World Cup 2022 (Soccer)

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      Every Team Left in Qatar Is a Contender

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      France and England, Argentina and Brazil, Messi and Ronaldo: The quarterfinals offer everything except an easy path to the trophy.DOHA, Qatar — And then there were eight. In a little more than two weeks, the World Cup has whittled its field from 32 hopefuls to eight genuine contenders, most of whom would regard anything less than the ultimate success as something of a failure.Not all of them, of course. Morocco, the standard-bearer for both Africa and the Arab world, has made the quarterfinals for the first time. It will not go lightly now, but anything else, from this point on, will be a welcome bonus. A rational analysis would suggest this may be Croatia’s limit, too.All of the others, though, were never here for the atmosphere. They are in Qatar for glory. England and France have a depth of resources none of other teams can match. Portugal wants to deliver a final triumph for Cristiano Ronaldo, even if he is not starting. Louis van Gaal, the Dutch coach, has repeatedly said that playing soccer is pointless if you’re not trying to win.And then there are the twin South American giants: Brazil, probably the most impressive side in the tournament so far, the scent of a sixth World Cup in its nostrils; and Argentina, inspired by and devoted to Lionel Messi, determined that it should be here that his career reaches its climax.Vinícius Júnior, Lucas Paquetá and Neymar of BrazilManan Vatsyayana/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesCroatia vs. BrazilFriday, 10 a.m. ET, Al RayyanThere is no sight more ominous for the teams left in this tournament than that of Brazil having fun. Its last three World Cup campaigns, at least, have been long months of angst and tension and inevitable heartache. In Qatar, Neymar, Vinícius Júnior and the rest of Tite’s team are light-footed, spring-heeled, and all the more menacing for it.A Brief Guide to the 2022 World CupCard 1 of 9What is the World Cup? More

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      Gonçalo Ramos: The World Cup Spotlight is Now His

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      LUSAIL, Qatar — By the fourth goal, even Cristiano Ronaldo, standing and clapping in front of the Portugal bench, could not complain. After the fifth, he only offered a wry smile. Portugal was in the quarterfinals of the World Cup, and for a day even he knew that was a story bigger than Cristiano Ronaldo.Ronaldo does not step out of the spotlight easily. Thirty-seven years old and newly unemployed, he has desperately wanted to make his mark at what is almost certainly his final World Cup. His performances in the group stage, though, had not matched his substantial legend, and so on Tuesday night his coach, Fernando Santos, somewhat ruthlessly turned the page. Ronaldo was dropped from Portugal’s lineup for its game against Switzerland. Gonçalo Ramos, a 21-year-old striker from the Portuguese team Benfica, got the nod instead, earning his first start for Portugal and the unenviable job of replacing the most prolific scorer in his country’s history. In a little more than an hour, Ramos achieved an even more remarkable feat: He made an entire nation, and an entire World Cup, wonder why he hadn’t been starting over Ronaldo all along. “Not in my biggest dreams,” Ramos said, “did I think about starting in the knockout phase.”Imposing himself with a veteran’s cool and a gunslinger’s goal celebration, Ramos scored a 67-minute hat trick to power Portugal to a 6-1 victory over Switzerland, and to a date with Morocco in the quarterfinals on Saturday.The first goal was probably the best of the bunch: a quick turn in the penalty area and a shot fired so hard and so fast into the roof of the net that it was past goalkeeper Yann Sommer before he could get his hands in its way. Or maybe he just thought better of it. A Brief Guide to the 2022 World CupCard 1 of 9What is the World Cup? More

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      Cristiano Ronaldo Benched in Portugal’s World Cup Game Against Switzerland

