The Dark Horses of the Qatar World Cup

Everybody loves an underdog or a dark horse, and the Qatar World Cup has no shortage of them. As discussed in my last post, some powerhouses are traveling to the competition, but that doesn’t mean that one of them is guaranteed to win it. Often an unexpected team goes far in the competition. In the 2018 Russia World Cup, Croatia made it to the final and ended up coming in second place. Croatia wasn’t even in the top fifteen teams competing. I am going to break down the top three teams that I think are most likely to exceed expectations and go deep into the knockout stages of the competition.

The first dark horse of the 2022 Qatar World Cup is Senegal. Senegal won the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year, declaring them the best team in Africa. This makes their ranking of 14th place far too low. Senegal has an incredibly strong defense and goalkeeper with the likes of Mendy and Koulibaly forming the spine of the team. They also have a very exciting attack with Sadio Mane, one of the best goal-scorers in the world, leading the team from the front. I can see Senegal going far in this tournament, so do not let their ranking trick you into thinking they will be facing an early exit.

The United States is not seen as a soccer nation as it has such a heavy involvement in other sports. As a result, the team has been lackluster in almost every previous soccer tournament. In my opinion, this year is going to be much different. This is by far the most exciting team that the United States has ever had. The excellent young players, including McKennie, Reyna, and Pulisic, make up the basis for the team and serve as a beacon of hope for fans. This has not gone unnoticed as this team has risen in the rankings to 15th, but I think that they will go much higher and will surprise a lot of fans at the Qatar World Cup.

The third underdog of the 2022 Qatar World Cup is the Canadian National Team. Canada is certainly not widely considered to be a powerful soccer nation, but don’t write them off yet. With the likes of Davies and David leading the team with their exciting attacking presence, Canada will likely outperform the low expectations. They have competitive group stage games, which will be a test for them, but if they make it out into the knockout stages, there is no telling how far they’ll go. They will prove their 24th-place ranking out of the 32 teams to be an underestimate of their abilities.

These dark horses and underdogs make watching the World Cup as exciting as it is. While rankings can help determine who statistics believe should win, these games rarely go to plan, making it all the more exciting. These are just three of the dark horses that you should be keeping an eye out for as we kick off the Qatar World Cup!