France and England proved me wrong in this tournament. I predicted that Germany, France, and England, considered among the tournament favorites, would fail. Following this prediction based on the initial games, Germany was eliminated in the group stages, as I predicted. Despite fielding a young team, France and England successfully completed the tournament. This is commendable. I believe both teams played poorly in the group stages, and then steadily improved their performance when the single-elimination rounds were introduced. In fact, improving their performance wouldn’t have been enough; I believe their success was due to soccer playing luck on their side. In fact, I believe three factors played a significant role in this tournament:
1- Soccer Luck
To give a specific example, the decisive moment in the second-round game, when France right-back Pavard equalized against Argentina, the goal was the turning point. Pavard scored one of the tournament’s finest goals. It was France’s luck that someone who said, “I’m not used to scoring goals,” scored an incredible goal with a generic, spin-like volley. I think Pavard could only create such a beautiful shot 100 times, maybe once. And that happened in this game. In the quarterfinals, Muslera, one of the best goalkeepers in the world and beloved and admired by all of us who play for my favorite team, Galatasaray, conceded a spectacularly misplaced goal in the Uruguayan goal. This goal was unbecoming of the experienced goalkeeper (of course, Muslera’s credit is very high in our eyes, so he remains one of the best goalkeepers in the world in our eyes).
In the semifinals, France was once again fortunate: they scored from a set-piece against Belgium, and despite numerous dangerous attacks, Belgium couldn’t find the net. Furthermore, one of the Red Devils’ key players, Meunier, was out of action due to a booking. In the last final, Croatia’s striker, Manzukic, scored an own goal in the first half. They then leveled the score, but a penalty, which I believe was undeserved, was awarded to France, ultimately leading to a decisive victory. Luck is crucial in such single-elimination games. Because even the slightest mistake, wrong decision, or team absence can impact the outcome.
Similar things I’ve mentioned above apply to England games. England’s chances of playing were always high in the games they played, and they always advanced to the next round despite normally being eliminated. After the group stage, they faced Belgium again, and despite losing the third- and fourth-place games to Belgium, I believe they finished the tournament in a very good position, given their luck with the fixtures.
Croatia and Belgium also played the best soccer of the tournament, in my opinion.
Croatia
Belgium
2- Managers
I also considered Argentina, Brazil, and Spain to be three of the tournament’s six favorites. Spain’s second-round loss to Russia, Argentina’s elimination to France in the second round, and Brazil’s defeat to Belgium were, in my opinion, the result of the managers’ inadequate preparation and fielding the wrong teams. I won’t go into detail, but I think if Spain’s manager had been Manchester City’s Spanish Manager Pep Guardiola, and Argentina’s manager had been Atletico Madrid’s Argentinian manager Diego Simeone, both teams would have been prime contenders for the title. Both teams fell victim to errors in team defense, game focus, and player selection.
Brazilian manager Tite also, in my opinion, frequently fielded the wrong teams. Even if you had built a team with many of Brazil’s established players, let alone their substitutes, who couldn’t make the team, Brazil would still have been top-tier in this tournament. To give a more specific example, Douglas Costa, who played for Bayern Munich and now plays for Juventus, performed incredibly well in the second half of their last elimination game against Belgium, effectively destroying Belgium’s left flank. The majority of Brazil’s attacks were generated from the right wing by Douglas Costa. Similarly, Renato Augusto, a Bayern Leverkusen and Corinthians player, played well despite coming on as a substitute, scoring Brazil’s only goal. Seeing these players reveals that Tite hasn’t fully appreciated such a valuable squad. I believe Brazil needs a manager who has proven himself in Europe, who won’t be emotional, and who will utilize the squad effectively.
On the other hand, managers like Didier Deschamps of France, Zlatko Dalić of Croatia, Roberto Martínez of Belgium, and Gareth Southgate of England have all done a fantastic job, extracting the maximum benefit from their teams. Deschamps has earned the honor of winning the World Cup both as a player and as a manager. Deschamps, who lifted the trophy in 1998, made history as the third player to achieve this feat after Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer.
Deschamps won the World Cup as a player and manager
3- Goalies
Goalkeeper errors also directly impacted the results of the games in this tournament. Argentina’s goalkeeper was a complete disaster. They replaced him after two games, and the one who replaced him may not have made any obvious mistakes, but he conceded most of the balls that went in. Muslera’s mistake in the France game, which we love and respect, couldn’t be compensated for. Spain’s goalkeeper David de Gea, who had some excellent games for Manchester United also performed very poorly. According to FIFA’s official statistics, Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea was the only goalkeeper among the 33 goalkeepers who played in the 2018 World Cup to not make a save in the group stages. He conceded three goals in the opening game, but his mistake with the second was significant. Throughout the tournament, 91.6% of his shots on target resulted in goals. This is a very high rate for a goalkeeper of De Gea’s caliber.