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      After seething at Cristiano Ronaldo’s petulant reaction to being substituted against South Korea, Portugal’s coach, Fernando Santos, opted to sit him for the team’s knockout-round clash today against Switzerland. Santos hinted at the possibility when asked on Monday about Ronaldo’s status, telling reporters in Qatar that he provides the lineup in the locker room and that he was not about to change. “Otherwise,” he said, “the matter is over and everyone is available.” Ronaldo walking in 👀 pic.twitter.com/1U1jhiRAYh— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 6, 2022
      Though it keeps one of the world’s elite scorers on the bench to start, the measure could be as unifying, perhaps, as it is punitive — proof that Santos will not tolerate, or reward, actions that he perceives as potentially jeopardizing the team. Ronaldo came out late in Portugal’s first two group-stage matches, but he was replaced in the 65th minute of its 2-1 loss to South Korea and responded by raising a finger to his lips, as if he were gesturing for quiet. Here are the lineups, with Pepe elevated to the captaincy:Portugal: Diogo Costa; Diogo Dalot, Rúben Dias, Pepe, Raphael Guerriero; Otávio, William Carvalho, Bruno Fernandes; Bernardo Silva, Gonçalo Ramos, João Félix. Switzerland: Yann Sommer; Edimilson Fernandes, Fabian Schär, Manuel Akanji, Ricardo Rodríguez; Remo Freuler, Granit Xhaka; Xherdan Shaqiri, Djibril Sow, Ruben Vargas; Breel Embolo. More

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      Spain, fond of passing, bows out meekly when forced to shoot.

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      AL RAYYAN, Qatar — The noise had been building, rising from raucous to deafening and beyond, until it became something all-encompassing, vaguely elemental. The tension, too, as Morocco drew closer and closer to achieving what had seemed almost impossible.Spain missed one penalty. Spain missed another penalty. Spain missed a third. Suddenly, after two arduous, attritional hours, Morocco stood on the edge. A place in the quarterfinals of the World Cup, its finest ever performance in the tournament, was in its grasp. The pressure, the sound, became almost unbearable.At that point, Achraf Hakimi — born in Spain, having spent all of his childhood in Spain, who might in another world have been playing for Spain — stepped forward and took the gentlest, deftest penalty imaginable, nothing more than a silken, slight touch of the ball, a moment of utter calm before the mayhem descended.Spain’s defeat, on penalties after a 0-0 draw, was, in many ways, entirely fitting. For all its talent, for all its dominance of possession, it had rarely given the impression of knowing how to score over the previous two hours. Álvaro Morata flashed an effort across the face of goal from an impossible angle. He strained to reach a header. Dani Olmo had a speculative free-kick punched away by Yassine Bounou. That Spain could not score any of the penalties it took did not come as a surprise.Spain missed all three penalties it took in the shootout.Julian Finney/Getty ImagesIndeed, by the time the game was reaching its closing stages, Rodri, a defensive midfielder deployed in this tournament as a central defender, was striding forward and shooting from 35 yards. It served as something close to an admission of defeat, an acceptance that Spain had officially run out of ideas.The chances did not come often, but when they did, it was to Morocco. Nayef Aguerd headed wide in the first half; twice in extra time, Walid Cheddira — a striker employed by the Italian second division team Bari and thrown on as a substitute — found himself with the goal looming in front of him. The first time he shot straight at Unai Símon, Spain’s goalkeeper. The second he was closed down, at the last second, by Rodri.Spain might have claimed victory with the last kick of the game, Pablo Sarabia clipping the post, but by that stage it had become abundantly clear that Luis Enrique’s team did not know how to score. Penalties brought no improvement. Spain missed all three, and there was Hakimi, the coolest man in the chaos, to take Morocco over the line. More

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      A Beer Run in Qatar, and an Oasis That Isn’t Open to All

