Group A is a tough group featuring Netherlands, Senegal, Ecuador, and the hosts, Qatar. This preview will break down their journey to the World Cup, their style, and their expected teams.
Qatar:
The host nation are ranked 50th in the world by the FIFA rankings and will be competing on the biggest international football stage for the first time in their history. Felix Sanchez, Qatar’s manager has worked his way up from Qatar U19 to U20 to U23 teams to become the coach of the first team in 2017. The Spanish coach began his career in Barcelona’s La Masia where he was part of the staff for close to a decade and has been regarded to play with the ‘Barca DNA.’
To host the World Cup in Qatar has always been a controversial decision, with former FIFA president Sepp Blatter admitting that it was a mistake to host the tournament here just last week. The current FIFA President Infantino has made jaw-dropping headlines in the past couple of days regarding the outburst of holding that has been transmitted worldwide since Qatar won the World Cup bid in 2010. The FIFA president has stated ‘today I feel Qatari, today I feel Arab, today I feel African, today I feel gay, today I feel disabled, today I feel a migrant worker’ following on with ‘I know how it feels to be discriminated… I was bullied because I had red hair’ these statements have rightfully been met with an uproar around the world. Melissa Reddy, Sky Sports, branded these comments ‘disrespectful’ and ‘underpins how dirty the game really is’. The manager of Qatar, Felix Sanchez has stated the criticism wont affect the performance of his team, ‘We have been waiting so long for this moment to arrive, we are very much aware of who we are, who we are facing and how we want to play’
Felix Sanchez has taken charge of 70 games; winning 36 games, drawing 13 and losing 21. His side was the 2019 Asian Cup, beating Iraq, Korea, United Arab Emirates and Japan before claiming the trophy, with their manager receiving plenty of praise for the way they played their football, showing ‘personality’. Qatar even featured in the 2019 Copa America facing the likes of Colombia, Paraguay and Argentina before being knocked out in the group stage, a step too far for a side that’s only been in the works for two years at the time. Following on, Qatar also featured in the Gold Cup before losing to the eventual champions, USA 1-0 in the semi-finals but the spirit of their performance and the system of Sanchez’s side was on full display. His side finished 3rd in the Arab Cup in 2021 by defeating Egypt in the 3rd place play-off match via a penalty shoot-out. Felix Sanchez knows how he wants his side to play and that’s without any fear. Their World Cup group is anything but easy with Netherlands, Senegal; the current Afcon champions and Ecuador; one of the most exciting attacking teams within South America. The coach has mentioned that their sight is on ‘making history and getting out of the group’, it won’t be easy, but anything that history has taught us is to look out for the host nations.
Qatar’s Expected XI: Al-Sheeb; Miguel, Al-Wari, Salman, Hassan, Ahmed; Hatem, Boudiaf; Al-Haydos; Ali, Afif.
Netherlands:
The 8th ranked nation going into the World Cup will be hoping to go the step further than they did in the 2010 World Cup and they do believe they can win the competition, as stated numerous times by their legendary coach, Louis van Gaal. The team has been unbeaten since van Gaal took over from Frank de Boer after the EURO defeat to Czech Republic in 2021. During the 15 game unbeaten streak they have beaten Belgium twice, Wales twice and Poland, all of these teams will participate at the Qatar World Cup.
The Dutch qualified to the World Cup by finishing top of their qualification group that featured the likes of Turkey, Norway and Montenegro. For the qualification group standards, not a simple task. Their attacking talisman, Memphis Depay showed once again why he is one of the players to look out for going into the 2022 Qatar World Cup by scoring 12 goals in 10 games, the top scorer during the whole of the European qualifiers, whilst also registering 6 assists, joint most in the European World Cup qualifiers.
Louis van Gaal has taken Netherlands to a 3rd place World Cup finish in the 2014 edition, a team built around getting the best of Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie, whilst being very strong defensively, with only Argentina having a better defensive record during the 2014 World Cup. Louis van Gaal’s positional sense of football has always been noted with fitting the style of play in the international football. Fast forward to 2022, the defensive system seen in the 2014 World Cup remains at large the same. The Dutch are favourites to finish top of the group, but this is a tricky group and they wont take anything for granted, which should be helped by van Gaal’s experience.
