By Dadrian Paris
What even is the World Cup? This is the most important tournament the world has ever seen, and it’s back and better than ever. Every four years, countries unite and form a world championship for the most followed sport in the world, Soccer. This year the World Cup is being held in Qatar, which was decided in 2010 after Qatar beat Japan and the United States for the right to host the World Cup.
This year’s tournament started on Nov. 20, with the opening game being Ecuador vs. Qatar. The tournament lasts two weeks and ends on Dec. 18, the final match that decides the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner.
Qatar is the smallest city ever to host a World Cup and is being hosted in a different season than usual. In the past, the World Cup was hosted in the Summer, around June or July, but due to the different weather in Qatar, it is now at the end of the year rather than the middle.
The World Cup matches are held in eight different stadiums around the capital to make the tournament run smoothly and steadily.
In the World Cup a total of 32 teams qualify for the World Cup. The host of the World Cup automatically gets a spot in the tournament. However, in 2026 the World Cup will open up to 48 teams, and the tournament hosts will be Mexico, the U.S. and Canada.
The way the tournament works is that all 32 teams are split into eight different groups to compete for advancement into the knockout rounds. Each country plays the other teams in its own group and the top two teams from each group advance into the knockout rounds.
From there on, whenever a team loses a match, they are eliminated from the tournament. The winner of the World Cup takes home $42 million from a prize pool of $440 million. But the main goal reward for winning the World Cup is glory and gold.
This year the U.S. qualified to be in the tournament and was put into the same group as Wales, Iran and England. Their first game was against Wales and ended in a 1-1 draw.
Their next match was against England on Nov. 25, one of the tournament’s biggest rivalries this year. The game ended in a draw of 0-0, a victory in the U.S.’ eyes.
Their last game in group play was against Iran on Nov. 29. This was a very important game because, for the U.S., it was win or go home. The final score was 1-0, with a U.S. victory advancing them and England into the knockout rounds.
The U.S.’ next match was on Dec. 3 against the Netherlands in the first match of the knockout rounds. The game ended with Netherlands 3 and U.S. 1.
