ROUND ONE:
NOVEMBER 20, 2022
Qatar 0-2 Ecuador (Group A)
Enner Valencia’s brace in the first half led Ecuador to a 2-0 win against the host nations in the opening game of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
NOVEMBER 21, 2022
Senegal 0-2 Netherlands (Group A)
England 6-2 Iran (Group B)
United States 1-1 Wales (Group B)
Netherlands joined Ecuador on 3 points (in Group A) by beating Senegal 2-0.
England kicked off their tournament with an emphatic win over Iran. Bukayo Saka scored a brace as England went on to win 6-2 in their opening match in Group B.
A penalty in the 82nd minute allowed Wales to find the equalizing goal for a point against United States. It ended 1-1 after Gareth Bale’s goal canceled out Timothy Weah’s goal in the 36th minute.
GROUP A – STANDINGS
1| Netherlands – 3 points
2| Ecuador – 3 points
3| Senegal – 0 points
4| Qatar – 0 points
GROUP B – STANDINGS
1| England – 3 points
2| Wales – 1 point
3| United States – 1 point
4| Iran – 0 points
NOVEMBER 22, 2022
Argentina 1-2 Saudi Arabia (Group C)
Mexico 0-0 Poland (Group C)
France 4-1 Australia (Group D)
Denmark 0-0 Tunisia (Group D)
Argentina blew a goal lead to kick their tournament off with a shock 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia in Group C. Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 10th minute but it wasn’t enough as Suadi Arabia scored 2 goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half to pull a historic victory.
Robert Lewandowski’s penalty kick was saved by Ochoa to keep the score goalless between Mexico and Poland. They shared the points in a goalless draw to start their tournament in Group C.
France came from a goal down to kick off their tournament with a 4-1 win against Australia. Olivier Giroud’s brace was sandwiched between a goal from Adrien Rabiot and Kylian Mbappe to get France to the top of Group D.
Denmark and Tunisia kicked off their tournament with a goalless draw in Group D.
GROUP C – STANDINGS
1| Saudi Arabia – 3 points
2| Poland – 1 point
3| Mexico – 1 point
4| Argentina – 0 points
GROUP D – STANDINGS
1| France – 3 points
2| Tunisia – 1 point
3| Denmark – 1 point
4| Australia – 0 points
NOVEMBER 23, 2022
Spain 7-0 Costa Rica (Group E)
Germany 1-2 Japan (Group E)
Belgium 1-0 Canada (Group F)
Morocco 0-0 Croatia (Group F)
Spain showed they meant business by completely dominating Costa Rica on all fronts. Ferran Torres scored two goals in Spain’s 7-0 thrashing of Costa Rica to open their tournament in Group E.
While Spain did the expected in Group E, Germany did the unexpected when they gave up a goal lead to lose 2-1 in the opening game against Japan.
It might have been against the run of play but Belgium managed to get a winning start through a 1-0 win against Canada to start their tournament in Group F. Michy Batshuayi scored the only goal of the match at the end of the first half.
Morocco and Croatia ended goalless in their opening match in Group F.
GROUP E – STANDINGS
1| Spain – 3 points
2| Japan – 3 points
3| Germany – 0 points
4| Costa Rica – 0 points
GROUP F – STANDINGS
1| Belgium – 3 points
2| Croatia – 1 point
3| Morocco – 1 point
4| Canada – 0 points
NOVEMBER 24, 2022
Brazil 2-0 Serbia (Group G)
Switzerland 1-0 Cameroon (Group G)
Portugal 3-2 Ghana (Group H)
Uruguay 0-0 South Korea (Group H)
A defensively stubborn Serbia was eventually cracked by two goals from Richarlison to get Brazil a 2-0 win to start their tournament in Group G.
Breel Embolo scored the only goal of the game in the 48th minute to hand Switzerland three points from a win against Cameroon.
It ended up being a close contest but Portugal’s tournament started with a 3-2 win against Ghana in Group H.
Uruguay and South Korea played out a goalless in Group H.
GROUP G – STANDINGS
1| Brazil – 3 points
2| Switzerland – 3 points
3| Cameroon – 0 point
4| Serbia – 0 points
GROUP H – STANDINGS
1| Portugal – 3 points
2| South Korea – 1 point
2| Uruguay – 1 point
4| Ghana – 0 points
