In the new century, there have been enough surprises at the World Cup.

world Cup-2022. Croatia and Morocco were not expected in the four

The success of the Croatians is easier to explain thanks to the final in Moscow, although in the first round of the playoffs, on the contrary, Spain and Germany had to wait longer than Japan. And against Brazil, “chess” were absolute outsiders. With skill and character, but without equal opportunities when they call the potential final of Croatia and Morocco “football degradation”, then they are wrong. Especially when they call the style of these teams “buses”, representing Belgians and Spaniards as “attack teams”. Don’t confuse dry ball control with kicking on goal. No one has a successful clean “bus”. You can’t even beat Croatia with him, as Karpin tried in the selection. In football teams remember the result. For example, Argentines and Germans with the World Cup, while the Dutch do not. And the world is not only Europe and two countries of South America. The appearance of Croatians and especially Moroccans in the semifinals is a big surprise, but not the first in history world Cup.

world Cup-2018. Croatians where there is no Spain and Brazil

The Modric team rewrote the story from time to time. But there were surprises in Russia, in addition to the success of the Dalic team. The Germans were the last of the group. Russia met Spain from second place in the quartet. No one in the world expected Cherchesov to win, and the favorite went out on penalties. In the match against Croatia there was again a series in which everything could go in favor of Akinfeev. Modric was in the top four, but there were no Brazilians – they flew out of Belgium, which Courtois was dragging that day. The Croatians, as you will remember, beat the English in extra time and chose the wrong strategy for the final: they opened too much, France won 4:2.

world Cup-2014. Playoffs without Spain and Portugal

In Brazil, many favorites did not get out of the groups. Was the tournament in which the Germans beat Messi a “degradation of football”? The Brazilians took a penalty in the match against the Chileans. Algeria held with the Germans, reached overtime. Costa Rica were in the top eight, as were Colombia, who have now failed to qualify. By the way, the Croatians, and not only the Portuguese, the Italians, the British and the Spaniards did not leave the groups in Brazil. Costa Rica and Navas in the semis were prevented by the wily Van Gaal, released Krul in place of Cillesen and stopped the sensation. But in Brazil there was Mexico in the playoffs, United States of AmericaNigeria, Uruguay and Chile, and there were no teams named above with Ronaldo, Chiellini, Kane and Casillas.

world Cup-2010. Uruguay takes the lead, Italy and France at the bottom

TO South Africa the French and Italians, future world and European champions, finished bottom of the groups. And in the second case, they were the reigning world champions. In the playoffs there were Uruguay, South Korea, Ghana, United States of America, Slovakia, Japan and Paraguay. The last of the list almost resisted the future champions, Spain. And Uruguay first overtook the Koreans, and then Ghana in the same match with antics Luis Suarez. Twelve years later, the story had a continuation. The Africans decided to drag the Latin Americans with them. But twelve years ago Uruguay was a sensation, just like the Croatians were four years ago. Recall that the population of the South American country is 3.5 million people and the population of Croatia is 3.9 million people. Imagine the St. Petersburg team reaching the semifinals of the World Cup, and in the case of the Croatians three times since their tournament debut in 1998.

world Cup-2006. Ukraine is higher than Spain and the Netherlands

Who bet on Italy? Nobody really bet, they did not leave the group at Euro 2004 after the conspiracy of Sweden and Denmark. Italy performed at the tournament much worse than Greece. Moreover, not only the Russian team did not leave the group with future European finalists, but also the Spanish team, which two years later in Germany world Cup will take first place in the group with Ukraine. But that will send them to France, not Switzerland. Shovkovskiy saved the penalty, as Livakovic has now done, and the Red Fury flew out of Zidane’s team. Even if there were clear favorites in the semifinals, it is dishonest to say that on the first day of the tournament Italy were seen as champions. It is no coincidence that Camoranesi maintained that having his hair cut in the event of a triumph did not believe that this would happen. And the Dutch did not think that they would fly out faster than Blokhin’s team.

world Cup-2002. South Korea and Turkey in the top four

The championship in Asia turned out to be wild. The apotheosis of unpredictability happened in 2002. And since there were no repetitions in football, this tournament is the most scandalous of all, if we talk about refereeing. He brazenly dragged Hiddink’s team. Italy and Spain are eligible, but South Korea finished in the semi-finals and the favorites went home. On world Cup-2002 set a trend that the Greeks would later take advantage of at the European Championships: an organized outsider directed the underestimation of the favorite against him. Senegal did the same with France. The Africans were already one step away from the semi-final, but lost to Turkey. Twenty years ago, no one was talking about the “degradation of football” when the Germans almost flew out of the national team United States of America in the quarterfinals, and then both semifinals ended with minimal victories for the favourites.

France and Argentina will gladly repeat the success of Germany and Brazil. But this retrospective reminds us that some people have short memories. Calcium is much richer than it seems to newcomers to the ship. And as the show’s popularity doesn’t wane, Infantino is right, the audience world Cup-2022 has several billion viewers, there has been and will not be any degradation. Conversely, Morocco’s success has attracted more viewers from the Middle East and Africa, who were previously less interested in football. The world was looking forward to Messi’s final against Ronaldo, and Cristiano’s sister predictably lashed out at Santos before the player’s press office wrote more weighted evaluation.

But Modric, Messi, Mbappe and Ziyech will fight for medals and any setup in the final will be significant. From tiny Uruguay’s victory in the first World Cup, it was clear that Jules Rimet had come up with something special.