvaro Morata. The big questions are – Does England have the necessary defensive solidity to stop these players from perforating the English net? Does the English team have enough firepower to blast through the defensive bulwark of Brazil, Argentina, Spain, and France?
There is no doubt that the team’s manager Gareth Southgate is fully aware of the situation and what needs to be done to make the English journey in the World Cup a successful one. With players like Harry Kane, Harry Maguire, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kyle Walker, and Jack Grealish, England’s national team can be a handful to any opposition and possibly be front-runners in Qatar.
