With qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar drawing to a close, squads are starting to take shape and excitement is building, even though the tournament won’t take place until December.
The 2018 World Cup was one of the most enjoyable editions to date, with England narrowly losing to Croatia in the semi-finals, who lost 4-2 to France in the final in Moscow.
After the tournament had finished, ESPN made a number of predictions for the 2022 edition, and with Qatar less than nine months away, now is a good time to revisit them.
England went one step further than the semi-final run in 2018 when they reached the final in the delayed Euro 2020, but lost on penalties to Italy at Wembley.
We’ve broken down each of these predictions to see which were incredibly accurate, and which were well wide of the mark.
The big guns return
The original prediction that the big footballing nations Italy, the USA, the Netherlands, Chile and Cameroon would return was incorrect, as Italy failed to reach their second World Cup in a row following their shocking loss at home to North Macedonia in the qualification playoffs.
Chile also failed to qualify but Cameroon, the Netherlands and the United States have all returned.
It was a stunning goal to knock Italy out…
WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT!!! 🤯
North Macedonia have scored in added-time 😱
Italy are on the brink of not reaching the World Cup 😳 pic.twitter.com/ty5GzandXP
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) March 24, 2022
Ronaldo bids farewell
ESPN predicted that Ronaldo would retire after the tournament and, if Portugal end up winning the World Cup, it’s hard to see the 37-year-old continuing – especially after that clusterfuck of an interview with Piers Morgan.
Whether he is able to produce more magic on the international stage remains to be seen but there will be drama, one way or another.
Qatar become the worst-performing hosts
It’s tough to say exactly which way this prediction will go, but their performance in the 2021 Arab Cup, held in Qatar, saw the hosts finish a respectable third, beating Egypt on penalties in the third place, after losing in the semi-final to eventual winners Algeria.
Qatar haven’t had any top talents come through since 2018, so a run to the latter knockout stages seems unlikely despite the home advantage, and they would need to qualify from the group stage at least to avoid equalling South Africa in 2010 as the worst-performing hosts.
African teams mount a better…
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