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      At the only government-sanctioned store selling alcohol during the World Cup, strict rules keep it out of reach for most residents.DOHA, Qatar — The questions spilled out almost as soon as the car doors closed.Was it crowded? How was the selection? And what about the prices?The taxi driver, who went by Shaj, then peered into the rearview mirror and politely asked to see my receipt. I passed it forward, and he scanned it up and down as we swayed through traffic.Shaj had picked me up along a side street on the southern fringes of Doha, inside the razor-wire-topped walls of the Qatar Distribution Company. The Q.D.C., as it is widely known, is the sole importer and distributor of alcohol in Qatar, a Muslim country where the sale and consumption of booze is heavily regulated. Cocktails, wine and beer are served at a smattering of luxury hotels in the country, but the Q.D.C.’s two branches are the only places that sell alcohol for home consumption.“It’s probably one of the happiest places in Doha,” said Rachel Harris, who is originally from Australia but has lived in Qatar for 15 years.The Q.D.C. has stood for years as a colorful example of a broader, delicate dance within Qatari society that predated the World Cup: The country’s effort to balance its conservative values — including, in this case, a religion that forbids alcohol consumption — with its desire to open itself to the world. That line between tradition and accommodation rarely seems fixed in place.“Everyone is welcome to come to Qatar,” Hassan al-Thawadi, the head of the World Cup’s local organizing committee, said in an interview during the long run up to the tournament. “What we ask is that when people come, just to respect that we’re a relatively conservative nation.”For international residents looking for a taste of home, then, the Q.D.C. offers a boozy lifeline. Access to the store is granted through a state-run application process. The privilege was extended in recent weeks to teams, sponsors and news media organizations here for the World Cup. (Fans were not allowed to apply.)On a visit one recent morning, three employees of the United States national soccer team were pushing around three shopping carts piled high with bottles and cases of beer — and wondering aloud if they should grab a fourth.Access to the Qatar Distribution Company is granted through a state-run application process. A permit grants the holder a monthly quota of 2,000 Qatari riyals, roughly $550.Andrew Keh/The New York TimesThey were presented with an international selection of drink options: aperitifs from France, sake from Japan, wines from Chile and Australia, beers from Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines. There was even a separate room stuffed with freezers and devoted entirely to pork products, which are otherwise unavailable in restaurants and grocery stores around the country: frozen pepperoni pizzas and shrink-wrapped pork chops, cans of Spam and cocktail wieners, overstuffed packs of bacon. A sign above the door was both a label and a warning: “Pork Shop,” it read, “For non-Muslims.”Signs around the building announced special deals tied to the World Cup. Artificial stadium crowd noise filtered out through speakers near the entrance. A German journalist in loafers examined a bottle of Italian wine.A Brief Guide to the 2022 World CupCard 1 of 9What is the World Cup? More

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      Black and Spanish: A National Team Starts to Reflect All of Its Nation

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      An increasingly diverse Spain squad is drawing in fans who had once seen it as a symbol of their country, but not necessarily of them.DOHA, Qatar — Lucía Mbomío was never a particularly devoted soccer fan. When she was a child, the sport intruded on her consciousness only rarely, whenever a World Cup or a European Championship rolled into view. As she watched, though, she found herself cheering not only for her native Spain, but also for France, the Netherlands and even England.Those other teams appealed to her not because they played with any particular beauty or because they could be relied on to deliver glory, and it was not because they had an individual player she idolized. Instead, she said, it was something more visceral that drew her in. When she saw those teams, she realized, she saw herself reflected back.“I felt close to them,” said Mbomío, a 41-year-old journalist and author. “I was happy when they won because they had Black players. These were countries with white majorities, but in their teams they had people like me. They were recognizing those people. It was a message. It said to me, ‘I exist.’”For a long time, Spain could not make her feel the same way. In the 1990s and 2000s, Spain’s national team had a smattering of Black players, but often — as in the cases of the midfielders Donato and Marcos Senna and the striker Catanha — they were Brazilians who had been given citizenship after moving to Spain to play professionally.“There was always a suspicion that they had been naturalized purely for sporting reasons,” said Moha Gerehou, a Spanish writer who focuses on racism and immigration. “They didn’t represent the normalization of Spain’s diverse communities.” That, perhaps, explains why Mbomío found herself particularly drawn to the exception, Vicente Engonga, who was born in Spain to Guinean parents. “He was like me,” she said.A generation later, Mbomío can look at Spain’s national team and, for the first time, start to see in it a reflection both of herself and her community. There are four Black or mixed heritage players on Luis Enrique’s World Cup squad this year: the reserve goalkeeper Robert Sánchez, the defender Alejandro Baldé and the forwards Ansu Fati and Nico Williams.Nico Williams, left, and Alejandro Baldé started for Spain in its final group game. Julio Cortez/Associated PressTheir roots are different — they can variously trace their families’ origins to Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Dominica and Ghana — but their backgrounds are the same. Fati has lived in Spain since he was 5. The other three were all born in the country. These are not players who have, in effect, been recruited to bolster the team’s hopes. “They are Black and Spanish,” Mbomío said.They have appeared only occasionally during the tournament so far — a couple of substitute appearances and one start each for Baldé and Williams, a bit of time off the bench for Fati — but their presence alone is significant, said Rúben Bermúdez, a Spanish director and photographer. “Representation may not be the most important thing in the fight against racism, but it is something that matters,” Bermúdez said. “Seeing these players in the national team of the country where they were born or grew up is very important.”A Brief Guide to the 2022 World CupCard 1 of 9What is the World Cup? More