Meanwhile, the goalkeepers of France, Croatia, Belgium, and England, who reached the semifinals of the tournament—Lloris, Subašić, Courtois, and Pickford—made their mark with crucial saves and impressive penalty performances. Having said that, I should also mention the mistake made by France’s goalkeeper, Lloris, whom I consider to be among the most successful goalkeepers, in the final, conceding the final goal from Manżukić. Thankfully, the margin was clear when he made the mistake.
I got it right by over 50%
As I mentioned in a previous blog post at http://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/dunya-kupasi-heyecani-yine-yeniden , my predictions were generally correct by over 50%. For example, I listed Brazil, Argentina, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal as teams likely to win the tournament. I had listed Iceland, Switzerland, Russia, Mexico, Croatia, and Uruguay among the teams I considered the surprise favorites of the tournament—teams I thought had the potential to reach at least the quarterfinals and even reach the final. Accordingly, I predicted 5 of the 8 teams that advanced to the quarterfinals. I predicted 2 of the 4 teams that advanced to the semifinals and 1 team that advanced to the final. Consequently, by the semifinals, the World Cup had effectively become a European Cup.
My favorites being eliminated by a fixture mishap
Of course, these teams I had designated as favorites were unfortunately eliminated by a fixture mishap. Had they played other teams, their chances of advancing to the next round would have been much higher.
For example, Belgium, whom I had also selected as a favorite, eliminated Portugal and Brazil. Iceland had already been drawn into one of the strongest possible groups; they failed to advance from Argentina and Croatia, two of my other favorites. Had Iceland been in a different group, they would have had a good chance of advancing to the next round. Russia, whom I had also considered a potential surprise favorite, was eliminated by Croatia, and Mexico, another favorite, was eliminated by Brazil. Switzerland proved me wrong here. Under normal circumstances, I think Switzerland would have been strong enough to beat Sweden. They lost to Sweden in that game due to an unfortunate conceded goal and the failure to capitalize on numerous scoring opportunities.
Although they tried to make a difference, soccer superstars Messi, Ronaldo, and Neymar couldn’t make much of a difference.
The Beauty of the Tournament
From what I observed from the outside, the best part of this tournament was the fans’ contributions. The diverse groups of fans sitting in the stands added special excitement to the games. Furthermore, the fact that the highest officials of the countries watched the games together from the stands and celebrated each other after goals sent a positive message to the world in a climate of constant tension and warmongering.
Another positive aspect of this tournament, in my opinion, was the use of VAR. I’ve long disagreed with those who say, “Refereeing errors are part of the spirit of soccer; at least they don’t slow down the pace of the game.” In fact, I’ve said these many times at friends’ dinners: Refereeing errors are a disgrace to the game. To minimize these errors, as in basketball or American soccer, a pause, if necessary, should be taken, the position should be reviewed, and then the game should be continued.
I’m personally pleased that FIFA has started implementing what I mentioned above. From now on, to increase the pace of the game, I think they should implement VAR as a watch on the referee’s wrist, rather than watching it from the sidelines. I think all referees should continue playing with mini screens on their wrists. This way, they don’t have to stop the game and watch it from the sidelines. I think they will implement this in the future.
Of course, the offside rule should be abolished to speed up the game, make it more enjoyable, and increase the number of goals. I also disagree with those who say, “Wouldn’t that be possible? Everyone would be waiting in front of the goal.” That would change tactics, and there would be almost no goalless games. Games that end 0-0 are personally very frustrating for me. In my opinion, a highly enjoyable soccer game is one with plenty of goals and beautiful soccer. I think FIFA should aim for this in the future.
The ugliness of the tournament
In my opinion, the ugliest aspect of this tournament has been the excessive criticism and racist slurs leveled at players of Turkish descent playing in Germany and Sweden. For example, in Sweden’s game against Germany, Jimmy Durmaz, a substitute, brought down a German player near the penalty area in the dying minutes. Toni Kroos capitalized on the situation and converted a free kick, leading to a furor. Durmaz was subjected to a vicious and racist attack by a group of Swedes. He even received death threats. This is completely unacceptable. Similarly, Mesut Özil was practically lynched after Germany failed to qualify from the group stage.
Following the racist remarks made against Jimmy Durmaz, Sweden’s concerned citizens and public officials, as well as the Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye, joined a march in support of Durmaz.
Because this matter truly bothers me, I’ve decided to write my next blog post about “racism.”
May all the ugliness in the world be eliminated and beauty emerge.
Note: I’d like to share the goals and highlights of the tournament with you:
Not: Turnuvanın gollerini ve önemli anlarını sizlerle paylaşmak isterim: https://www.google.com.tr/search?source=hp&ei=6oxNW76SFoSVmwX6uJmQAg&q=fifa+world+cup+match+summary&oq=fifa+world+cup+match+summ&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0i19k1l2j0i22i30i19k1l2.469.8749.0.11217.31.23.0.4.4.0.685.4199.2-2j1j2j4.9.0….0…1c.1.64.psy-ab..18.13.4311…0j0i131k1j0i3k1j0i22i30k1.0.Mxhb07B1BGI#sie=lg;/m/06qjc4;2;/m/030q7;mt;fp;1
