The 2022 World Cup Knockout Stage Has Lived up to Its Name

The round of 16 was a fierce contest

The FIFA World cup is currently ongoing in Qatar.

For a global football tournament, it has been marred with talks of human rights violations, and suppression of freedom of expression by the host nation. For this reason, many people thought that this will overshadow the crux of the matter, which is football.

This has not been the case, however, as this has turned out to be one of the best world cup tournaments in recent years.

When Saudi Arabia beat Argentina 2:1, the world stood on its feet, dumbfounded at what it had just witnessed. But to solidify this competition as top-tier, Japan will beat Germany the next day 2:1.

There have been so many great games in this competition. Cameroon would be the first African country to beat Brazil in a World cup event and South Korea will beat Portugal 2:1 for the first time in a major competition to move on to the round of 16.

At this year’s knockout stage, no team lost by a small margin. All the teams that advanced made sure to win in style.

The Netherlands beat the United States 3:1; Argentina beat Australia 2:1; Croatia beat Japan on penalties 3:1; Brazil beat South Korea 4:1 (I have to mention in the first half); England beat Senegal 3:0; Favorites, France beat Poland 3:1; Morocco became the only African country standing after they defeated Spain 3:0 on penalties; Portugal will drop Cristiano Ronaldo and thrash Switzerland 6:1.

This has set up a beauty of a quarterfinal fixture.

England will face a French side that has broken the winner’s curse by a mile and is hoping to be the first team to win back-to-back world cup titles in 60 years.

The Netherlands will face an Argentine side whose captain, the legendary Leo Messi is hoping to win his first-ever World cup title.

Croatia is hoping to stop a Brazilian side on a mission to win the world cup for Pele.

Morocco is hoping to be the first African nation to reach a World cup semifinal if they can beat a Portuguese side that is brimming with Ronaldo controversy.

Let the games begin!

Who will lift the 2022 Men’s FIFA World Cup?