With just under a year left for FIFA’s biggest global competition, their Qatar 2022 World Cup Tournament set to start, 13 teams, including of course the host country of Qatar have punched their tickets to the tournament set to start in November 2022. As many sports betting news outlets have started informing, certain teams are already standing out as clear favorites to have a very strong run, with title contention talks even being held for several of these countries.
But what about the teams that will be looking to quietly sneak in and take the tournament by storm? While everyone is focusing on squads like Brazil, France, England, and Spain as the odds on favorites to go for the title, other teams could easily break out and surprise football fans everywhere when the time for action comes around. With that said, we bring you our picks for three teams that could end up surprising everyone around with a strong performance in Qatar 2022.
USA
While it’s true that the United States has not yet qualified for Qatar 2022, their demolishing pace in the CONCACAF qualifiers serves as a clear show that their qualifying will happen sooner rather than later. After having missed out on the 2018 World Cup Tournament in Russia, the United States went through a very important and necessary generational change in their roster, bringing in a slew of some of the best young players the country has to offer. This has paid off greatly, with some of those names already shinning in some of Europe’s biggest teams.
Players like Zac Steffen, John Brooks, Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Sergiño Dest, Konrad De La Fuente, Gio Reyna, and Timothy Weah make up the core of international players that have brought the level of talent and competitiveness in American football to new heights, automatically making them one of the newer teams to keep an eye on for Qatar 2022. Coach and former American player Gregg Berhalter has managed to come up with a perfect mix of youth and experience coming from players called up from the local MLS league. While many experts see this team’s youth factor as something that might end up working against them, that’s to be seen once they hit the pitch in Qatar, and apart from that, it’s clear that if they continue on their path when they co-host the 2026 World Cup alongside Canada and Mexico, they’ll surely be one of the top favorites.
Argentina
Why would a team like Argentina, with Lio Messi at the helm not be taken as a clear favorite and seen more like a quiet underdog-style team that could end up surprising everyone? Because while Argentina can brag about having one of the most talented squads in the world, the World Cup tournaments usually strike up as their Achilles heel when it comes to global competitions. But after winning the Copa America tournament in 2021, it seems like Messi and company finally found a way to beat out all of the negative odds that surround them in international tournaments and will be ready to give a strong go at trying to win the Qatar 2022 Tournament.
If we take a look at some of the pros that Argentina brings to the table, there’s the fact that they’ve finally found a steady starting goalkeeper in Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez. Asides from that the mix of young, up and coming players, especially in the defensive and midfield core of the team, added to the enviable striking powers that players like Messi, Angel Di María, Lautaro Martinez, Paulo Dybala, and company bring, might just end up being exactly what this team needs to succeed. The main motivation to win will surely be trying to help their captain, PSG star Lio Messi conquer the World Cup title before calling it a career internationally speaking, with that accolade probably being the last stepping stone before being able to truly be considered the best player to ever play the game.
Denmark
If there was one team I think all football fans wanted to see succeed above any other in the past EURO tournament, it was Denmark. While at first in the tournament they suffered the scare of losing their captain and one of their most important figures in Christian Eriksen due to an unexpected health problem mid-game, the Danish rallied around each other, pulled together, and ended up becoming one of the best teams in the tournament. Led by coach Kasper Hjulmand, whose football ideals, with a strong, explosive attack paired up with a mean, physical defensive scheme made this team a literal football-playing machine, the Danes were minutes away from reaching the finals of the tournament against Italy.
Now, after continuing with their strong showings in the UEFA Qatar 2022 qualifiers, being one of the first countries to secure their spot in next year’s tournament, it’s not hard to see why backing Denmark for a strong run in the tournament is not a bad idea whatsoever. With players like Kasper Schmeichel, Simon Kjaer, Joakim Maehle, Andreas Christensen, Thomas Delaney, Mikkel Damsgaard, Mohamed Daramy, Jonas Wind, Yussuf Poulsen, and Martin Braithwaite, this is Denmark’s best generation of players since the early ’90s which means that a strong run in Qatar 2022 should be in the books for the Danes.