The Dutch have one of the strongest back line in the World Cup with the likes of Van Dijk, Timber, Ake, de Ligt and de Vrij, In the midfield, they look at Frenkie de Jong to deliver, with the midfielder being a strong performer for his nation and Teun Koopmeiners, from Atalanta who is an all action midfielder and having a stellar start to the season for the Italian side. In the attack, Memphis Depay is their main-man, he will be supported by the likes of Steven Bergwijn and Cody Gakpo, an exciting looking attack. Cody Gakpo is a player to look out for and will be watched by many of the top football teams during this winter World Cup with a view of a transfer.
Netherland’s Expected XI: Noppert; Dumfries, Timber, van Dijk, Ake; Blind; De Jong, Koopmeiners; Gakpo; Depay, Bergwijn.
NOTE: Depay has been declared fit, but may not start the opening game, with Janssen being the replacement.
Senegal:
The current Afcon champions are ranked 18th in the FIFA rankings. Their manager, Aliou Cisse has been taking charge of the side since 2015 taking them to two international finals during that time. His side has suffered a major blow before the start of the World Cup with their star man Sadio Mane missing the tournament due to injury, Cisse has stated that Senegal won’t change their system to compensate for the injury of Mane and will stick to the principles that got them to the World Cup after defeating Egypt on penalties. The side will aim to make it into the knockout stages for the second time in their history.
There’s no Sadio Mane, but Senegal still have a squad filled with talent including Kalidou Koulibaly, Edouard Mendy, Ismaila Sarr amongst others. Aliou Cisse’s side is credited with a strong defensive unit highlighted throughout his 79 games in charge whilst only suffering 10 defeats. Senegal have kept 6 clean sheets in their past 8 official international games showcasing where their strength starts within a compact 442 defensive shape. On the other hand, Senegal have been struggling with finding the back of the net despite creating great goalscoring opportunities, within those last 8 official international games they have scored 12 goals from an xG of 17.2.
Expected Senegal XI: Mendy; Sabaly, Cisse, Koulibaly, Ballo-Toure; Kouyate, N Mendy, Gueye; Ismaila Sarr, Dia, Diatta
Ecuador:
The South American side arrive to the World Cup ranked 44th in the world by FIFA. They qualified for the World Cup above the likes of Colombia and Chile. Their manager, Gustavo Alfaro will take charge in his second international tournament after the 2021 edition of Copa America where they went out to eventual champions Argentina in the quarter finals. Alfaro’s side play exciting attacking football with non-stop running, fighting for every ball and duel.
During the World Cup qualifiers, only Brazil outscored Ecuador’s 27 goal tally (equal with Argentina) and following on the theme, only Brazil created more big chances than Ecuador’s 37 tally. This portrays the type of side that Gustavo Alfaro’s team is; they want to attack the opposition as fast as possible, especially down the left hand side. This is where the left back, Brighton’s Pervis Estupiñán is expected the make the difference in regards to chance creation, he was the defender who created the most chances CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers region [Opta Analyst].
Ecuador have appeared at three editions of the World Cup, in 2002, 2006 and 2014. The only time they came past the group stages was in 2006, which is also the only time they won their first game hence a positive start vs the host nations Qatar is what Ecuador desire to build confidence and to play freely. Gustavo Alfaro has played down expectations for his side by making a comparison to the other three teams in the group: “They are teams that are superior to what we are, for a reason we were in pot number four in the draw, if we had been the best we would have been in pot one or two. Instead we must make things difficult for them.” A statement to relive pressure from his players or a statement to warn the opposition about Ecuador playing with no fear. Time will tell.
Ecuador Expected XI: Dominguez; Preciado, Torres, Hincapie, Estupinan; Gruezo, Caicedo; Mena, Plata, Valencia, Estrada.
