Doctor Anthony Bianchi is a lifelong soccer fan who loves the World Cup. Every four years, the world comes together to watch the top 32 soccer countries in the world hit the pitch and see who will hoist the trophy. Doctor Anthony Bianchi loves seeing the fans from different countries and their passion and support for their native country, The love and support showed for each team helps everyone see that we share more similarities than differences – no matter what part of the world we call home.
The FIFA World Cup will call Qatar home this late November through late December. This prestigious tournament takes place once every four years and this year will mark the 22nd competition. All the world’s best teams are back to compete for the title. The reigning champs, France, will look to repeat and win their third title overall. For those new to the World Cup, the teams are separated into groups of four to kick off the tournament. Two teams advance from each group and their seeding Is partly determined based on their success in the group stage. Doctor Anthony Bianchi put a list of the groups below:
Group A
Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal and Netherlands
Group B
England, IR Iran, USA and Wales
Group C
Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland
Group D
France, Australia, Denmark and Tunisia
Group E
Spain, Costa Rica, Germany and Japan
Group F
Belgium, Canada, Morocco and Croatia
Group G
Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon
Group H
Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay and Korea Republic
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Brazil
It will come as no surprise to any soccer fan that we enter the 2022 World Cup with Brazil as the odds on favorite. Brazil has the most World Cup titles in history with 5 and is a nation that expects to win every national tournament they enter. Heading into the tournament, the national team has won their last six games, with five of those coming by three goals or more. They are led by Neymar, who many soccer fans consider to be the best player in the world. They also may have the best goalkeeper in the world with Alisson in net. Anything can happen when there is 90 minutes plus stopping time and the greatest soccer players in the world on the pitch, but Brazil will be expected to win every match they play.
France
France will enter the 2022 World Cup as the defending champions, but they won’t be coming in with recent momentum. They lost to Denmark 2-0 in their latest World Cup tune up game and that is cause for some concern. Fortunately for the defending champions, they have Kyle Mbappe who can score from just about anywhere at any time. Doctor Anthony Bianchi believes France will take care of business in Group D and have yet another deep run in this historic tournament.
England
With Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Declan Rice, and Kyle Walker at the helm, England enters the 2022 World Cup as the clear favorites in Group B. After finishing fourth in 2018, fans of the England team will not be satisfied with anything less than a deep, deep run in the tournament. Playing for the England soccer team comes with a lot of pressure and it will be interesting to see how the team responds throughout their time in Qatar.
Spain
Whenever the groups are announced for the World Cup, fans choose a Group of Death. This is the distinction to what fans and experts agree is the toughest group in the tournament. This year that notorious distinction falls to Group E as it features Spain, Germany, Japan, and Costa Rica. While Costa Rica may not prove to be much of a challenge for the other three squads, the rest are likely to have some fairly incredible matchups. Spain is the favorite in the group and surviving through to the single elimination portion of the tournament could give them the momentum needed to reach the finals for the first time since they hoisted the trophy in 2010.
Germany
The same logic applies for the German squad as applies to the Spain international team. Germany is always a force to be reckoned with a the World Cup. After winning the tournament in 2014, they were shockingly eliminated in the group stage in 2018. The team will look to return to their typical glorious form in Qatar. Matchups against Japan and Spain will make that difficult, however.
Argentina
Doctor Anthony Bianchi believes Argentina enters the 2022 World Cup as the sentimental favorites for many soccer fans after their favorite team is eliminated. The reason? Lionel Messi. One of the games greatest players of all time, this is likely Lionel’s last chance to win the World Cup as he enters the tournament at 35 years old. Having played 19 games in the World Cup entering this tournament, no stage is too big to Messi. With a better team around him then years prior, it may just finally be the right time for Argentina to win the World Cup for the first time since 1986.
