How did part of the 2022 World Cup qualification end?

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In qualifying, for the world championship, the first two rounds have been played.

What interesting things happened at the beginning of the qualifying tournament?

Group A. "An entire nation has suffered."

The big story in the first two rounds of Group A was the scandal of Cristiano Ronaldo's uncounted goal in the final minutes of the match against Serbia. The ball crossed the goal line and Portugal should have taken the three points, but the referees from the Netherlands did not see it. The game ended in a 2:2 draw, with the Serbs and Portuguese now sharing first place in the group. The reason is that the qualification matches are without modern technology - no VAR or automatic goal tallying system is used.

Ronaldo first attacked the linesman, then was given a yellow card and left the field having dropped his captain's armband. After the match, the Portuguese said that he had a feeling that "an entire nation has suffered".

The scandal with Ronaldo forced UEFA to react and explain why VAR is not used in such matches. They stated the following: "The impact of the pandemic on operational and logistical capacity has forced UEFA to postpone the introduction of VAR in the group stage of the Europa League until the 2021/22 season instead of starting from the 2020/21 season, and to withdraw the proposal to introduce VAR in European World Cup 2022 qualification matches."

In Group A it is worth noting the success of the Luxembourg team, which has ceased to be a "soccer midget". In the first round, the Luxembourg team defeated Ireland 1-0 away thanks to a goal of the player of Dynamo Kyiv Jerson Rodriguez. And now on March 30, they will face a more serious test - the team of Portugal.

Group A standings

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Group B. Spain's Difficulties, the Return of a Legend

The Spanish team probably expected an easier walk at the start of qualification. First, the Spaniards lost points due to a controversial decision of the referee (remember the lack of VAR). In the match against Greece, Iñigo Martínez played the ball when his opponent wasn't even around, taking it out in a roll, and then he caught the running Greek on inertia. The referee decided it was a penalty and Anastasios Basaketas converted it. The result was 1-1.

"I don't think we deserved the draw. I think a 1-0 score would have been fair," Luis Enrique said after the game.pexels.com

The Spaniards only managed to snatch victory from Georgia in the end. Kvaratskhelia's goal gave the Georgians the lead by halftime, but Ferran Torres equalized midway through the second half and Dani Olmo's classy shot in the 92nd minute.

Spain has extended its unbeaten streak in World Cup qualifiers to 65 matches (51 wins and 14 draws), and Sergio Ramos is close to the world record of matches played for the national team - coming up against Greece, he played his 179th match for the Spanish national team. The record is five games away.

The top event in this group was the return to the national team of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has not played for the Swedes since 2016. He hasn't scored yet, but he has already given two goals - first for the winning goal in the match against Georgia (1:0), and then with a pass in his favorite "kung-fu" style helped open the scoring in the game against Kosovo (Sweden won 3:0).

Group B standings

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Group C. The two favorites got theirs.

One of the few groups without surprises. Italy defeated Northern Ireland and Bulgaria with identical scores of 2:0, while Switzerland defeated Bulgaria (3:1) and Lithuania (1:0). Under Roberto Mancini, by the way, Italy has not lost in 24 consecutive matches, the best streak since 2006.

Group C standings

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Group D. Shevchenko surprised Deschamps

Group favorite France lost points at the start of qualification against Ukraine, conceding after a ricochet from Presnel Kimpembe (1:1). The Ukrainians surprised their opponent by playing three central defenders for the first time in official matches, and it paid off. Didier Deschamps admitted: "We watched about 20 games of the Ukraine national team, but for the first time we saw such a manner of playing".

Group D standings

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There was an episode in this game that the VAR system would have helped fix: a miscounted goal. Antoine Griezmann scored after the referees did not see Benjamin Pavar offside.

In the second round, Ukraine could have kept the lead on a pair with France, but after a mistake by defender Vitaliy Mykolenko, who "brought" a penalty, missed the victory over the Finns (1:1). France became the sole leader, beating Kazakhstan 2:0 on the road. There were no difficulties (even Ousmane Dembele scored for France for the first time since 2018), the French could have scored more, but an old problem surfaced. The fact is that since 2019, France has only scored three out of seven penalties (all scored by Olivier Giroud). Previously, Griezmann missed three times, and against Kazakhstan, Kylian Mbappe did not score.

Group E. Romelu Lucacu keeps scoring goals

Belgium without Eden Hazard and the Czech Republic won the first rounds (with the Czechs scoring 6 goals against the Estonians - 2:6) and then faced each other. It was impossible to identify the leader - Romelu Lukaku, who scored 36 goals in his last 31 matches for the Belgians (1:1), answered the goal of Janct Provoda. He, in turn, scored for Wales.

Group Е standings

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Group F. Collapse of Moldova

Denmark - Moldova 8:0. The biggest defeat for the Moldovan team in history and the biggest victory for the Danes in the last 34 years. It is safe to say that the Moldovan national team has been on its way to this success in recent years. In 2019 they lost 3 times with a score of 0:4, and in 2020 it was 0:4 from Slovenia and 0:6 from Italy, and here it is a long-awaited victory.

Group F standings

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Group G. A strong start by Turkey

The main surprise was the Turkish team, which performed powerfully against its two main rivals. Last year, the Turks finished fourth in their League of Nations group, but the team was able to make conclusions. In the first round, the Netherlands was easily defeated 4:2, and in the second, Norway was defeated 3:0. The 35-year-old Lille forward Burak Yılmaz scored the win against the Netherlands, while Ozan Tufan scored the double against the Norwegians.

"Am I supposed to sit here and cry? Of course, it's a blow to us, now we need to switch as quickly as possible. This is the first match, there are nine more," Frank de Boer said sharply after the defeat against the Turks. The switch, in principle, succeeded - the Netherlands beat Latvia 2:0 in the second round without much trouble.

Group G standings

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Group H. Russia is the leader!

The Russian national team scored two wins in the beginning and was at the very beginning of the group.

Credit must also go to Croatia, the group favorite, for the sensational defeat to Slovenia (0:1) and a humble 1:0 win against Cyprus. Luka Modric played his 135th match for the Pitmen, becoming the record holder in this competition, besting the 134-game winning streak of Darijo Srna.

Group H standings

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Group I. England won two matches

The England national team won their two starting matches without conceding a goal (5:0 against San Marino and 2:0 away against Albania). As a result of the match against Albania, English goalkeeper Nick Pope set a record for the English national team - he did not concede a single goal in the sixth consecutive match for the Three Lions. Pope, played only six games for the national team.

Group I standings

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Group J. The unexpected leader was the Germans!

Germany's two wins (3:0 at home against Iceland and 1:0 away against Romania) did not surprise anyone. The Germans extended their winning streak away from home in World Cup qualifying - in their last 47 away matches they had 37 wins and 10 draws. And the unbeaten streak as a whole is 35 games and lasts about 20 years.

The Armenian team unexpectedly shared first place in the group with the Germans. If we can't call the small victory over Liechtenstein a sensational event, the confident win over Iceland (2:0), however, is not the kind of result on which you can run and bet. This result underscores the fact that the Icelandic team, after its recent successes, is in deep crisis. This is the seventh consecutive defeat for Iceland in official matches.

Group J standings

I hope you liked the review of the first part of the matches of the World Cup 2022, share your comments about it below, all the best!