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      Brazil and Neymar Advance to World Cup Quarterfinals

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      DOHA, Qatar — Even the coach was dancing.Dressed in a dark suit as he stalked the grass in front of Brazil’s bench, Tite allowed himself to be engulfed by his players as they cavorted in celebration around him, joining them eventually with a wiggle of his shoulders and hips. There were still more than 15 minutes left in the first half.That is how carefree a game it was for Brazil, how much joy it took in dismantling an outmatched South Korea squad in the round of 16 on a balmy Monday night in Doha. The Brazilians repeated the same pattern all night — coldblooded goal, happy dance — until the final whistle blew to end their fun. The lopsided score, 4-1, somehow did not fully capture the team’s dominance.Brazil’s display, even with South Korea providing only mild resistance to the outburst of collective skill, surely cemented its status as one of the favorites to lift the FIFA World Cup Trophy on Dec. 18. Brazil plays next on Friday against Croatia in the quarterfinal round, and it will be favored to win that game, too.The goal that got Tite, 61, doing his jig was the team’s third, which materialized from the foot of his striker, Richarlison, in one of the finest displays of individual wizardry in the tournament thus far.Tussling with a South Korean defender just outside the penalty area, Richarlison bounced the ball three times off his head in a stylish effort to keep possession. Finally, he brought the ball down, shimmied into a bit of open space, and knocked it over to a teammate. The ball was already on its way back to him as he sprinted toward the goal, and all he had to do was slide it past Kim Seung-gyu, South Korea’s goalkeeper.“I’m very happy with our coach,” Richarlison said of his sideline dance through an interpreter. “We rehearsed the celebration together at the hotel. And I was really happy we had the chance to do it with him.”A Brief Guide to the 2022 World CupCard 1 of 9What is the World Cup? More

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      Here’s How Extra Time and Penalty Kicks Work in the World Cup

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      Tie games are inevitable at the World Cup, especially in the later stages when the stakes rise and the sinews stretch.But in the knockout stages, every game must produce a winner. That means if a game is tied after 90 minutes, it will go to extra time. Here’s how it works.After a short break, the teams will play two 15-minute extra periods, including any minutes of added time the officials deem necessary. There is no sudden death: Both periods are played to their conclusion, regardless of how many goals are scored (or not).If the teams are still tied after extra time, they go to a penalty kick shootout.In that, a coin flip decides which side goes first. The teams then pick five penalty takers, and they alternate attempts until a winner is determined. That can take as few as three rounds of attempts — if, for example one team converts its first three and its opponent misses all three — or as many as … well … as many as it takes.That can sometimes take a while, and the longer it goes, the more fun it gets.Except for the people involved. More